Does Peris Die In Uglies? Director Explains Huge Change From The Books
17 September 2024, 16:35
Netflix’s film Uglies has a major plot change from the original books and it involves the death of Peris, Tally Youngblood’s best friend.
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Film adaptations are always going to be a little different from their source materials, so when Netflix released Uglies, an adaptation of the popular YA dystopian fiction series of the same name by Scott Westerfeld, fans were dubious.
However, the film was created under the watchful eye of the author and it mostly stayed true to the source material...except for one huge change which revolved entirely around the character of Peris, Tally Youngblood’s childhood friend.
With Peris being an important character in Tally’s life during her formative years, will the changes have a ripple effect on any future movies if Uglies 2 (Pretties) and 3 (Specials) are given the green light?
How will Peris’ death affect the plot? Did Peris even really die? Here’s what we know.
What happens to Peris in Uglies? Does he die?
Joey King pitched Uglies to Netflix when she was 17
How is Netflix’s Uglies different from the book? How did they change Peris?
1) Peris doesn’t die.
Book: In the books, Peris never became a ‘Special’ so he never actually tracked down Tally and he never found himself in the position of falling and dying (maybe?).
He remained alive and obliviously living his life in The City until the second book. Eventually, in the sequels, Tally and Peris found common ground and worked together again.
Movie: In the film, after he worked for Dr Cabel, Peris fell to his maybe, possibly, probably not, death.
But without a visual on his body, his fate remained unknown, setting the film up for a sequel.
2) Peris doesn’t become a ‘Special’.
Book: In the book, despite being her childhood best friend and a motivator for Tally to get her surgery and move into the City, Peris is not a huge part of Uglies.
His character only becomes significant in the second and third books, Pretties and Specials.
Movie: This is the largest deviation from the source material. The creators wrote a more important role for Peris in the film where he’s put through additional surgery to become a ‘Special’ which supposedly severed all emotional attachment to Tully. We later find out, it wasn't as clear cut at that.
As a Special being used to hunt down Tally, Peris’ character had a reason to be in the first film and his character in any potential sequels will have to be completely changed.
The surgery is the plot device that changed the trajectory of his character entirely and ultimately led to his (supposed) death.
3) Peris doesn’t kill David’s dad.
Book: Peris had nothing to do with The Smoke and its inhabitants in the book and he had even less to do with David’s father, Az’s death.
Movie: In the film, due to his surgery, Peris’ empathy levels were completely dulled and he snapped Az’s neck in front of Tally and the others.
4) Peris and Tally were friends, not lovers.
Book: In the book series Peris and Tally are childhood friends, with Peris turning 16 just two months before Tally. The besties share a matching scar on their hands which they promise to keep through their surgery to become ‘Pretty’, in honour of their friendship.
Readers don’t even meet Peris until Tally sneaks into 'The City', where the Pretties reside, to meet him and he’s not like she remembers.
After his surgery, Peris' entire personality changed and he didn’t keep his scar like promised. This symbolised that he had completely let go of his past life. Despite this, he helped Tally get out of the City without getting caught so she wouldn't jeopardise her upcoming surgery.
Movie: In the film, the creators introduced us to Peris earlier so we could see his friendship with Tally. We met him before his surgery and the film heavily implied that there were romantic feelings between the two.
When Tally snuck into the City to visit him, he still didn’t keep his scar. To make matters worse, as she’s tried to avoid getting caught whilst she left, Peris didn't lift a finger to help her.
Did Peris die in Uglies?
The director of the film, MrG, has heavily implied that Peris did not die after his fall.
In an interview as reported by ScreenRant, the director said: "Then he falls to — I’m not going to say it was his death. I would never say that. Of course, he fell into the fog. I want [viewers to wonder] is he or isn’t he alive in there? Is he or isn’t he good or bad?"
So we’re going to go out on a limb and say that Peris, with all his enhanced abilities from his ‘Special’ surgery managed to survive the fall.
But with the huge changes made to his character, it looks like if any future films are made, they will deviate further from the books than Uglies did.
McG also explained the point of Peris' character arc, and why he was made a Special in the film adaptation: "The whole point of that, of that arc, is I love this romantic idea of how hard the system tries to change him. His will and his love for Tally is so powerful that it transcends surgery, and when he sees her, there’s still so much power.
"I’m just romantic in that way that I want love to win in the end, and that’s why, in that final scene on the rooftop, Peris can’t even bring himself to speak to Tally until he’s hanging off the edge of the building and he calls her by her nickname, again, with a broken look on his face."
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