As fans are experiencing Fool Me Once's shocking twist ending for the first time, star Michelle Keegan broke down her thoughts on the mind-blowing conclusion.
The hit Netflix series adapted from Harlan Coben's 2016 novel of the same name, centered on Keegan's Maya Stern, a widow whose husband mysteriously reappears on a nanny cam after his death.
While that plot point is eye-popping in and of itself, the shocking twists and turns did not stop there, with the series' ending causing plenty of speculation online.
Michelle Keegan's Fool Me Once Ending Take
Warning - the rest of this article contains spoilers for Fool Me Once.
In a recent interview, Fool Me Once star Michelle Keegan offered up her thoughts on the series twist ending.
During a conversation with British morning show This Morning, Keegan remembered reading the book the hit Netflix drama was based on in "two days," letting out a "really loud gasp" when she got to the end:
“Oh no, I literally did it in two days. I was on holiday. I remember I got to the end, and because there is a massive massive twist - like big big twist - and I remember getting to that moment, and I let out a really loud gasp. I was around the pool, and everyone was like, 'Huh, what’s going on?'"
It was upon reading the book's incredible ending twist - which sees main character Maya Stern being revealed to have killed her husband to hide dirty family secrets - that Keegan knew this was the story she "want[ed] to do:"
"I could not believe it. And that is when - after reading the book - I was like, that’s what I want to do. It is a proper binge."
As for how well the TV show adapted the book, Keegan posited "it is similar" with changes made to fill "eight hours worth of television:"
“Yeah, it is similar. The start and the end. But there’s some subplots running through it to sort of fill out the storyline a bit more because obviously, we’ve got to film eight hours worth of television. There are a lot of stories in there that we have to put in.”
She reminisced about having Fool Me Once author Harlan Coben privy to these changes, as the renowned writer was in the room with her for some of her earliest read-throughs:
“Yeah, he came to the read-through. So, after I got the job, I was doing the read-through, and he was in the room. It was a bit daunting because, obviously, I’d never met him before. And I’m a huge, huge fan. I’d watched 'Stay Close.' I’d watched 'The Stranger.' I’m obsessed with thrillers as a genre. So, to have him in the room when you’re doing a read-through was really daunting.”
One of the biggest plot points Keegan had the chance of diving into in the Fool Me Once series was going head-to-head with her character's conniving mother-in-law, Judith Burkett.
Burkett was brought to life by Dame Joanna Lumley, who Keegan remembers watching on the hit British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous (ABFAB), calling it "madness" that she gets to work with the beloved TV star all these years later:
"But working with her, honestly, when I was younger I used to go out to my cousin’s house a lot, and she was obsessed with 'ABFAB.' And I remember watching when I was younger and I thought, 'Imagine someone told me in a few years’ time, you’d be playing her daughter-in-law.' It’s mad. It’s madness."
Keegan revealed she loved playing off Lumley on-screen as two "real strong [female characters who] don’t back down:"
“I think that is why the scenes that we do when I’m working with Joanna [Lumley], honestly I get so excited about our scene because we go head-to-head, and because we they are both real strong females, and they don’t back down. And I think that is why they clash so much."
Does Fool Me Once Hint at a Season 2?
Since Fool Me Once's January 1 release, there has been no word from Netflix on a potential renewal for a Season 2 of the thrilling series.
Fool Me Once is just the latest in a string of Netflix adaptations of Harlan Coben novels, following in the footsteps of The Woods and Hold Tight.
Seeing as none of those series have gotten the Season 2 greenlight, Fool Me Once likely will not as well.
Plus, it is not as though it is begging for one given the way the show ended.
Fool Me Once's shocking twist-ending closed out the show's narrative pretty definitively with Michelle Keegan's Maya killed, and her murderer exposed along with the conspiracy being perpetrated by the Burkett family.
This particular story seems to be over. But that is not to say Netflix is done with Coben and his work.
According to a 2022 report from Deadline, Netflix is set to adapt even more of the mystery author's books, with the next set to be a take on the popular 11-book Myron Bolitar series of novels.
This adds even more books to the collection of Coben stories Netflix currently owns the rights to, so surely, the streaming giant is going to be in the business of series just like Fool Me Once for quite a long time.
Fool Me Once is streaming now on Netflix.
