All the differences between the Daisy Jones & the Six book and series
Warning: This article contains spoilers from Daisy Jones & the Six episodes 1-10.
We finally get to see Daisy Jones & the Six as a real band!
For fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid's bestselling novel, yearning to see the band and their hit album Aurora brought to life comes with the territory. And that dream can finally come true with the new series from Prime Video and Hello Sunshine.
The story follows singer-songwriter Daisy Jones (Riley Keough) and her time writing Aurora with rock band the Six, which rockets them all to fame — and charts their respective fall, as conflict within the band and between Daisy and frontman Billy Dunne (Sam Claflin) tears them apart.
As with any adaptation that moves from page to screen, there are changes — some big, some small, and many of them with thorough explanation from the creative team.
EW has rounded them all up here, and we will update as new episodes air. So put that record on and delve into the biggest changes between the Daisy Jones & the Six series and the book.
Ballantine Books; Lacey Terrell/Prime Video 'Daisy Jones & the Six' novel cover; Riley Keough and Sam Claflin in the Amazon Prime Video series
Chuck Williams and Pete Loving are now one guy, Chuck Loving — and he doesn't die in Vietnam
When the Six is still playing small gigs and wedding as The Dunne Bros. around Pennsylvania and the East Coast, they have two more members of the band on the page — Chuck Williams and Pete Loving, who is also Eddie's (Josh Whitehouse) brother. Chuck is drafted and dies in Vietnam not long after going overseas, while Pete is a member of the Six throughout the story despite never really saying much. Instead, he sees the rock star life as something he does for awhile before marrying the girl he loves and settling down. He provides only a brief statement on his memories of the time.
The show shakes things up by combining Chuck and Eddie into one character, Chuck Loving (Jack Romano). He isn't drafted, but instead quits the band to pursue his acceptance into college. Oh, and Eddie is no longer his brother.
"We got rid of Pete immediately," showrunner Scott Neustadter tells EW. "I was always thinking about the Pete Best version of somebody who — when you're really young and you're at the crossroads of your life — you can either take a huge risk and join a rock band and hope that something happens for you, or you can not do that, because how frequently does that work out? Knowing that the band becomes huge, you can have fun watching somebody make the wrong choice."
"He has to still be alive to make the wrong choice," he adds, clarifying the removal of any Vietnam subplot. "There's some stuff on the cutting room floor that's conversations about Vietnam and ... that time and the draft. At the end of the day, there was enough heavy stuff in the early episodes."
However, that does mean that the Six are not actually comprised of six musicians, making Camila (Camila Morrone) the honorary bonus member of the band.
Daisy Jones is not her real name
In the novel, Daisy Jones is born almost fully-formed with the name of a rock star (or at least, her parents call her Daisy on the page). But in the show, she actively makes the decision to become someone else, pivoting away from Margaret, as her mother calls her, and writing Daisy Jones in her diary, re-christening herself with the perfect flower power moniker for a budding rock goddess.
Lacey Terrell/Prime Video Riley Keough as Daisy Jones
Daisy's first sexual experience is more explicitly assault
In the book, Daisy is a precocious teen who cruises the Sunset Strip and tries to find her way into clubs and backrooms with the musicians and bands she loves. She tells a story of ending up in a hotel room at the Riot House with a drummer after being invited up to do lines of cocaine. They end up on his bed and she says "yes even though the answer was no." She lies back and stares at the ceiling until he's done. It's definitely dubious, particularly because she's underage.
In the show, this moment is made even more explicitly into assault as a hotel room door closes on Daisy, clearly led to believe she was going to a party with many other people. It does not show us what happens to her teenage self until she is out at the Riot House pool, sitting alone and clearly traumatized. We then cut to an older Daisy telling a documentarian, "I was a baby."
The rock documentary framing is only 20 years after the band's break-up
In the novel, years and years have passed since the band's final concert in the late 1970s. The oral history that we're "reading" is supposed to take place in about 2016, not all that far off from the novel's 2019 publication.
The show keeps the idea of an oral history, transforming the book into its visual equivalent of a rock documentary. But it bumps up to the late 1990s, about 20 years after the band's implosion.
"The one obvious change is that Taylor's writing about 70-year-olds looking back on their lives in their 20s," Neustadter says. "We wanted to accelerate the story a little bit." That also means the cast didn't have to undergo excessive prosthetics and make-up to sell the age difference.
