The Alternate Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World Ending That Didn't Make The Cut
Prepare to level up in your knowledge of "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World." Edgar Wright's 2010 film may have bombed at the box office, but it has since gone on to become a cult classic.
Michael Cera starred as the titular Scott Pilgrim, a musician desperate to win the heart of Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), no matter how many of her evil exes he has to battle to do it. The film's stacked cast also included several future superheroes: Winstead, Chris Evans, Brie Larson, and Brandon Routh. "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" was meant to re-release in theaters for its tenth anniversary in 2020, but thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was delayed until earlier this year. One thing fans might not know is the movie's original ending never made it into theaters.
"Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" is based on a series of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley that follow the romantic misadventures of the titular slacker. The books are a delightful journey from start to finish, and the movie was a lovingly faithful adaptation. Wright managed to capture the magic of O'Malley's work, while still adding his own trademarks to the material. For example, music was a huge part of the comics, and of course, the film featured many of Wright's signature needle drops. He even hired different musicians to compose music for each of the films' bands. Beck wrote the songs for Scott's group, Sex Bob-omb, and Metric contributed a track for his ex's band, the Clash at Demonhead, while Broken Social Scene were responsible for Crash and the Boys' songs.
So, how was "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" originally meant to wrap up?
The Ending We Saw In Theaters
"Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" gave Wright an interesting opportunity to choose how to end the movie, since the final book, "Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour," was not yet released when the script was penned. In fact, when Wright and Bacall began working on the screenplay, only three of the six books had come out. The writers did spend time with O'Malley discussing his plans for future books, so they were able to include several of those plot points in the film.
The movie's theatrical ending sees Scott battling not only Ramona's last and worst evil ex, Gideon Graves, but also having to face Nega-Scott. After defeating the former and befriending the latter, Scott finds Knives and Ramona outside. Knives is a little too understanding about their breakup, and Scott and Ramona are reunited. The two venture off into the great unknown together as the credits roll. However, that wasn't the original plan.
Scott Originally Ended Up With Knives Instead Of Ramona
In the alternate ending of "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," everything played out exactly the same except for those final moments. Unlike the dramatic breakups that punctuated Ramona's prior relationships, she and Scott chose to end things rather calmly. Following that, he and Knives dance off into the sunset together (literally, they end the movie playing "Ninja Ninja Revolution," the game that helped them perfect their killer fighting moves in the first place). In the comics, it winds up being Ramona that aids Scott most in the final fight, but in the film, it's Knives. Perhaps this was because Scott and Knives were originally the movie's endgame.
Test audiences responded well to the film, but were torn on that final pairing, which added to Wright's own feeling that perhaps Scott and Ramona should wind up together instead. Speaking to Cinema Blend, Wright confirmed he preferred the ending that played out in theaters. Apparently, when he couldn't shake his doubts, his friend J.J. Abrams suggested that Wright at least attempt to pen the new ending. Universal had no plans for Wright to completely rewrite the movie's conclusion, and yet, together with Bacall and O'Malley, they did just that. The changes they made are much more in line with the books, though that seemingly wasn't intentional. Plus, Knives Chau deserved better than Scott anyway.
Interestingly, there was also the possibility of another alternate ending which was never shot. Confirmed by The Playlist (via Indiewire), there was an idea that the whole film would be revealed to be a dream, that Scott was a delusional and homicidal maniac who killed seven people based on the video game playing out in his head. This was never meant to be anything other than a DVD extra and Wright didn't have time to shoot it.
"Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" likely won't get a sequel, but according to Wright, an animated series has been discussed. A fan can dream!