Alternate ending

Ending of a story that is discarded in favour of another resolution
the Fightstar album

An alternate ending (or alternative ending) is an ending of a story that was considered, or even written or produced, but ultimately discarded in favour of another resolution. Generally, alternative endings are considered to have no bearing on the canonical narrative.

Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations originally had a bleaker conclusion, with Pip meeting Estella, but after she remarried. In a letter, Dickens stated that he had been persuaded by Edward Bulwer Lytton to change it prior to publication. Ernest Hemingway struggled with the ending of A Farewell to Arms. By his count, he wrote 39 of them "before I was satisfied." However, a 2012 edition of the book included 47 alternative endings. Robert A. Heinlein originally killed off the protagonist of Podkayne of Mars, but grudgingly let her live in response to his publisher's objections. John Green tied one of the characters to railway tracks in his second draft of The Fault in Our Stars to explore the trolley problem. He also wrote an ending in which Hazel and Van Houten die in a shootout with a drug lord. In the English translation, a wholly new ending of six more pages has been written: Lukas survives, gets medication and is united with the courtesan.

In TV shows, producers may want to keep the ending of an episode a secret, even if it means keeping it from the stars themselves. In such a case, they will usually film more than one ending and not tell the cast which one will be used. 24: To keep the ending to Season 1 a surprise, the crew shot multiple endings. Teri's death was the one they aired. A second ending had Teri live through the gunshot, and a third had her not being shot at all, with the family embracing each other after the long day was over. D. I. E: In the original ending, Yue Sir dies from a car accident, but the audience wanted a happier ending, so TVB created a new one in the style of mo lei tau comedy. In the new ending, the cast tries to stop the car accident that would kill Yue Sir from happening. Do the Right Thing: BBC series 1994–1995, presented by Terry Wogan, in which audience members decided moral and ethical dilemmas in fictionalised examples with only one of multiple prerecorded story endings broadcast. E. U.: Due to the popularity of Michael Tse's character Laughing Gor, who dies in episode 22, an ending was shot where Laughing changes into his police uniform and talks. The ending never implies whether Laughing is alive or not and leaves it open for the audience to decide. Green Wing: In the final Special, Guy and Mac are dragged into the air in an attempt to rescue Caroline, who has been dragged into the air by holding too many helium balloons. Whilst in the air, Mac tells Caroline he has something to tell her. After walking into the sea, Alan and Joanna are last seen hanging onto a buoy, waiting to drown. The actors wanted to use this ending but it was turned down. Sex and the City: In the series finale, three endings were shot, in which Carrie Bradshaw: (1) becomes engaged to Aleksandr Petrovsky, (2) resumes her relationship with Mr. Big, and (3) turns down both suitors and reaffirms her love for her friends. The Simpsons: In the two part episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" there was an alternative ending where it is revealed that the shooter of Mr. Burns was Waylon Smithers rather than Maggie Simpson. Shots of other characters shooting Mr. Burns were also fully animated, though no other complete ending scenes were produced. (These alternative shootings were intended to be intentionally 'leaked' as an elaborate practical joke on the media, but the producers could find no journalists who would take the bait.) Lost: At the end of Season 4, the audience learns that one of the main characters will die in the future. To keep the identity of this person a secret, three different versions of the final scene were shot. The canonical ending shows that Locke will die, while the alternative endings had Sawyer and Desmond die. Total Drama: For every season of this animated "reality show", two endings were filmed in which both finalists would win the competition. Every country Total Drama aired in got to decide which ending to air. King of the Hill: Some episodes have alternative endings (including the episode "The Company Man"), which can be found on the DVD special features. Psych: the episode "100 Clues", a parody of the board game Clue, had alternative endings where the fans decided who was the culprit of murdering a guest at a party. Also, the episode "Right Turn or Left for Dead" involves the main character, Shawn, playing out an alternative ending to the episode in his head had events in the previous episode been slightly different. Pretty Little Liars: In the episode "The Lady Killer", three endings were shot, each revealing a member of the A Team. Because the producers wanted to keep this member a secret from everyone (including the cast members), they shot three endings and did not tell anyone who the member of the A Team was. Out of Paige's alternative ending, Caleb's ending, and Toby's ending, the producers ended up showing Toby's. Secrets and Lies: In order to keep the real killer's identity secret until the end, several multiple endings were shot. Breaking Bad: A man who wakes up in a different life completely, telling his wife that he was a “world class meth dealer”. The producers liked this idea and Gordon Smith wrote it. This alternative ending features Hal and Lois from Malcolm in the Middle, when Bryan Cranston's character Hal wakes up and tells Lois about every major character in Breaking Bad and their actions, calling Hank Schrader "the guy from The Shield". Lois tells Hal not to eat deep fried Twinkies anymore as they go back to sleep and the camera pans to Heisenberg's hat. How I Met Your Mother: An alternative ending was edited together for the Season 9 DVD. This ending omits the scene in which Tracy dies, while making no other changes to the plot.

English rock band Marillion's 1994 concept album Brave is one of the very few examples of an alternative ending appearing in music. The vinyl edition of Brave featured a double groove on side B of the second record, the final side of the album: depending on where the needle was dropped, the record would either play the standard track listing (the songs "The Great Escape" and "Made Again") or would instead play only an alternative version of "The Great Escape" with different lyrics, presenting an alternative, darker ending to the album's story.

Many video games also have alternative endings. Since video games are an interactive medium, these endings are generally posed as a result of player action, such as completing the game in a harder difficulty, taking a different route through the game's storyline and succeeding or failing at given tasks. It is generally possible to play a game a second time, make different decisions or achieve a different degree of success, and arrive at a different ending than the first time, complicating the canonicity of the ending(s).