Who does Jackie end up with in the My Life with the Walter Boys book? Netflix's showrunner deliberately refused to use that ending
In Ali Novak's books, Jackie Howard ends up with Cole Walter. Three seasons into Netflix's adaptation, she's single and kissing a character who doesn't exist in the novels. Here's what the books say and why the show keeps steering away.
In the books, it 's Cole. Netflix 's version has spent three seasons declining to say so, and showrunner Melanie Halsall has been open about doing it on purpose.
My Life with the Walter Boys began as a Wattpad story by Ali Novak and was published in print on March 1, 2014, followed by a sequel, My Return to the Walter Boys. Netflix's adaptation, developed by Halsall, premiered on December 7, 2023, with Nikki Rodriguez as Jackie Howard, a New York teenager who loses her parents and sister in an accident and moves in with the family of her late mother 's best friend in Silver Falls, Colorado. Season 2 followed on August 28, 2025, and season 3 on August 6, 2026. A fourth season is already in production.
What happens in the books
Jackie's love triangle is between two of the Walter brothers: Alex, the quieter one, and Cole, his older, smooth-talking brother. Here's how Novak resolves it:
- The first book — Jackie dates Alex for a long stretch. Alex eventually overhears her admitting she has feelings for Cole, and the two break up on fairly mutual terms. Alex even encourages her to spend the summer in New York.
- The kiss — Jackie only kisses Cole after she and Alex have ended things.
- The ending — Jackie leaves for New York, and she and Cole agree they'll be together when she comes back.
- The sequel — My Return to the Walter Boys opens with Jackie clearly committed to Cole. The book's conflict is miscommunication, and by the end the two are together.
So the books land on Cole, gradually and without much doubt.
What Netflix did instead
Halsall kept the shape of the first book's ending and changed nearly everything about how Jackie gets there. In the season 1 finale, Alex tells Jackie he loves her at a wedding, she doesn't say it back, and that same night she kisses Cole while she's still with Alex. Then she leaves for New York without telling anyone.
Halsall told TheWrap that she had the ending in her head early on. Episode 10 was built to make everything look settled, with Jackie finally at home with the Walters and the family wedding going well.
Her stated plan: "then I wanted to blow all that up."
She told Variety that she didn't want Jackie to end up with either brother at that point, and that she went back and forth on it while working to make both boys believable choices.
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Seasons 2 and 3 have kept that distance from the books:
- Season 2 — Jackie comes back from New York wanting to make amends with Alex and take space from Cole. The season ends with George Walter's collapse.
- Season 3 — Jackie and Cole finally date, then split when Cole decides she needs to focus on her future. By the finale, Jackie is single and has kissed Eliot (Naveen Paddock), a childhood friend invented for the show.
Halsall described the Eliot development to Netflix as a turning point for Jackie, a moment when she starts imagining a different kind of partner.
"Maybe this is the kind of guy I end up with," is how Halsall put Jackie's thinking.
Will the show end up where the book does?
Netflix hasn't said. The fourth season is due in 2027. Every season so far has borrowed beats from Novak and refused her conclusion, and the show has now introduced a love interest with no counterpart in either book.
Novak's readers have known how the story ends since 2014. The show seems determined to make them wait at least one more season.
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