Scott Pilgrim Takes Off Duo Explains the Netflix Premiere’s Jaw-Dropping Twist Ending: ‘It Felt Like the Right Choice’

Andy Swift
·2 min read

Whether your knowledge of the Scott Pilgrim franchise is limited to 2010’s live-action Scott Pilgrim vs. the World movie, or you’ve been a devoted reader of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novels since 2004, there’s absolutely no way you could have predicted the game-changing twist at the heart of Netflix’s anime-inspired series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. And if you say you did, you’re lying.

Now streaming, the show’s unassuming first episode eases viewers into Scott’s now-animated world, at times feeling like a shot-for-shot remake of the film. (It certainly doesn’t hurt that the entire live-action cast, led by Michael Cera as the titular bass guitarist, has returned to voice their cartoon counterparts.)

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It all feels very familiar as Scott meets the literal girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers (once again voiced by Mary Elizabeth Winstead), only to discover that he must defeat her seven evil exes — beginning with Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha) — in order to win her hand.

And just when viewers are lulled into a false sense of nostalgic security, along comes the twist of the century: Instead of winning his match with Matthew, Scott is defeated (and killed?!), irrevocably altering the trajectory of the story. From this point on, even the savviest Scott Pilgrim fans are in uncharted territory, where they’ll remain for the next seven episodes.

“That’s the hope,” executive producer BenDavid Grabinski tells TVLine of catching the fans off guard. “We’ve spent all this time making it with the desire that no one would know until they hit play on opening night, and with the hope that people would find that really entertaining and surprising. It just felt like the right choice to us.”

To conjure this unexpected development, O’Malley says he went back how he felt while writing the original graphic novel. As he explains, “No one knew that Scott was going to fight someone at the end and that it was going to get so wild. It starts out pretty normal. But now everyone knows that, so what else? How could we surprise them this time? I think we found a good way.”

In addition to keeping things interesting, Grabinski sees the twist as “a device to spend more time with the characters and find new ways to make it deeper and more emotional.” Taking the focus off of Scott allowed them to “do more things with Ramona and the ensemble, and to spend more time with the exes,” which he feels is a “great story idea.”

Your thoughts on Scott Pilgrim‘s big premiere twist? The show in general? Grade Episode 1 below, then drop a comment with your full review.

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