Warning: The following contains spoilers for 2025’s My Oxford Year.The My Oxford Year stars explain why the movie departs from the original ending of the book. Based on Julia Whelan’s novel of the same name, the new Netflix romantic comedy features Sofia Carson as Anna, a young woman who spends a year in Oxford pursuing her pᴀssion for poetry, where she falls in love with Corey Mylchreest’s Professor Jamie Davenport, who has terminal cancer and has decided to stop treatment.

The book ends with Jamie participating in a medical trial that allows him to travel across Europe with Anna, while the movie features a more tragic conclusion, where Jamie fades away with Anna at his bedside while he dreams about spending more time together in Europe.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Carson and Mylchreest broke down the movie’s change to Jamie and Anna’s ending. Mylchreest, who serves as a producer, confirmed that Jamie is “ᴅᴇᴀᴅ” in the movie, even though the finale was intentionally left ambiguous. He explained that it was “the direction” the book was “heading in,” and not ending it that way would undermine its message. Check out his full comments below:

The guy’s ᴅᴇᴀᴅ. It’s better like that. It’s more powerful. That is the direction that the book is heading in, and it would feel like hypocrisy for Jamie to speak all these things and for Anna to be understanding that philosophy of life [and not end there].

The impressive thing is that Jamie believes all of these things — forever is composed of nows — and he doesn’t have that many nows left. So, what’s really amazing is that he’s doing all of this stuff and believes all these things with really not that much time left. If that wasn’t true, it would feel like we’re undervaluing his beliefs.

Carson, who also produced, revealed that they experimented with alternative endings, including one with Anna being left alone. In comparison, ending with the couple’s most beautiful moments would serve to honor their time together and offer hope after loss. Read her comments below:

Even though it’s clear Anna’s alone at the end, we left it a little bit ambiguous because we wanted the film to end with hope and with light, which is why we wanted to show them living all those things together. And then when he disappears and when he’s gone and you ᴀssume she’s lost him, that element of hope and the idea of life after love and life after loss is a really powerful thing.

There were conversations up until the very last minute of locking the cut. Our main producer, Marty Bowen, didn’t want Jamie to die because he wanted the possibility, the future of them together.

She’s doing this in his honor and in honor of their love. Carrying the life lessons that he shared with her that changed her life forever. I love the idea that they would’ve had the chance, but with how we see him in that last scene in the bed, there was no universe where that would’ve been possible. So, she lived their dream for them.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see the moments of Anna alone. I asked for an edit where, once Jamie disappears and you see her taking in the beach, the movie would end there. It felt very emotional, but it was a little bit too jarring of ending. It felt a little bit more conclusive. The biggest tearjerker moment was when Jamie would disappear, and then, you would see her in all the places alone. There was a lot of debate, but we all agreed where it ended was the most beautiful ending for Anna and Jamie.

What This New Ending Means For My Oxford Year

My Oxford Year‘s ending was changed to be true to the characters while offering light and hope in a tragic situation. In the same interview, Mylchreest further explained Jamie’s decision to treasure every beautiful moment in life until the last, having faced the same situation with his brother. The movie’s ending is tied to “where Jamie comes from” and “why he is the way he is,” and changing it wouldn’t make sense for the character.

At the same time, extending Jamie’s time for a happy ending would take away the weight and the meaning of the journey. Carson’s comment also shed some light on the process of decision-making behind the scenes. My Oxford Year didn’t change the book’s ending lightly; it was done so with great care.

Our Take On My Oxford Year’s Tragic Ending

Happily-ever-after (HEA) is much more favorable in romance books because it offers readers a personally fulfilling ending. Unlike movies, romance books sometimes don’t require so high a level of realism to serve readers’ desire to temporarily escape from reality. While the book yields satisfaction, this ending wouldn’t have the same effect in the movie adaptation.

It makes sense that the My Oxford Year‘s movie adaptation changed the ending to a bleaker version to stay true to the characters while preserving the hope presented in the book. Netflix’s rom-com also isn’t the first romance movie that ends in a main character’s death. Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin’s Me Before You has a similar premise that ends with Clarke’s character carrying the happy memories and moving on with her life.

Source: EW