It’s taken 10 years and a name change for the adaptation of ITV’s Unforgiven starring Sandra Bullock to arrive, but The Unforgivable is, at last, streaming on Netflix. There are a few major differences between the original UK miniseries and the new film — the movie transplants the story across the pond to the States, for one — but there are also quite a few more subtle changes that make the update its own distinct animal. These choices may not be “unforgivable,” but they certainly won’t be unforgotten. Read on to learn more.

A More Talkative Ruth

Suranne Jones, who plays Ruth in the miniseries, gives a very different performance from the one Sandra Bullock opts for in the Netflix remake. Bullock’s Ruth wears her pain on her face and speaks rarely, whereas Jones is almost hyperactively verbose. Jones is also far more affable, with a less combative relationship with her parole officer and a more openly flirtatious banter with her colleague at work. She even offers to help a neighbor carry his groceries up the stairs of their apartment building (Bullock’s Ruth, meanwhile, gets into a fistfight with a roommate). It registers as a very different way of coping with the same trauma.

A Supernatural Subplot

That’s right: In the miniseries version, John and Izzie are terrorized by a mischievous poltergeist. After a jar is seemingly hurled through a glass cabinet, Izzie grows convinced that something sinister must have happened in their home. John is unconvinced until the family returns home to find their coffee table turned upside down and the words “HELP ME” written on top of it. As they investigate the history of the building, they learn about Ruth’s standoff with the police and its tragic aftermath. Soon, it becomes clear that the “poltergeist” was, in fact, the couple’s children playing a prank on their mother, but it’s too late to take back what they now know about Ruth.

A Focus on Katie

In the Netflix incarnation, Katie’s story unfolds largely in the background of Ruth’s. On the other hand, in the miniseries, Katie’s story is expanded, adding a therapy scene that reveals she was drunk and suicidal during her car accident. While Katie struggles to remember her time with Ruth in the series, she has one distinct memory of being held by Ruth on a rock wall overlooking a field of cows. We also hear more about her struggle with an imposter syndrome that feels directly rooted in her adoption: She worries that her birth parents weren’t smart enough to pass on their intelligence to their daughter. Katie is also more active during the climax of the ITV series, driving to the scene of the kidnapping with Ruth rather than simply arriving after the standoff is already over. 

A Conflicted Antagonist

In both the film and miniseries, Ruth is terrorized by her victim’s children, Steve and Keith. In The Unforgivable, Keith is the aggressor. He watches Ruth leave prison and follows her to her new apartment, plotting to kidnap and brutalize her. Keith guilts his brother Steve into joining his plot, and Steve acts on his own out of rage after finding Keith sleeping with his wife. In the miniseries, Steve is interested in Ruth from the beginning, and Keith only encourages him from a distance, rather than initiating the scheme. Steve also never stalks Ruth in the UK version. He merely passes her in the street by coincidence and, later, he encounters her after being assigned by his boss to fix her apartment’s heat. At one point, his plot to kidnap her is foiled when one of Ruth’s neighbors joins her for tea. While installing a television set, Steve learns about Ruth’s sister and plans to kidnap her. This scene is slightly mirrored in the Bullock version, where we see Steve infiltrate Ruth’s workplace and question her about her relationship with her sister. 

An Extended Epilogue

The longer runtime of the miniseries allows the climax to be far more drawn-out. Steve kidnaps Katie’s sister Emily onscreen in the show, but the film reveals his mixup only after Ruth confronts him. In The Unforgivable film, Ruth also has the opportunity to hear Katie play piano before the kidnapping plot is revealed, and she and Izzie are forced to work together with Katie and her parents to find Emily. In the film, Steve directly tells Ruth where he is. In the series, Izzie determines the location from Steve’s wife, who she had previously spoken to about the history of her home. The show includes an incredibly brief car chase that the filmmakers have eliminated, which sees Steve die in a crash rather than being arrested. The film ends with a silent hug between the reunited sisters, while in the miniseries, Katie and Ruth have the opportunity to speak to each other. Ruth tells Katie that she was the one holding her in Katie’s memory with the cows. She also continues to preserve the story’s big secret, that it was Katie and not Ruth who shot the policemen 17 years ago. Katie’s adoptive father, who until now stood in the way of their meeting, allows them to trade phone numbers. The show ends here on roughly the same optimistic note as the film, albeit with a few more details.