Alternate ending

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An alternate ending (or alternative ending) is an ending of a story that was considered, or even written or produced, but ultimately discarded in favour of another resolution. Generally, alternative endings are considered to have no bearing on the canonical narrative.

Contents

Examples in literature

Examples in films

An alternative ending is often filmed before being scrapped as a deleted scene, and may be included as a special feature in the film's home-media releases. Some movies also present the alternative ending on international releases as well as their international home media release. In other cases, ideas that were presented but discarded early on are alluded to by the production team in commentary or interviews.

The following are examples of alternative endings to movies:

Examples in television

In TV shows, producers may want to keep the ending of an episode a secret, even if it means keeping it from the stars themselves. In such a case, they will usually film more than one ending and not tell the cast which one will be used.

Examples in music

Examples in video games

Many video games also have alternative endings. Since video games are an interactive medium, these endings are generally posed as a result of player action, such as completing the game in a harder difficulty, taking a different route through the game's storyline and succeeding or failing at given tasks. It is generally possible to play a game a second time, make different decisions or achieve a different degree of success, and arrive at a different ending than the first time, complicating the canonicity of the ending(s).

See also

References

  1. "The Ending of "Great Expectations"". academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-18.
  2. Julie Bosman (July 4, 2012). "To Use and Use Not". The New York Times .
  3. 1 2 Amy Mulvaney (November 25, 2019). "The original ending for The Fault in Our Stars was way more tragic than you'd expect". The Independent .
  4. Salten, Felix (1923). Der Hund von Florenz (in German). Wien: Herz-Verlag. p. 184.
  5. Salten, Felix (1930). The Hound of Florence: A Novel. Translated by Huntley Paterson. Illustrated by Kurt Wiese. New York: Simon and Schuster. pp. 230–.
  6. Potter, Jordan (2022-06-27). "Exploring the alternate endings of Stephen King's '1408'". faroutmagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 2025-05-09.
  7. Salterio, Leah (8 April 2023). "Coco Martin suggested different ending for Brillante Mendoza's 'Apag'". ABS-CBN News. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
  8. Roush, Josh (2016-07-30). "15 Things You Didn't Know About The Bourne Franchise". Screen Rant. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
  9. "Abnormal Interviews: My Cousin Vinny Director Jonathan Lynn". Abnormal Use. 2012-03-13. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  10. "Ernest Goes To Jail DELETED SCENE #14: 'ALTERNATE ENDING!' - YouTube". www.youtube.com. 8 March 2012. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2021-02-06.
  11. Desta, Yohana (2017-03-29). "Inside the Fight to Keep Fatal Attraction's Original Ending". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2025-05-09.
  12. Kreps, Daniel (2014-09-06). "Watch the Happier 'How I Met Your Mother' Alternate Ending". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  13. "Marillion – 'Brave'". marillion.com. Archived from the original on 2020-06-27. Retrieved 2011-08-20.