Bill & Ted Face The Music's Original Ending Was Too Much Of A Bummer

3 years ago

Bill & Ted Face The Music's Original Ending Was Too Much Of A Bummer

Writer Ed Solomon reveals that the original ending of Bill & Ted Face the Music was changed because it was far too sad. Bill and Ted Face the Music is the third movie in the Bill & Ted film series and was only recently released in late August.

Bill & Ted Face the Music stars Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves as Bill and Ted, respectively. The movie focuses on Bill and Ted in yet another adventure, with the two almost-rockers jumping through time to try and save the world. Although the trilogy's second installment came nearly three decades prior - Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey released in 1991 - positive reviews from critics and fans alike show that Face the Music is well worth the wait.

Collider interviewed Bill & Ted Face the Music's co-writer Ed Solomon, who highlights that the released ending is actually quite different from the originally intended one. Solomon states that the first draft of the ending, which was written in 2010, actually rested upon the premise of Bill and Ted's failure. Solomon says that while the original movie still incorporated the pair's time travelling adventures, the duo actually kept making their own lives worse. You can read Solomon's full remarks on the original ending below:

“Our first draft that we wrote in 2010, the ending of the movie was really small. We had a scene at the beginning where 20 years ago they had put $100,000 down to rent the Rose Bowl for their triumphant 20th Reunion Tour, and when we meet them in the movie when it opens they have sold literally zero tickets. We had a scene where they went to negotiate with the guy to try and get their money back and the guy was like, ‘No, you’re stuck’. The whole movie was moving towards this ending, and the guys were thinking, ‘Well obviously it must be at the Rose Bowl. Obviously we’re gonna fill the Rose Bowl with this triumphant song, we just don’t know how.’ And the whole movie happens like it happens [in Face the Music], they go into the future, their lives get worse and worse, and they arrive at the Rose Bowl and it’s empty. There’s no instruments there. It didn’t happen. They failed. And they go home and they sit down in their living room, and you’re like one minute from the end of the movie. And they realize they failed, they feel like they failed, and then they hear music coming from the other room and they walk in and they look and see their kids and they realize it was never them, and the movie’s over.”
Solomon went on to say this ending wasn't particularly well-received by cast members; when Reeves and Winter heard what would happen, Solomon recalls that they both said it was "sort of a bummer." It's likely that such a reaction, coupled with the desire to make Bill & Ted Face the Music's ending "bigger and better" than those of the prior two films, led to the more upbeat ending that made the cut. Although there is the revelation that Bill and Ted's kids are the ones creating music to unite the world, this is met with a massive concert and incredible celebration. While all good things must come to an end, this version is certainly a more fitting tribute to bid farewell to characters that many viewers have quite literally grown up with.
The Bill & Ted series has always been known for its quick wit and lighthearted humor, and a a bummer ending would have been out of place. While it's heartwarming for fans to see the duo reunite once more, it's certainly difficult to know that this is - at least for now - the end of Bill and Ted's adventures. Still, Bill & Ted Face the Music is undeniably a great ending to a fantastic trilogy; after all, sooner or later, everyone must learn to face the music.