Hedda vs. Hedda Gabler: Tessa Thompson’s movie makes some big changes.

This article contains spoilers for Hedda .

In Nia DaCosta’s new film version of the famed Henrik Ibsen play Hedda Gabler , the titular character constantly toys with the key hanging around her neck, which unlocks a case of pistols she inherited from her father. This seemingly foreshadows the well-known ending to the 1891 play, in which Hedda takes her own life. But the Candyman director’s unique spin on the story of one of literature’s most famous, well-developed anxiety-ridden female protagonists—here mononymously titled Hedda —promises a much different finale from what has been canonized as a masterpiece of literary realism. A multitude of changes reshape the tale of a woman stricken with severe ennui, trapped in a life she doesn’t want. But it’s the ending of Hedda, now str