The Biggest Difference Between Netflix’s No. 1 Series His & Hers and the Book

When it comes to adapting Alice Feeney’s 2020 best-selling psychological thriller his and hers for screenNetflix took some creative liberties.

While most are minor, the changes made to the six-episode limited series— Starring Tessa Thompson Jon Bernthal remains relevant as estranged spouses, each suspecting the other of murdering a woman from their complicated past.

From altered character arcs to new motivations, here are the biggest differences between the book and the show, which currently tops Netflix’s top 10 list.

*Warning: This article contains serious spoilers his and hers*

Anna makes a triumphant return to work

On the show, Thompson’s Atlanta news anchor Anna showed up to work unannounced, asking to resume her previous evening hours following an unofficial yearlong hiatus following the death of her youngest daughter. When her boss tells her she’s been temporarily replaced by rising star Lexi Jones (Rebecca Rittenhouse), Anna admits it and asks to be assigned as a field reporter to cover the murder of childhood friend Rachel in her hometown of Dahlonega, Georgia. Her boss agrees to send her and Lexie’s photographer husband Richard (Pablo Schreiber) to cover the case. There, Anna reunites with her estranged husband, Detective Jack Harper (Bernthal), the lead investigator on the case.

Not only did the show change Lexie’s name from Carter Jones to Lexie, but the novel also depicts Anna’s demotion differently. In the book, Anna actually reports on her news anchor job while Kate is on maternity leave, and once Kate returns, she slyly suggests that Anna cover the murders.

In both versions, Anna has no idea that her rival colleague is actually Catherine, a vengeful girl who is in the woods on the night of Anna’s 16th birthday.

Rachel’s much older husband a potential suspect

When Rachel’s body is discovered in the book, her wealthy, 82-year-old, frail, bedridden husband is immediately ruled out as a potential suspect because of his age and declining health. The reader doesn’t even meet him directly.

However, the show decided to make Rachel’s widower, Clyde (Chris Ball), younger and capable of crime. Therefore, he was included as a potential suspect.

Anna’s battle with alcoholism

The book cleverly portrays Anna as an alcoholic who is often unaware of what happened the night before due to routine blackouts. Readers are therefore cautioned not to accept her narrative as fact. This is brilliantly captured in a scene where Anna wakes up from her drunken state to find her room has been cleaned. Anna naively thinks she must have tidied the space in an intoxicated haze, but it turns out her mother Alice (played by Crystal R. Fox in the show) came over and tidied the space. The unreliable narrator trope comes into play when Anna wonders if she really is the murderer because she’s too drunk to remember.

Instead, the show makes Anna’s alcoholism an uncontroversial issue. Although she guzzles half a bottle of wine in early episodes, her drinking is never portrayed as excessive. So when the major plot twist comes in the final scene, when she reads her mother’s letter confessing to the murder of Anna’s childhood friend, she’s clear-headed.

The final life and death showdown

In Feeney’s novel, Anna is lured to Kate’s parents’ secluded lakeside home after hearing Richard’s screams. Inside, she found Richard near death, with multiple stab wounds and severe head injuries. She also finds the cat hanging from the noose, but soon realizes that the cat faked his death to trap Anna. Anna managed to escape the house and found her mother, who allegedly suffered from dementia, groping outside in the dark.

Amidst the chaos, Jack arrives at the lake house, followed by his partner Priya (Sunita Mani), who, after discovering his romance with Rachel, becomes suspicious of his involvement in the murder.

The cat chases Anna and Alice, eventually stabbing Alice. Despite this, Anna manages to get her mother into a getaway car, and as Anna drives off, she knocks Kate over. However, the cat miraculously survived. But just as she raised the knife to attack Anna, Priya shot her.

It is later deduced that after the traumatic events of the night, Anna came to believe that Kate was responsible for the murders of Rachel and her friends – Helen Wong (Poppy Liu) and Jack’s sister Zoe (Marin Ireland) – in retaliation for the gang rape they planned on Anna on her 16th birthday. In the series, Anna ends up being raped after saving Lexi from an attack.

The adaptation, meanwhile, removes all the extra gore and opts for a more straightforward retelling: Richard takes Anna to his in-laws’ home, and once the two enter, Anna locks him in the basement, where Lexi has just arrived. Anna and Lexi then confront each other, and when they are both covered in blood and exhausted, Lexi takes Anna’s gun away and Priya manages to shoot her, saving Anna. Unlike in the book, without Alice, Richard survives and is arrested for helping Lexie.

Alice’s jaw-dropping confession

In the TV series finale, Anna learns the shocking truth – her mother did indeed kill Rachel, Helen and Zoe. In her mother’s confessional letter, she revealed that her murderous spree began after seeing old footage of her daughter being raped on Anna’s 16th birthday.

The ending of the novel is a bit messier than this. While Alice also admitted to the murders, her motives were much more layered. Since it was Kate who was raped in the book, Alice felt that the guilt of not intervening weighed heavily on her daughter’s conscience, leading her to flee Dahlonega. Alice blames Rachel, Helen, and Zoe for her daughter’s disappearance, deciding to kill them and blame Kate.

his and hers Available to stream on Netflix.