Book to Screen
‘Ransom Canyon’: 6 Biggest Changes Between the Book & Netflix Series
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Ransom Canyon Season 1 and Jodi Thomas’ book.]
There’s a new addictive Netflix drama in town! Ransom Canyon dropped all episodes of Season 1 on April 17. The cowboy soap is adapted from Jodi Thomas’ novel of the same name, and just like Virgin River and Sweet Magnolias, the Netflix series made big changes from the novel. There were some major timeline differences and character additions as Thomas’ novel became a TV show.
Did you read the novel, or are you curious about picking it up? Swooon is here to tell you how the Netflix version of Ransom Canyon changed from Thomas’ book. Then you can decide if you want to start reading the series to figure out what it means for future Ransom Canyon seasons as we learn more about the ranchers and young lovers in this exciting world.
1. The timeline
The first Ransom Canyon novel starts five years after Randall’s death, while the Netflix series shows Randall’s death and then time jumps only a year later, making Staten’s grief more compounded. Another big difference is that Sam Kirkland (Brett Cullen), Staten’s (Josh Duhamel) father, is the one who gave Randall the sports car instead of Davis. A lot of the tension that exists between Staten and Davis (Eoin Macken) in the show is inspired by the tense relationship between Staten and his father in the books. And there’s a good reason for that…
2. The love triangle
Davis Collins is not a major player in the Ransom Canyon novel, let alone involved with Quinn (Minka Kelly). She and Staten are already sleeping together when the book starts, but it’s a casual relationship that allows both of them to process their respective grief. Quinn wants more, and they struggle to define their relationship throughout the novel, but Davis is not the one keeping them apart. The complicated backstory between the three of them was brought in by the Netflix series and is a crucial part of the first season of the show.
Instead, a lot of the drama between Quinn and Staten in the novel comes from the trauma she experienced in New York. There’s still time for the Netflix series to incorporate that into Quinn’s storyline on the show because the first season did not fully explain what stopped Quinn from returning to her musical career in New York after Amalah died. In the book, Quinn is brutally assaulted and attacked, which is why she keeps to herself on her lavender farm. Her attacker shows up in the canyon, forcing Quinn to detail what she went through to Staten. That brings them closer before Quinn discovers that she’s pregnant. The first novel ends with them moving in together on Staten’s ranch, which is far from what happens to them at the end of Ransom Canyon Season 1.
3. Yancy’s past
Davis’ past isn’t the only one that got a creative overhaul for the first season. Yancy (Jack Schumacher) from the books also comes to town after a stint in prison looking to get rich and start over. In the book, he finds a job at The Evening Shadows Retirement Community. That’s how he meets Ellie (Marianly Tejada), who works there as a nurse and Cap (James Brolin), who has already retired and is a patient at the home. The Netflix series kept Ellie’s nursing background, but in the novel she’s Cap’s niece. The show ditched that in favor of giving Yancy a secret blood relationship with Cap while the old rancher and Ellie are just very close.
Anna Kooris / Netflix
5. Kit Russell
Lucas Russell (Garrett Waering) is very present in the Ransom Canyon novel, and his storyline is mostly the same. He’s a very smart kid from a troubled home. He works on Staten’s ranch and starts up a relationship with the sheriff’s daughter, Lauren (Lizzy Greene). However, the book version of Lucas doesn’t have a delinquent older brother Kit (Casey W. Johnson) with direct involvement in Randall’s death — at least not in the first book. Kit’s big secret is a major component of Ransom Canyon Season 1 and was beefed up for the TV adaptation.
6. The sheriff and his family
Kit’s involvement in the season being a dramatic license also meant that some creative liberties were taken with Sheriff Brigman (Philip Winchester) and his personal storyline. The sheriff does have an estranged marriage in the novel, but it’s because his wife left him and their daughter for a better job. Alcoholism wasn’t part of the separation, nor was an affair with Kit Russell. The Netflix creative team wove that storyline together, making the sheriff a lot more of a tragic figure in the series than he is in the book.
Ransom Canyon, Season 1, Streaming Now, Netflix.
