YOU: 10 Biggest Differences Between The Books Vs The Show

Netflix’s YOU, like many adaptations, differs from its source material in a myriad of ways, which is true of any property coming from the written word. While it brought the deceitful, sly, yet somehow charming Joe Goldberg to life; not everything that fans saw in the show was exactly true to the books on which it was based.

Although the first season of YOU stuck pretty close to the book, after that, the show started to take its twists and turns and stray away from the book series. The changes would only be obvious to the fans who read the books, and the show remained a creepy success despite not keeping in line with them.

10 Joe’s Relationship With Love

Love and Joe’s relationship within the show were different from the books. Love became a competitor for Joe, working as an alter ego-type character for him. Love is an important character in the book but isn’t as big of a focus.

In the books, Love Quinn is an actress, meant to be the lead role in Forty’s movie, and that is how Joe meets her. They instantly have a spark, unlike Joe trying to keep from being with her in the show, and he continues a difficult relationship with her as he works with Forty and deals with Amy. Love is only a major character in the second book and is barely in the third book, although she shares the main role with Joe in the show.

9 Ellie and Paco Didn’t Exist

Paco and Ellie in the show were characters that brought out a very different side of Joe. Despite being a cold murderer and stalker, he wanted to protect Ellie and Paco, which is probably the best thing he did in the show. However, Ellie and Paco didn’t exist at all in the books.

It is a possibility that the show attempted to humanize Joe a little bit by adding Paco and Ellie, therefore giving Joe two ‘mentees’ of sorts. Joe sees his younger self when he looks at the two younger characters, therefore giving viewers a look into Joe’s past and how he came to be the person he is. This is the perfect way to make the fans more compassionate toward the character despite everything bad. Paco and Ellie’s absence in the books did not give Joe any leeway in terms of humanity.

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8 Amy Adam Wasn’t Candace

Fans see in the first seasons how Joe struggles with flashbacks of his ex Candace, affecting his current relationship with Beck. Candace even comes back to seek vengeance against Joe in the second season, pretending to be a woman named ‘Amy Adam’ instead. Unlike the series, Amy Adam was a completely different character from Candace in the books.

Candace was said to be Joe’s first relationship that went hugely wrong, leading to his attempted murder, or in the book—actual murder, when she wants to break up with him. In the book Hidden Bodies, Amy Adam is a completely different character that Joe meets and has a fleeting fling after she steals all his first edition books to sell. Candace ends up playing both roles in the show, referencing the name Amy Adam when she appears again in Joe’s life.

7 Forty’s Death

Forty acted very similarly to how he was depicted in the books, from bratty to childish ignorance. He takes Joe’s story and turns it into a script for his praise, and as he is doing so, begins to uncover Joe’s secrets. While all that stays relatively similar, the events of his death are completely different.

In the books and the series, Joe realizes Forty is onto him and starts to plot how he can get rid of him. In the show, Forty ends up straight up confronting him about it and threatening to shoot him, leading to him getting shot himself. The books, however, are a lot more intense. Joe plays toward Forty’s problem with drug abuse and tries to stage it like it was the cause of his death. Unfortunately for Joe, Forty survives his attack, only to get hit by a car and put Joe to ease.

6 Joe Was Arrested

After all the events between Beck, Peach, and him, Joe constantly worries about the evidence he left behind accidentally in the Salinger house, leading to his incarceration. What was completely left out of the show was—Joe does get arrested, even though Love retrieves the evidence for him.

During the first book and season, Joe is stopped by a police officer on his way to Peach’s house. He gives the officer a fake name to smooth talk his way out of the situation. In the books, the same officer later recognizes him when Dr. Nicky starts to talk, which leads to Joe’s arrest. Because Joe is imprisoned in the book, he misses the birth of his son, Forty, or Henry, as named in the tv show. Joe remaining free and out of jail made for many differences come the third season.

5 Joe Never Meets Henry/Forty

Things in the third season were made much more complicated with Joe having to care for his baby and hopes he won’t turn out as messed up as he is. It plays a lot into his relationship with Love as well. However, although his son still exists in the books, he doesn’t meet him, which was a rare case of fans feeling sad for him.

Joe never gets to meet his son, Forty, aka Henry, because of his imprisonment. When he finally is released, the Quinns threaten and pay him to stay away from Love and the baby. The only way Joe gets to his son is by looking at Love’s social media, which she purposely puts up for him to see, despite claiming she wants nothing to do with him. Joe’s fatherly dynamic was only visible in the tv show and seemed like another attempt at humanizing him.

4 Love Wasn’t A Murderer

Love Quinn’s character took to a completely new level in Netflix’s adaptation, seemingly becoming one of the most dangerous characters and a mirror of Joe’s character in some sense. She was an interesting character in the books, showing a glimpse of those unhinged emotions, but she wasn’t a murderer.

Love remains seemingly normal until Joe tells her the truth about everything. Love reveals all her worst traits, accepts Joe despite all his crimes, and goes to the Salinger’s house to retrieve the evidence that could imprison him. Perhaps she showed a bit of dark side in her aid and acceptance of Joe, but it was never to the level of murder as the show spun for her.

3 Marienne Was Actually Mary Kay

Season 3 ended up having huge differences from the book, especially in terms of Joe’s love interests. Marienne, the librarian, and Natalie, the married neighbor, seem to make up Mary Kay from the book.

Once Joe moves in the third book and is not allowed to see Love or his baby, he discovers a new interest once again. The librarian and married woman, Mary Kay, who lives in his neighborhood. After much hesitation and problems, he begins a scandalous relationship with her despite being married to a druggie ex-rockstar. The show does show hints of her character in both Natalie and Marienne, but there were also a lot of differences.

2 Love’s Death

Fans received a surprise ending in the show when Love reveals she has been plotting to get rid of Joe, which leads to Joe killing her before that can happen. Based on the books, Love shouldn’t have been very involved in the third season, and her death happened differently.

In the third book, Love messages him telling him he can meet his son for the first time, and he, of course, agrees. However, Love is there alone and pulls a gun on him. She feels unloved and forgotten by Joe because he hasn’t made more attempts to return to them, despite her parents paying him to stay away. She attempts to kill Joe and then succeeds in taking her own life. Just like the show, Love meant to kill him, but Joe wasn’t the one that killed her.

1 Nomi Was Left Out

In the third book, Joe’s new flame, Mary Kay, has a teenage daughter named Nomi, who plays a crucial role in the story. Although we see Marienne has a daughter, Juliette, she is much younger and an entirely different character. The Netflix adaptation decided to leave Nomi out entirely.

In the third book, Nomi is an angsty teenager with a complicated relationship with her mother, Mary Kay. Joe was constantly trying to mediate between the two to gain brownie points with Mary Kay. Eventually, Nomi reveals she has feelings for Joe and tries to come onto him. When Joe rejects her, Nomi becomes upset and, while arguing with her mother, impulsively pushes her down a flight of stairs, resulting in her death. None of this is seen in the show’s third season, and the closest representation of Nomi is Ellie.

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