What Happens to Judy in ‘Dead to Me’? Creator Liz Feldman Explains
According to showrunner Liz Feldman, Judy Hale (Linda Cardellini) dies at the end of Netflix‘s Dead to Me Season 3. However, there are still some who think the ending to Judy’s story was more of a service to Jen Harding (Christina Applegate). Discover both sides of the “What happened to Judy” story, then let us know what you think happened to the Dead to Me character in the series finale.
Judy Hale has terminal cervical cancer in the final season of ‘Dead to Me’
In the final season of Dead of Me, Judy is diagnosed with stage 4 cervical cancer. Well, Jen is mistakenly diagnosed with cancer first, because this is Dead to Me, after all.
After Judy’s initial doctor’s visit, she refuses to burden Jen with her prognosis and treatment. But Jen, who watched her mom die from cancer, wants nothing more than to be there for her best friend. So, Jen becomes Judy’s rock while she undergoes chemotherapy. When all else fails and her diagnosis is deemed terminal, Jen accompanies Judy to Mexico where she lives out her final days.
Liz Feldman wanted the audience to reflect on what happens to Judy in ‘Dead to Me’
At its core, Dead to Me is a show about grief and friendship. Feldman wanted those themes top of mind when the Netflix series concluded.
“I wanted to give you a reflection of what it feels like to go through the loss of someone, where it feels like they just took off,” Feldman explained to Vulture. “You’ve just been hanging out with them and they got in their car and they left, or they walked into the other room, or perhaps they jumped on a boat and floated away.”
As Feldman said, that’s what losing someone you love feels like for so many. “That’s what I was going for [with the ending of Dead to Me], but also, this is Dead to Me,” she concluded. “So did she die?”
Some ‘Dead to Me’ fans think Judy might still be alive
In that same interview, Feldman said she wanted the audience to answer the question of whether or not Judy dies at the end of Dead to Me themselves. “I want people to choose their own ending in a way,” Feldman said. “Because yes, this is the show about grief and loss, so regardless of what happened, Jen no longer has Judy in her life. She’s obviously not present. I’ll just say that I very specifically never said that Judy passed. Nobody talks about her death. You don’t see a funeral.”
Because Dead to Me neglects to show fans anything that confirms Judy’s death, some think Judy might still be alive. “I took it as her kind way of saying ‘you should leave now’ to Jen,” one fan pointed out on Reddit. “She gave the closure and space Jen needs to pack up and leave, then she came back home and continued to enjoy her final days.”
Another fan thinks Jen’s confession to Ben (James Marsden) at the end of the series might have been about Judy. “It seemed weird to me that Jen would tell Ben the truth about Steve in the middle of the day with her kids in the pool,” another Reddit thread reads. “This show was always big on confession scenes that go in a different direction than you expect. So what if it turned out Judy wasn’t actually terminal?”
‘Dead to Me’ creator confirms what happens to Judy – she dies in the final season
Speaking to Vulture, Feldman essentially confirmed Judy’s death in the show’s final season. “… I didn’t need it to be stark,” she said. “I didn’t think we needed this black-and-white, hit-you-over-the-head ending that brought you in a very confrontational way to your relationship with death; I really wanted it to be a softer landing.”
In this way, Feldman hopes fans could come to terms with their own feelings of grief. “I wanted it to be more of an ellipsis rather than a period.”
Watch all three seasons of Dead to Me on Netflix.
