History Main / AdaptationalAlternateEnding

* ''Film/LesMiserables1935'' ends with [[spoiler:Javert's suicide]], omitting the months of further plot development from the novel that end with [[spoiler:Valjean's death]].
* ''Film/LostHorizon'': The final scene of the 1973 film has Conway return to Shangri-La, while the novel left it ambiguous if he would ever make it back.

* The ending of the film version of ''Film/TheWitches1990'' ends with the boy, named Luke in this version, being changed back into a human by the surviving witch who had undergone a HeelFaceTurn and he tells her to also change Bruno back. Whereas in the original book they remain mice for the rest of their lives, and the boy acknowledges that he might not live very long and that he didn't want to outlive his grandmother anyway, so he decides to dedicate the rest of his life to hunting down and killing the rest of the witches with his grandmother.

* ''Literature/KingArthurAndHisKnightsOfTheRoundTable'': Like in Tennyson's ''Literature/IdyllsOfTheKing'', Gareth ends up with Linnet and Gaheris with Liones; in the source material, ''Literature/LeMorteDArthur'', it's the other way around.

* {{Downplayed|Trope}} in ''Film/TheHowling1981''; the ending initially plays out quite similarly to the book's, with Chris coming to Karen's aid armed with silver bullets and them locking the werewolves in a burning building to escape. However, things do deviate from that point, because unlike the book Karen is bitten by a werewolf, leading to a dramatic scene where she turns into a werewolf on live TV to reveal their existence.

* The original Creator/CharlesPerrault version of ''Literature/LittleRedRidingHood'' ends with the wolf eating Red and serving as a cautionary tale to young ladies to beware of "wolves", especially those who are "charming, quiet, unassuming, complacent, and sweet". Depending on which adaptation of the story you're reading or watching, either ends that way, or has the girl and her grandmother be rescued by a passing huntsman or other benefactor, whereupon they may take revenge upon the wolf (in "Rotkäppchen", they fill the wolf's belly with stones); this alternate version may have come about from the influence of ''Literature/TheWolfAndTheSevenYoungKids'' or similar tales.

** ''Anime/PrincessSarah'': Sarah forgives Lavinia and Ms. Minchin and also gives the latter a lot of money (despite the fact that she's been nothing but abusive to her), unlike the original book by Frances Hodgson Burnett where she doesn't give them anything. This has been a point of contention amongst the fandom as many consider it an EsotericHappyEnding made even more controversial by [[WordOfGod certain remarks]] from the director.

** ''Anime/RemyNobodysGirl'': [[spoiler:Mrs. Mulligan is actually Remy's mother and they reunite through tears, having discovered the truth thanks to Remy's OrphanPlotTrinket]]. None of this was in the book it's based on ''Literature/SansFamillie'' by Hector Malot. And that is one of the many, [[AdaptationDistillation many]] liberties the anime takes from the book...

** ''Anime/PrincessSarah'': Sarah forgives Lavinia and Ms. Minchin and also gives the latter a lot of money (despite the fact that she's been nothing but abusive to her, unlike the original book by Frances Hodgson Burnett where she doesn't give them anything. This has been a point of contention amongst the fandom as many consider it an EsotericHappyEnding made even more controversial by [[WordOfGod certain remarks]] from the director.

** The original short story of "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E31TheChaser The Chaser]]" consists of just one scene in the potion-seller's shop and ends with the young man buying the love potion, only hinting that eventually his lady-love's devotion will become smothering and he'll come back to buy the "glove cleaner" to get rid of her. The episode's AdaptationExpansion shows these things happening, and adds a new TwistEnding where Roger is about to serve Leila poisoned champagne, only to [[DramaticDrop drop and shatter the cups]] when she reveals that she's pregnant with his child.
*** The ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'' episode "Loved to Death" adapts the same story, but has yet another TwistEnding: the male lead accidentally drinks the poison himself, dies, and finds himself in the afterlife, only for the woman to suddenly join him there, having [[DrivenToSuicide killed herself]] so they could be TogetherInDeath, meaning that he'll be trapped with her obsessive love for all eternity.
** "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E76StillValley Still Valley]]" ends with Rod Serling noting that Sgt. Joseph Paradine and the other members of his troop were moved to Gettysburg with the implication being that they will be killed in the battle. In the short story "The Valley Was Still" by Creator/ManlyWadeWellman, Paradine survives [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar the war]] and repeatedly claims in his old age that the cause of the Confederacy was lost not at Antietam or Gettysburg but at the titular valley hamlet of Channow.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E117TheIncredibleWorldOfHoraceFord The Incredible World of Horace Ford]]", Laura Ford finds the beaten 10-year-old version of her husband Horace when she goes to look for him on Randolph Street and he turns back into an adult. Horace then comes to accept that his childhood was not as idyllic as he had always made it out to be. The original ''Studio One'' version ends with Horace still a child and seemingly trapped in his miserable childhood forever.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E139NightCall Night Call]]", the caller, whom Miss Elva Keene has realized is her late fiancé Brian Douglas, says her that he will leave her alone and never call her again. She had previously told him to do just that. When Brian was alive, Elva, by her own admission, had been quite dominating and he had always done what she had said. This remains the case even in death. The short story "Long Distance Call" by Creator/RichardMatheson ends with the unidentified caller saying "Hello, Miss Elva. I'll be right over."

** In "Button, Button", Arthur and Norma Lewis are sent a button unit by Mr. Steward who tells them that if they press the button, they will receive $200,000 but someone whom they don't know will die. Norma presses the button over Arthur's objections. Mr. Steward returns the next day and tells them that the unit will be reprogrammed and given to someone whom they don't know, with the implication being that one of them will die. In the short story by Creator/RichardMatheson, it was Arthur who died when Norma pressed the button. When she challenged Mr. Steward on the matter, he said "Do you really think you knew your husband?" The change was made at the insistence of [[ExecutiveMeddling CBS executives]], leading Matheson to [[AlanSmithee take his name off the episode]].
** In "A Game of Pool", Jesse Cardiff challenges the ghost of Fats Brown to a pool game to determine which of them is the best and loses. Fats tells him that he will die forgotten as all second raters do. After Fats disappears, Jesse begins to practice furiously.]] In the [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E70AGameOfPool original episode]], Jesse wins the game. After his death, he has to spend his entire afterlife defending his title as the best pool player ever and winds up miserable. Although TheRemake used the originally intended ending of the 1961 version, the production team did not tell the writer George Clayton Johnson, which angered him.

* ''Film/BramStokersDracula'': It does follow chasing the gypsies to stop Dracula. But Mina, through her partial vampirisim, creates storm clouds to block out the sun. Allowing Dracula to directly attack the hunters. He still gets stabbed and his throat slit as usual while mortally wounding Quincy. But rather than the hunters finishing him off. Mina stops them and allows Dracula to go into his castle. As he lays dying, Mina's sympathy and love help him gain redemption with God and undoes his vampire curse. Mina finishes him off by cutting off his head and it's implied Dracula was reunited with his beloved in the afterlife. Though the movie doesn't address how this will affect Mina's relationship with Johnathan after all this.