Warning: This article contains spoilers from Netflix's Uglies.

Uglies director McG clarifies why a significant change was made to Peris (Chase Stokes) in the Netflix adaptation. Peris is the best friend of Tally Youngblood (Joey King), and promises they will remain close even after Uglies' transformative surgery that turns him into a Pretty. Unfortunately, in both the novel and in the film adaptation, Peris no longer acts the same after becoming Pretty and does not keep his promise. It is later in the story that the film's version of Peris diverges from the source material, as he is transformed into one of the ruthless and enhanced Specials.

In an interview with Deadline, McG explains why Peris becomes a Special working for the villainous Dr. Cable (Laverne Cox) despite only being a Pretty in the novel. He addresses how this gives Peris more of an arc than he has in the books and why he felt this change works better in a film than it would have in the novels. McG also discusses how this change to Peris' story parallels Tally's arc and impacts her character development. Check out the director's comments below:

Peris kind of fizzles out as a character [in the books]. He chickens out multiple times. He’s like Tally, if Tally didn’t have that drive or if Tally didn’t have Shay pushing her. And so he’s a road not taken for her, which is interesting in a quiet, literary way. But movies have a different aesthetic and they like bigger story arcs. So to make him Special and to make him betray her in a different way, in a much more active way seemed like a bigger move to us.

What This Change Means For Peris

He Becomes An Entirely Different Character

As McG indicates, despite his early importance in the Uglies book, Peris no longer plays an active role in the first novel after Tally departs for the Smoke. This change does allow Peris to be a more prominent part of the story and becomes a more physical threat. Dr. Cable is more of a threat due to her manipulations and the resources she wields, but Peris' enhanced physical abilities make him a different kind of formidable opponent who effortlessly snaps the neck of David's father, Az (Jay DeVon Johnson).

Being a Special fundamentally changes Peris' character, as in the books, he is a personal example that helps Tally understand how being Pretty changes people for the worse after undergoing the operation. Peris is more of the society's everyday citizen, with the book's version not being the type of individual Dr. Cable would turn into a Special. Peris falling into the fog below and potentially dying during Uglies' ending further distances him from the books, as even if he does survive the fall, he will no longer be a standard Pretty in a potential sequel adaptation.

Our Take On The Peris Changes

The Changes Didn't Work Well

When Peris becomes a Special, and later fights Tally's love interest, David (Keith Powers), I was reminded of another young adult dystopian adaptation, The Giver, which takes the protagonist's best friend and forces him to hunt down the protagonist later in the story. Forcing the best friend to hunt down the protagonist is a cliché and is particularly frustrating to see when it is an unnecessary deviation from the source material. Uglies would have benefited from spending more time on Tally and David and less time on Peris and the fight between him and David.

Source: Deadline