Camila meets Billy at a laundromat, not a bar
On the page, Billy and Camila meet at a hotel cocktail bar, where she is a waitress and he is wrapping up after playing a wedding at the hotel. The show gives them more of a meet cute in the laundromat where he has to admit he still lives with his mom and wrongfully assumed Camila recognizes him as a musician.
Karen is British
On the page, the Six are all from the Pittsburgh area, where they first meet Karen (Suki Waterhouse). But here, she's a bit more of a rolling stone, having made her way from England to the U.S. as she tries to find a spot with a band that will make it to the top.
Lacey Terrell/Prime Video Camila Morrone as Camila
Camila goes to Los Angeles from the start
In the book, Camila is furious with Billy for deciding to move to Los Angeles, and they essentially break up — until he calls her to tell her he has a record deal and proposes over the phone. Here, she's part of the Six and their journey from the start, driving across the country with them in a VW bus and helping them try to land their big break.
Billy Dunne has to chase Teddy Price
In the book, it's tour manager Rod Reyes (Timothy Olyphant) who helps the Six take off. He books them rooms at the Hyatt House and gets them paying gigs on the Sunset Strip, which leads to them being discovered by record producer Teddy Price (Tom Wright), who then invites himself to a rehearsal and signs the band to a record deal.
In the show, Rod essentially blows off the Six when they look him up in California, calling in a favor to get them a gig at Filthy McNasty's that gets them nowhere. One night, after a chance encounter, Billy corners Teddy outside a market before giving him a speech that convinces him to come hear the band play.
The Six only release one album to moderate success before Daisy enters their lives
In the novel, the Six find a degree of success on their own terms before Daisy Jones joins them and shoots them into the stratosphere.
While still in Pittsburgh, they record a demo and they aren't in Los Angeles all that long before they record 1974's The Six and 1976's SevenEightNine, which features Daisy Jones on "Honeycomb" before embarking on recording their hit-making album Aurora.
When Daisy joins them on their second tour, it's then that a Rolling Stone article gets Teddy and the band to consider making her a permanent member of the group. On the show, the band only gets a single, moderately successful tour cut short by Billy's trip to rehab before Daisy comes into the picture.
Lacey Terrell/Prime Video Tom Wright (Teddy), Suki Waterhouse (Karen), Josh Whitehouse (Eddie)
Eddie has very specific reasons for resenting Billy
In the novel, Eddie is a pain in the butt, but he's a guy we've all met before. You know, the guy who will find anything to complain about, the one who is never happy, the guy who just knows that he can do anything better than the person doing it.
But the show works to give Eddie stronger motivations for his jealousy and resentment. For starters, we learn that he's had a crush on Camila since the two used to walk home from Sunday school together; he calls her a girl who's easy to fall in love with. He's particularly upset because of Billy's infidelity and addiction issues, vowing that he would never treat Camila that way.
Additionally, we learn that Eddie always wanted to be the frontman to the band and has been continually shunted to the side. First, he's forced to play bass when Chuck quits the band. Then, when it seems Billy won't return to the Six (which is also a plot point new to the show), Eddie throws his hat in the ring to replace him — only to have Billy eventually return to assume his spot.
"Honeycomb" becomes "Look at Us Now (Honeycomb)"
Though we still get "Honeycomb" as a song title for the first single that Daisy Jones and the Six collaborate on, the content of the song is quite different. In the novel, Billy writes it for Camila as a promise of the life she wants in North Carolina when they get older. Now, renamed "Look at Us Now" after a line in the chorus, the song is more about reaching an emotional destination with a partner.
Astute viewers will note that none of the original songs in the show match the lyrics in the novel. "The lyrics were something we chose really early that we just have to let them go," explains Neustadter. "When we went to these music people, we were giving them a lot of constraints. You have to write a song from this perspective. We were giving them a lot of, 'It has to be about this.' These songs tell the stories, and they have a narrative function. Even if you've changed the words, the story that they're telling, you have to write that song."
"What we didn't want to do is say, 'And you have to use all these lyrics that are in the book,'" he adds. "Because it's hard enough to sort of write a great song. Plus, they're professional songwriters who will come up with something really incredible if you let them. Taylor was like, 'You don't even have my blessing, you have my encouragement. Don't use any of the lyrics; let them write the songs.'"
