Netflix's My Oxford Year completely changed the ending from the book
4 August 2025, 16:23
How is the ending to Netflix's My Oxford Year different to the book? Corey Mylchreest has defended the new ending.
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If you have watched My Oxford Year, you might be wondering why the ending is so different to the book it's based on. Now, Corey Mylchreest has opened up about the plot change and why he thinks it was necessary for the movie.
Netflix's My Oxford Year tells the emotional love story of Anna (Sofia Carson), an American student, and Jamie (Corey Mylchreest), a literature professor. Jamie teaches Anna during her year abroad at Oxford and the pair quickly fall for each other. However, Jamie is harbouring a dark secret that throws their entire relationship into question.
My Oxford Year is an adaptation of the Julia Whelan novel of the same name but the ending strays pretty far from the source material. So how does the book end? Here's what Corey Mylchreest has said about the altered ending.
WARNING: My Oxford Year spoilers below
Watch Netflix's My Oxford Year trailer
How does My Oxford Year end?
Jamie is originally unwilling to commit to Anna. Anna later discovers that he doesn't want to date her because he has a genetic form of cancer which means he will likely die young. He also refuses to undergo treatment because it's so painful and he doesn't want to waste what time he has left. Anna decides to stay with Jamie in spite of his illness.
At the end of the film, Anna wakes to finds Jamie unresponsive. She takes him to hospital and he dies in her arms as they imagine travelling in Europe together. After Jamie's death, Anna then travels to all the places they dreamed of visiting together. In a flash-forward, we then see Anna teaching the same class Jamie once taught her.
Does Jamie die in the My Oxford Year book?
In the original My Oxford Year book, Anna and Jamie's travel sequence isn't imagined. After taking part in a clinical health trial, Jamie's health improves and he travels Europe with Anna. The book then ends with Anna reflecting on their relationship saying that Jamie "altered the trajectory of [her] life".
Whether or not Jamie dies is never actually confirmed, leaving it up to the viewers to interpret for themselves.
Discussing the ending change with Cosmopolitan, Corey revealed: "It's better like that. It's more powerful. That is the direction that the book is heading in, and it would feel like hypocrisy for Jamie to speak all these things and for Anna to be understanding that philosophy of life [and not end there]."
He added: "The impressive thing is that Jamie believes all of these things - forever is composed of nows - and he doesn't have that many nows left. What's really amazing is that he's doing all of this stuff and believes all these things with really not that much time left."
Corey ended by saying: "If that wasn't true, it would feel like we're undervaluing his beliefs."
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