“The Perfect Couple”: The Biggest Differences Between the Hit Netflix Show and Best-selling Book

The six-episode murder mystery, based on Elin Hilderbrand’s 2018 book, stars Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber

Warning: The Perfect Couple spoilers ahead!

There are two sides to every story — including The Perfect Couple's.

Based on Elin Hilderbrand’s New York Times best-selling novel of the same name, The Perfect Couple began streaming on Netflix in September 2024 with a star-studded cast that includes Liev Schreiber, Nicole Kidman and Dakota Fanning.

The six-episode series' main plotline stays true to the book: the maid of honor at a wealthy Nantucket family's wedding is found dead on the morning of the big day, leading everyone to become a suspect in her murder. However, although the hit show stems from the best-selling 2018 novel, some significant changes were made while bringing the story from page to screen.

“I wanted them to make the best possible television show, I wasn’t worried about how they changed the book,” Hilderbrand told The Hollywood Reporter in September 2024. “I said to Jenna right from the beginning, ‘I do not feel precious about this. People can go and read the book later or before; it’ll be a different experience because it is a little bit different, they can see how they changed it, and I just wanted it to be excellent television.’ ”

Related: Where Was The Perfect Couple Filmed? All About the Real-Life Locations Behind the Netflix Show

Read on to find out exactly how The Perfect Couple book differs from Hilderbrand’s novel.

Changes to key character names

The adaptation team changed several character names during the process, with one of the most significant being the bride-to-be, originally named Celeste Otis in the book.

“The bride was named Celeste through many, many drafts of the script,” Lamia told Tudum in September 2024.

But since Kidman, who plays the mother of the groom-to-be, Greer Garisson Winbury, portrayed a notable character named Celeste in Big Little Lies, Lamia decided to rename the bride-to-be “just to avoid any potential confusion,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.

In the Netflix show, the bride-to-be is named Amelia Sacks (Eve Hewson).

Additionally, Isabel Nallet (Isabelle Adjani), the Winbury family friend who has an affair with Thomas Winbury (Jack Reynor), goes by Featherleigh Dale in the book. Plus, she is from London in Hilderbrand's novel, not France. The show also changes best man Shooter Uxley to Shooter Dival (Ishaan Khatter) and Winbury-housekeeper Elida to Gosia (Irina Dubova).

New characters like the youngest Winbury brother and absent characters like “The Greek”

The Winbury family grew when it hit the screen, adding Will Winbury (Sam Nivola) as the youngest brother. While his character didn’t exist in the book, he is an early murder suspect in the series after being found harboring maid of honor Merritt Monaco’s jewelry following her death. Additionally, a subplot follows his growing relationship with the chief of police's daughter, Chloe Carter (Mia Isaac), a character from the book who differs slightly and is more developed in the TV adaptation.

While the series introduced some new characters to the plotline, it also eliminated some fan favorites from the book, including Nick. Otherwise known as “The Greek,” he is described as a bald, handsome ladies’ man and is one of the lead detectives working alongside Ed Kapenash on the case. In the show, the two are replaced by a middle-aged male-female duo: Chief of Police Dan Carter (Michael Beach) and Detective Nikki Henry (Donna Lynne Champlin).

Related: The Perfect Couple Cast and Characters: Meet the Faces Behind Netflix’s Star-Studded New Series

Amelia and Shooter’s connection

The bride and groom-to-be’s love triangle with best man Shooter is present in both versions of the story. In both the book and the series, Shooter spends a day in the past with the bride-to-be at the Nantucket house before Benji Winbury’s (Billy Howle) arrival, where they instantly form a connection. But, the book develops the weight of Shooter and Amelia’s relationship much more.

In the novel, readers learn that Shooter helped Benji set up his proposal to Celeste — but he also slipped her a note that said, “In case you have any doubts, I’m in love with you.” This creates a major internal conflict for Celeste, who develops a nervous stutter except around Shooter and plans to run away with him on the morning of her wedding. However, her plans are interrupted by her best friend's death.

In the show, Amelia expresses doubts the day before her wedding, but she and Merritt attribute it to “cold feet.” Her romance with Shooter peaks with a kiss after the wedding is canceled.

Both versions include Shooter as a suspect, but in the book, he has been missing since the night of the murder. In the show, he runs away later, gets caught and appears guilty for both fleeing the scene and making a large wire transfer to Greer.

Tag and Merritt’s affair — and the jewelry he gifted her

The book reveals a lot more of Merritt's (Meghann Fahy) backstory, from her role as the head of public relations at the zoo where she and Celeste work to the details of when her affair with Tag Winbury (Schreiber), the groom-to-be’s father, began. Readers learn that the two first met while she was visiting Nantucket for her best friend’s bachelorette weekend a few months before the wedding, which leads to a much deeper infatuation toward her than viewers see in the show. For example, there’s a moment in the book where he shows up at her house in the middle of the night because he can’t stop thinking about her.

