The final four minutes of "Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical" are, in a way, both a new ending and a new beginning. The villainous Miss Trunchbull is no longer the school headmistress; the dim-witted Wormwoods are no longer Matilda's parents.
Instead, Matilda (Alisha Weir) and Miss Honey (Lashana Lynch) agree to look after each other and join for a moving mid-tempo duet, written specifically for the Netflix adaptation of the hit stage show. The song — which didn't even exist until after filming began — and accompanying montage bring to the screen a dream the creative team could not realize onstage.
The stage musical closes with a broad, comedic section, and "ends with two people holding hands and then a cartwheel, which is a beautiful, simple gesture, but you don't get to see past the moment where they come together," said Dennis Kelly, writer of both the stage and screen versions. "We did try and end the film in different ways, but what this moment needed was a song, a joyful release for this little family created by these two people."
