British fans of sadness, tragedy, and sobbing fits have been tweeting their disapproval after discovering that Netflix in the U.K. is streaming an alternate cut of The Notebook. What’s the big change? Spoiler alert for the human enigmas out there who haven’t seen the movie after 15 years and care deeply about spoilers: Where the original movie ends with elderly lovers Noah and Allie peacefully passed away and holding hands in bed, the version streaming on Netflix U.K. ends before their passing, leaving their fate ambiguous and robbing viewers of a good, cathartic ugly-cry.
The revised ending didn’t just take fans by surprise. On the third hour of the Today show, The Notebook novelist Nicholas Sparks admitted to his surprise at the ending, saying that he found out “the same way everyone else does!†When asked to weigh in on the changes, he equivocated that “it’s an opinion thing,†but stressed that he likes the original best. When asked for an explanation of how or why Netflix is streaming an alternate version, Sparks shrugged, “This is above my pay grade. It’s above my intelligence grade!â€
In response to fans convinced that Netflix made the change to the movie itself, the company released a statement on Twitter, saying that they were supplied with an alternate version and “are getting to the bottom of it asap.â€
The Notebook arrives on Netflix stateside March 1, hopefully with the most wrenching, depressing, sob-inducing, devastating possible ending intact. Fingers crossed!
Update 2/28: As of February 28, it appears that the original (or “familiar,†as Netflix chose to call it) ending has been restored.