Like in the book, Tag gifts Merritt a piece of jewelry, but it's turned from a thumb ring to a more than $18,000 diamond bracelet in the show. In the series, viewers see Greer discover the ring-turned-bracelet receipt but never see Tag gift it to Merritt like in the book.

Additional details of their secret love affair were absent on screen, including the weekend getaway he planned for her birthday but called off after seeing Thomas in the hotel lobby bar where they were supposed to stay. Merritt is devastated by the breakup, especially after learning she is pregnant — news she shares with her best friend the night before her wedding in the show, but not in the book.

Greer’s career and how she met her husband

Greer’s career isn’t as glamorous in the book as in the series. Rather than the best-selling author and public image she is in the show, she is a struggling writer on the brink of giving up following Merritt’s death.

In the show, Greer doesn’t slow down after the tragic event. Instead, she tries harder than ever to keep up her public image, including interviewing for a feature in PEOPLE and throwing a book launch party with her devoted fans, a pivotal moment in which the truth of her imperfect marriage begins unraveling.

The launch party is also the first time viewers see her face-to-face with her brother, Broderick Graham (Tommy Flanagan), who doesn’t exist in the book. But in the show, Broderick, who has ties to the Turkish mafia, showing up also leads to Greer’s big (and new) confession about her marriage: She met Tag during her days as an escort — not the meet-cute bar story that aligned with their image as “the perfect couple.”

Merritt’s murder and the motive behind it

In a major change from the book, the show’s ending shifts from an accidental death to a calculated murder. In the novel, after discovering her husband Thomas' affair, Abby Winbury (Fanning) intends to give Featherleigh a sleeping pill (stolen from Greer’s pill stash) to prevent her from fooling around with her husband that night. The laced glass, however, is accidentally delivered to Merritt.

Soon after, Merritt is wandering the beach, where she accidentally cuts her foot on some glass and steps into the ocean to wash it off. There, she spots the ring that Tag gifted her and that she had thrown into the ocean earlier that night after their fight. While attempting to retrieve it, the sleeping pill takes effect, and she accidentally drowns to death.

“I loved the ending of the book, but through the development process, the producers and I all realized that it may feel more satisfying in a television show to have the murder be intentional and targeted,” Lamia told The Wrap. “I wanted to honor those pieces of the book, but also give the audience the satisfaction of having had an intentional murder by someone who really intended to murder the victim.”

Thus, although Abby is still responsible in the show, her actions are far more sinister. Thomas stole a euthanasia pill from Amelia’s terminally ill mother, mistaking it for oxycodone, which Abby later finds. Abby crushes it into a glass of orange juice and gives it to a heartbroken Merritt. She then lures her to the ocean, where she holds her head underwater and drowns her — all so Merritt’s pregnancy won’t disrupt her husband’s inheritance.

With the youngest Winbury brother about to turn 18, Abby and Thomas would soon gain access to the trust fund, relieving their debt and securing the high-end New York City apartment Abby wants. Merritt's pregnancy would have delayed their inheritance another 18 years and increased the number of heirs.

Related: The Perfect Couple Ending Explained: All About the Series' Major Twist — and How It Differs From the Novel

Justice is never served in the book

In the book, the police rule Merritt’s death accidental, unable to prove who was responsible for drugging Merritt. Using the clues she has learned from writing her own murder mysteries, Greer is the only one who makes the connection after discovering her sedative missing and overhearing a fight between Abby and Thomas, during which she accuses him of cheating.

In the show, the detectives solve the mystery after Thomas reveals a certain puzzle piece — that Abby and he weren’t in bed together in the early morning hours like she had said — and Detective Henry recalls the glass that she saw Abby frantically washing the following morning. The Winburys and former suspects watch as justice is served and the police arrest Abby in their Nantucket home backyard.

“I also wanted to give the police a win, because those characters are so smart and so fun to see play off with one another, and their relationship builds over the course of the series to a really strong alliance,” Lamia told The Wrap. “It was important to give them the win, especially since they’re the everyman of the show, in addition to Amelia. We also needed Amelia to have that closure.”

Amelia’s fate — romantically and professionally

In both the show and the book, Amelia/Celeste and Benji part ways. However, while Amelia calls it off with Shooter in the show, Celeste has more room to rekindle her connection with Shooter in the book.

In one final twist of events, the show’s epilogue concludes with a new scene: Greer tracks Amelia down while she is working at the London Zoo, seeking approval on a new manuscript titled Your Move, which appears to be based on their shared experience, and suggesting they go to dinner.

Although viewers never learn what Amelia decides, according to Tudum, Bier and Lamia both think she goes.

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