Lacey Terrell/Prime Video Riley Keough and Sam Claflin as Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne
Daisy doesn't open for the Six on tour — instead, she joins them at a music festival
In the novel, Daisy, who already has released her own album, opens for the Six on their SevenEightNine tour. While on tour, a Rolling Stone reporter is writing an article about the Six, but seeing Daisy opening for them, he suggests that she join the band full-time.
Here, that tour is basically non-existent. Instead, the Six play a music festival in Hawaii, where Daisy is invited to perform "Look At Us Now" alongside them. When she stays on stage the rest of the show, the world assumes she will join the band.
Camila and Billy throw a party
In their new Laurel Canyon digs, Camila and Billy throw a party for their bandmates and other music industry pals. The party is where Daisy finally confronts Billy about whether he wants her to join the band, and it's not a direct result of the Rolling Stone article.
The party is also where things between Graham and Karen take a turn, with Graham taking a chance and kissing her, and Karen rejecting him. In the novel, the tension between them comes to a head while on tour, and she initiates their relationship.
Lacey Terrell/Prime Video Riley Keough and Sam Claflin on 'Daisy Jones and the Six'
Billy and Daisy use Teddy's house uninvited
In the novel, Teddy offers up his guest house as a space for Billy and Daisy to work on their songwriting together. Daisy does break into the main house to borrow a swimsuit, but they're there at his invitation. Here, Daisy simply finds the spare key and lets herself and Billy into Teddy's house without his knowledge.
Billy kisses Daisy
In the book, the tension between Daisy and Billy is palpable, particularly as they come to understand each other while writing an album together. While songwriting, Daisy leans in to kiss Billy and he pulls back, instead choosing to go home to Camila.
In the show, Billy does kiss Daisy — in the parking lot at recording studio Sound City. He says it's only to get her to sing a song the way he wants, but the man is excellent at lying to himself.
Lacey Terrell/Prime Video Sam Claflin as Billy, Josh Whitehouse as Eddie, Will Harrison as Graham, Sebastian Chacon as Warren, Suki Waterhouse as Karen
Camila takes the photograph that becomes the Aurora cover
In the novel, a famous rock photographer takes the Aurora album cover, which features Billy and Daisy's torsos in close-up, their tension evident in the composition. But in the show, Camila is a photographer with her own dreams, which begin with her taking pictures of the Six.
There is a professional photographer on set, but Camila is ultimately the one that snaps the picture they use, captured while Daisy and Billy are having an argument about the kiss. "I liked the notion that she would capture something that a professional couldn't because she knows the principles so well," showrunner Scott Neustadter tells EW. "Seeing this thing happen on the mountaintop and the argument that they're having and knowing that doesn't look like a fight between two work collaborators, and deciding to pick up her camera and shoot it because it's good for them and good for the band. At the end of the day, their success is so important to her."
For Camila Morrone, it was also a moment of agency for her character. "It was nice to see that Camila also had her own passion and dreams," she tells EW. "She was on her own trajectory, and it wasn't all about Billy to her. That's a really beautiful moment when she actually takes this incredible photograph and it's better than anything the professional, hired photographer had taken. It goes to show that even though she wasn't like loud and center, there was so much depth and talent to her. That was a beautiful showcase moment for her and a validating moment — that her work was worthy."
Warner Music Daisy Jones and the Six's 'Aurora'
Camila has a "thing" with Eddie
In the novel, Camila is dutifully faithful to Billy, but here, she gets to explore a bit of her own hurt and desires. After witnessing the tension between Billy and Daisy, she decides to take a night for herself on the town and visits the Riot House rooftop bar, where she runs into Eddie. We don't know what passes between them, but something happens that allows her to feel she's reclaimed some piece of herself.
Morrone admits it was initially difficult for her to accept the choices Camila makes there (and that they filmed more that we didn't see). "There are some quite shocking deleted scenes," she teases. "There's a lot more that happened that didn't end up making it, and it left it in this mysterious place of what really happened between Eddie and Camila."
"But I was definitely shocked," she continues. "At first I was like, 'This isn't the right choice for her. I don't like this. I want to keep her this untouchable, holy, perfect woman who always makes the right choice, that she had been in the book.' The more Scott talked to me about it and told me how essential this was in her growth as a woman and her coming of age and coming into her own body and taking a power back that Camila felt she had lost. This was a moment in time where she felt so unseen and unloved and threatened. She did what she did with Eddie out of desire for herself to get the reins back in her life. Ultimately, it was the right choice."
