Firefly Lane Ending Explained — Plus, Why [Spoiler] Didn’t Die and What *Has* to Happen in Season 2 of the Netflix Series
Warning: Do not read on if you don’t want to know the big Season 2 twist!
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If you’re like us, you happily binged Netflix’ guilty pleasure Firefly Lane only to get to the final episode and say… what the hell? Because after sitting through 10 hours of the Katherine Heigl/Sarah Chalke series — based on the bestselling novel by Kristin Hannah — we were left with a lot more questions than answers.
Perhaps the biggest of those questions was what, exactly, happened to drive a wedge between gal pals Kate and Tully. In Season 1’s final moments, Kate unleashed some serious aggression on her lifelong friend. “When I said I could never forgive you for what you did,” she shouted, “what did you think that meant?”
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Darned if we know, given that what caused the rift was one of several dangling threads we can only hope will be picked up, should the show be greenlit for a second season. But based on what happens in the source material, we’re pretty sure we know why the women were at odds. But before we spill the beans, one last warning to stop reading if you’d rather not know that…
… in the book, the two women have a fight after Tully publicly humiliates Kate on her talk show, The Girlfriend Hour. Kate thinks that she and daughter Marah are appearing on the gabfest as a way of working out their recent differences. Instead, Kate is basically made out to be the world’s worst mom by both Tully and the other guests.
Ouch.
The friendship-ending feud could also have been caused by another incident from the book which takes place after those depicted in the Netflix series. When last we saw Johnny, he was serving in Iraq and appeared to have been caught in an explosion. While Netflix left his fate up in the air — talk about a cliffhanger! — the book reveals that Johnny survives but is badly injured. Tully later earns Kate’s rage (and a soap-worthy slap) by sneaking into Johnny’s hospital room in an attempt to get an exclusive interview even as he is fighting for his life.
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Elsewhere, those who read the book were also likely surprised by one major plot that was dropped entirely: Toward the end of the novel, Chalke’s Kate is diagnosed with breast cancer and eventually passes away. The lesser-known, definitively darker follow-up novel, Fly Away, picks the story up four years after Kate’s demise, focusing on Tully’s efforts to go on without the best friend who was, in most regards, her true soulmate.
It seems likely the folks behind the Netflix adaptation realized that the Kate storyline would be better served in a second season as opposed to being shoehorned into the already jam-packed freshman outing.
So what did you think of Firefly Lane? If Netflix moves forward with another season, will you be tuning in? Share your thoughts in the comment section, then balance out the girl power on display in the series by checking out the real-life bromances shared by some of your favorite soap stars and highlighted in the gallery below.
