Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Panic season 1!
Author Lauren Oliver brought her YA novel to life in Amazon’s Panic, but she made substantial changes to the adaptation while serving as the show’s creator. Released in 2014, Panic followed a group of bored teenagers who take part in a traditional game that tested the fears of its competitors by putting them through dangerous challenges. At the center of the story were Heather and Dodge, two players who enter the game for very different reasons. By the end of Panic, those involved learned key details about themselves while realizing how far they would go to fight for something they believed in.
It’s rare for an author to take the helm of a screen adaptation for their own work, but Oliver was up for the challenge. Panic only consisted of one book, but Oliver made sure to expand on areas that could translate into multiple seasons. The series was greenlit in 2018 in Amazon’s effort to bolster its slate of teen programming. Filming for the pilot took place later that year, while the bulk of the series was shot in the fall of 2019. It took nearly two years for Panic to drop on Amazon, but the streamer is hoping it grabs enough attention for an extended run.
In adapting her book from page to screen, Oliver took some liberties with the plot. While much of the premise involving the game remains the same, a few background details veer away from the novel. For one, the show takes place in Carp, Texas, instead of Carp, New York, to play deeper into the secluded vibe surrounding the small town. The winnings are also adjusted from $67,000 to $50,000 for the Amazon Original series to make for a more believable prize based on the collections from the senior class during the school year. With that said, here are some of the bigger deviations causing drastic differences between Panic‘s book and show.
Heather’s Motivation To Play Panic
In Amazon’s adaptation of Panic, Heather Nill (Olivia Welch) has no interest in playing the dangerous competition. That changes when she learns her own mother stole the money she intended to use for a college program. With no other options to earn money after being fired, Heather decides to join Panic at that last minute, believing it’s her ticket out of Carp. She then joins as a player alongside her best friend, Natalie Williams (Jessica Sula). The book used a different motivator for Heather to join the game. Though she was also reluctant to play, she joined as a way to win back her ex-boyfriend after seeing him with another girl. In this case, Heather’s money struggles were a more meaningful motivator than jealousy.
Heather & Dodge’s Roles
Throughout Panic, Heather serves as the central figure. Even though she was a prominent character in the novel, Dodge Mason (Mike Faist) also shared much of the spotlight. Granted, Faist’s character is at the focus of a major subplot, but he’s not the lead like Welch. Heather propels the story while linking together other events surrounding the game. She also acts as the show’s narrator, explaining key aspects of Panic and the purpose of the game to Carp. Dodge still carries the same motivation of the book–avenging his sister’s accident–but his story is also a conduit for Sheriff Cortez’s (Enrique Murciano) threatening presence.
Sheriff Cortez As The Antagonist
Surprisingly, Sheriff Cortez wasn’t in the book, seeing as Oliver created the character for the TV adaptation. Rather than secretive, hidden figures controlling the game, the author wanted to invent a more prominent antagonist. In the book, the players of Panic were threatened by the local police with severe punishment if anyone involved in the game was caught. The show takes that up a notch as the police vow to shut down the game because of the deaths of two players the previous year, including Cortez’s son, Jimmy. It’s later revealed that Cortez is manipulating the game to benefit from the gambling ring surrounding Panic. According to Oliver (via Variety), her decision to make Sheriff Cortez the bad guy “did come out of topical events,” explaining how she wanted to touch of police corruption.
Ray Hall’s Transformation
When Ray Hall (Ray Nicholson) is introduced in Panic, he’s a stereotypical “bad boy” in town with no qualms in intimidating his classmates. He plays the game, seeing it more of a rite of passage rather than a way out of town since he already came to terms with remaining in Carp for the long term. In the book, Ray (whose last name was Hanrahan) played to follow in the footsteps of his older brother, Luke, who previously won the game. Luke and Ray were troublemakers, and the latter didn’t do much to change his reputation. His arc is changed greatly for TV, seeing as Oliver made him a redeemable figure who helps Dodge take down Cortez while opening up his heart to Heather, who he ends up with at the end.
Dayna’s Accident
For most of Dodge’s arc in the book, he was hell-bent on playing Panic to avenge Dayna, his sister, who was paralyzed in an accident. Unlike the show, however, Dayna was paralyzed competing in Joust, so Dodge viewed the brothers as enemies. Dodge learned Luke tampered with her car so she would crash, leading to his win. The show alludes to Luke’s (Walker Babington) involvement in the accident before revealing his innocence. Still, the Joust challenge isn’t involved, and neither is the truth about who caused the accident. Though Dodge is still fighting for answers for Dayna (Madison Ferris), he’s focused on helping Cortez prosecute Luke, whereas, in the book, the character is playing to kill Luke’s brother, Ray.
The Tiger
Anne’s tiger (Bonnie Bedelia) is one of the most random aspects in Panic. The show depicts the tiger as an animal being cared for on Anne’s farm before Cortez uses it to get Heather out of the game. He also purposely lets it loose to cause a distraction ahead of Joust. Coincidentally, the tiger gets in between the game of chicken, allowing Heather to win over Cortez, who crashes before being shot and killed by his wife. The book actually featured two tigers at Anne’s sanctuary. At one point, Natalie was forced to go into the tiger cage as part of an individual challenge. The two animals escaped, and police killed one before the other affected the Joust in a similar fashion to the show. In both instances, the tiger is used as a surprising payoff in connection to Heather.
Bishop & Natalie’s Jobs In Panic
While both Bishop Moore (Camron Jones) and Natalie are hinted at being judges in the show, only the latter is directly confirmed. Instead, Bishop is revealed to be the bagman, insinuating he can’t be a judge and the keeper of the prize money. The book featured partially switched roles with Bishop being a judge and Nat being an ordinary player. Though Dodge found out about Bishop’s role, he didn’t confess publicly until the guilt of the dead tiger forced him to come clean. Seeing as he created the tiger cage challenge, he couldn’t live with the pain he was causing others.
The Joust Winner
As mentioned, Joust serves as the final challenge in Panic, just like in Oliver’s book. Instead of Cortez driving up against Heather, who steals Ray’s truck to compete, the final challenge originally featured Heather against Ray. Since Dodge had plans to kill Ray, the others restrained him so he couldn’t compete, allowing Heather to use his car. She didn’t know that Dodge planted the car with napalm, so the car caught on fire during the game of chicken. She jumped out in time, but Ray subsequently swerved, meaning Heather was the true winner. After receiving the prize money, she split it with Dodge and Natalie. In Amazon’s Panic, the judges (or someone else) solely reward Heather the money, but the show teases how the game isn’t over.
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