Daisy goes to Greece
In the novel, in between recording Aurora and touring, Daisy travels to Thailand (and then jaunts further around the world). Here, she escapes to a remote island in Greece.
Simone is queer — and comes up in New York City
On the page, Simone is a far more peripheral character — one of Daisy's closest friends, who flits into her life when she's most in trouble, but with no real identity of her own. Here, she is given her own storyline as she struggles to move from back-up singer to disco star. Part of that also includes her new queer identity and her love story with DJ Bernie (Ayesha Harris). It's Bernie who first helps Simone find her niche and her place in the disco scene in New York.
"It makes total sense for the character," Nabiyah Be, who portrays Simone, says. "And it makes it more truthful to what the disco era meant for the LGBTQ community."
Lacey Terrell/Prime Video Nabiyah Be as Simone
Simone is there for Daisy's wedding
In the novel, Daisy asks Simone to join her on her vacation in Phuket, Thailand. But by the time Simone gets there, Daisy is gone, gallivanting around the world with Nicky. Here, Daisy and Nicky stay put in Greece, and Simone and Bernie come to visit and witness Daisy's wedding to Nick. The two also end up fighting over Daisy's choices, and Daisy accuses Simone of being in love with her.
Be says there's no truth to Daisy's hurtful supposition. "Maybe [there was] when they were first meeting," she surmises. "But it was a very offensive question in that moment. She's so much at service to her friend."
Nicky is Irish, not Italian
The book has Nicky (Gavin Drea) as an Italian who claims to be a prince (though in truth, he has no money and sucks Daisy dry for hers). Here, he is Irish with claims to the landed nobility. He's still a bad influence on Daisy, but perhaps not as totally shady as he is in the book.
Daisy wants to quit music
In the book, Daisy is quite intent on returning to the United States for her tour with the Six and enjoying the success of Aurora. But here, she contemplates staying in Greece, wanting to run away from Billy and everything that caused her pain.
Lacey Terrell/Prime Video Riley Keough as Daisy Jones
Karen tells the band about her and Graham's relationship
On the page, Karen is insistent that she and Graham keep their hook-up sessions a secret. She's reluctant to name their relationship as anything other than a physical connection, and she fears how the band will view her if they know about her and Graham. But in the show, Karen tells Warren and Eddie one night on the tour bus that she and Graham are f–ing after being fed up with their relentless teasing about Graham's disinterest in groupies.
Billy finds Daisy in the shower
Daisy's overdose and near-death experience is a sobering moment in the book, but it's made utterly heartbreaking on the show. In the novel, it happens in Italy and Simone happens to arrive in time to find and save Daisy. But here, Nicky calls Rod for help — and Billy is the one to rush into the shower and desperately try to save her life. The change makes a wake-up call for Daisy also a moment of connection and understanding between her and Billy as they both struggle with their feelings for each other and the temptations of their addictions.
The band is there when Daisy leaves Nicky
In the novel, Daisy leaves Nicky behind in Italy and seeks a divorce. Here, they have a messy break-up that the entire band bears witness to. They even jump to her defense when Nicky threatens her, willing to physically protect her if need be.
Lacey Terrell/Prime Video Daisy and Billy wait in the hospital waiting room after Teddy's heart attack
Teddy survives
Teddy Price has a new lease on life! His heart attack in the novel is deadly, killing him instantly. Here, he is hospitalized but survives. He does eventually die in the early 1980s, but at least he gets a bit of a reprieve. It is his death that sends the book spiraling to its conclusion, with Daisy and Billy feeling set adrift by the loss and unable to continue making music together.
Billy and Camila don't have twins
The Dunne family is a bit smaller in the series. In the midst of Aurora and their massive success, Camila also gives birth to twins. But the two extra members of their family are missing from the series (though Camila does ask Billy about trying for another baby).
The band goes home
As part of their touring schedule, the band goes home to Pittsburgh. Billy, Daisy, Graham, and Camila stay at Billy's mother's house. There, they have a BBQ where they see Chuck Loving again, who is now a dentist with financial security (though he clearly regrets his life choices). This entire set-up is not part of the novel.
Lacey Terrell/Prime Video Camila Morrone as Camila
Daisy tells Billy they should be together (and Camila overhears)
On the page, Daisy and Billy keep their feelings for each other to themselves. The tension and love is very clearly there, but they never admit it to each other outright. Instead, here, after Billy has offered to take her to rehab and helped her through their SNL performance, she tells him, "We should be together." Billy, in turn, says he wants that too. Unbeknownst to them both, Camila overhears all of this.
Camila confronts Billy over Daisy
Though not officially part of the band, Camila sees all, including the chemistry and longing between Daisy and Billy. In the novel, Camila never approaches Billy about it. But in the series, she angrily confronts him, pushing him to admit he kissed Daisy. But she doesn't care about that — all she wants to know is if he loves Daisy.
Eddie tells Billy he's leaving the band
Eddie's exit in the novel is more of a whimper than a bang, leaving after the Soldier Field show without telling anyone. Here, it's filled with drama. First, he confronts Billy to tell him he's leaving the band after reaching his breaking point of living in Billy's shadow. The two have a fistfight and Eddie taunts him with hints of his fling with Camila. Ultimately, he does apologize to Billy during the show, but an intoxicated Billy tells him he's done and Eddie accepts his fate.
Billy falls off the wagon
Billy Dunne is a recovering alcoholic, and in the series, we see him relapse. On the page, Billy contemplates taking a shot of tequila, but he is saved by a fellow bar patron from giving in to his demons. In the series, after a fights with Eddie and Camila and a last-ditch call to Teddy, Billy willingly accepts a drink from a random jerk in a bar. It sends him down a massive spiral, where he's drinking from a flask onstage and even snorting cocaine in the wings.
Daisy talks to her mom
Once Daisy strikes out on her own in the book, her parents basically disown her. But she does have one last point of contact with her mother in the show. Her mother sends her a package, and Daisy is touched by the urge to reconnect — only for her mother to chastise her for calling herself an "orphan" in the press.
Simone performs at the Soldier Field show
Simone is very much her own entity in the novel, but she has a different level of closeness with Daisy in the series. That includes sharing the infamous final concert at Soldier Field. Simone comes out to perform with them, earning a raucous introduction from Daisy.
Billy kisses Daisy again — and makes an offer to be with her
The series gives us not one, but TWO Daisy and Billy kisses. Heavily intoxicated backstage and thinking he's lost Camila for good, Billy kisses Daisy again, giving in to his desire to be with her. Then, after snorting some cocaine, he makes her an offer. "Let's be broken together," he says. Definitely a romantic proposal there, Billy.
Lacey Terrell/Prime Video Camila Morrone as Camila with little Julia
Billy chases after Camila
With a nudge from Daisy, Billy realizes in the encore that he needs to chase after Camila one last time. He races to the hotel where he finds her packing in their hotel room. He tells her that he's never let her see all of him, but she retorts that she does regardless. Their ending is left in question, until Billy tells us later how he went to rehab and won Camila back.
In the novel, there's no need for Billy to chase Camila because a) he doesn't relapse and b) Camila never confronts him about Daisy. Instead, after the Soldier Field show, Camila visits Daisy in the hotel and asks her to leave the band to protect her marriage and her family. And Daisy does as Camila asks, later saying that Camila saved her life that night.
Billy reveals the documentarian is his daughter
By now, you know that Julia, Billy and Camila's daughter, is the documentarian getting the full story of the Six. But the series shook up that reveal a bit, giving it to Billy instead of Daisy. The book first reveals that's the case when Daisy remembers that Julia was there the night Camila asked her to go, and Julia vaguely remembers it. But here, we get it from Billy, who directly asks his daughter a question.
Lacey Terrell/Prime Video Suki Waterhouse as Karen and Will Harrison as Graham
Karen did love Graham, but she lied to him
Book Karen Sirko is far too cool to still have feelings for Graham Dunne. She's not interested in what Graham wants, kids and a family — and Graham doesn't offer her a life that honors that request. Instead, she goes off to pursue her dream of being a member of a rock band and playing music. In the series, though, she's a bit more of a martyr. Graham offers to give up his dream of a traditional family and spend the rest of his life on the road with her. But Karen knows that's not what he really wants, so she tells him she doesn't love him. Later, we learn from the older Karen that she told Graham what he needed to hear, but that she wasn't honest with him, i.e. she did love him.
Daisy and Billy do reconnect
The novel leaves the question of whether Daisy and Billy ever reconnect an open-ended one. We see Camila's note to Julia and the twins, asking them to give Billy Daisy's number and that the two owe her a song. And that's it. The series takes things one step further, showing us Billy on Daisy's doorstep and her opening the door, smiling to see him. What happens from there is still open to interpretation. But at least we know they tried.
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