“The Five Star Weekend”: All the Big Changes in the Jennifer Garner Series from Elin Hilderbrand’s Book

Warning: this post contains spoilers for The Five Star Weekend (now streaming on Peacock) and Elin Hilderbrand’s 2023 novel, The Five-Star Weekend.

NEED TO KNOW

• Elin Hilderbrand’s 2023 novel, The Five-Star Weekend, has been adapted into an eight-episode TV series on Peacock

• Jennifer Garner leads the show, alongside Regina Hall, Chloë Sevigny, Gemma Chan and D’Arcy Carden, as famous chef Hollis Shaw

• Find out how the Peacock series, which is now streaming in full, differs from Hilderbrand’s novel

The Five-Star Weekend is the latest beloved book to come to life onscreen.

Elin Hilderbrand’s 2023 novel was adapted into an eight-episode series that premiered on Peacock on July 9.

Jennifer Garner leads the series as famous chef Hollis Shaw, who gathers her closest friends from various stages of her life — her first friend, Tatum (Chloë Sevigny); her college bestie, Dru-Ann (Regina Hall); her mom friend, Brooke (D’Arcy Carden); and new friend Gigi (Gemma Chan) — at her picturesque Nantucket beach house. It’s been six months since Hollis’ husband, Matthew (Josh Hamilton), died suddenly in a car accident, and she plans the weekend as a way to escape her suffocating grief and reconnect with herself and her friends.

As with any adaptation, the series differs somewhat from Hilderbrand’s book. Here are some of the biggest changes made from the page to the screen in The Five Star Weekend.

Caroline is pre-med and failing out of college

In the book, Caroline is a film student at New York University and is having an affair with her mentor, with whom she recently completed an internship. She uses her mom’s Nantucket weekend as an escape from the drama of her personal life, as well as a chance to work on her filmmaking skills.

Caroline (Harlow Jane) is pre-med at Amherst in the series, having been inspired by her father’s successful career in medicine. But she’s keeping a secret from her mom for the majority of the weekend: she hasn’t been going to class and is failing out of her degree. Her grief over her dad’s death has rendered her unable to keep up with her schoolwork, she confessed to Aubrey (West Duchovny). In the final episode, Caroline opted to stay in Nantucket with her mom instead of returning to school.

Tatum’s biopsy comes back negative, but other cancerous cells are found

In both the book and onscreen, a medical diagnosis is looming over Tatum for the entire weekend, as she awaits a call from her doctor about a biopsy taken from a lump she found in her breast.

In the book, the biopsy comes back negative and she celebrates joyfully with Hollis. The biopsy is also negative in the show, but she’s not totally out of the woods.

“The lump was benign, but they found some suspicious cells forming behind it,” she told her husband, Kyle (David Denman), in one of the final scenes of the last episodes. “They caught it early, so that’s good.”

Electra isn’t the first to expose Gigi’s affair with Matthew

Electra stirs up drama in both Hilderbrand’s book and the Peacock series.

In the book, Electra is the first to sew doubt about Matthew. On the ferry to the island, she told Brooke that she’d run into him in Atlanta the previous year and he’d seemed off. Later, after stealing the weekend itinerary off Brooke’s phone, she crashed the group’s dinner, and couldn’t get over how familiar Gigi seemed to her.

Electra showed up uninvited once more to the group’s beach day, where she confronted Gigi and revealed that she’d seen her with Matthew in Atlanta, outing their affair to everyone.

In the show, Electra (Judy Greer) has doubts about Gigi from the get-go, though it took her a few days to place why she recognized her. She eventually put the pieces together when she ran into Gigi and Caroline at a bar.

“I saw you coming out of a restaurant with Matthew in San Diego last fall,” Electra revealed. “Maybe nobody likes me, but I never forget a face.”

Electra never has a conversation with Hollis about the affair in the show. Instead, Brooke found out accidentally after Gigi dropped her phone and sat on the news for a full day, before she told Dru-Ann and Tatum. All three women together shared the devastating news with Hollis after they confronted Gigi.

Dru-Ann quits her job

Drama over Dru-Ann’s career is pervasive both on the page and onscreen. Her client, Posey, gets her in hot water over what turns out to be an exaggerated mental health crisis, but in the book, Dru-Ann fires Posey as a client, her professional reputation is restored and she gets a request to represent Phineas.

In the show, she chooses Posey over her boss. On the ferry ride home, she confessed her big plans to Brooke. “I think I’m gonna quit my job,” she said. “I think I’m gonna start my own agency.”

There’s no epilogue trip

In the book, the epilogue takes place one year later. Hollis moves to Nantucket full-time and is dating Jack Finigan long-distance. They take a Viking River Cruise in Italy along with Tatum, Kyle, Dru-Ann and her fiancé Nick, and Brooke and her new girlfriend. On the flight home, they discover that Gigi is the pilot on their airplane when she makes the pre-flight announcement. Hollis finds a moment of peace and feels no ill will toward Gigi.

There was no time-jump to a future trip in the show. Instead, season 1 ends with Jack (Timothy Olyphant) arriving on the beach, where Hollis and Caroline were walking their dog, and he joined them for dinner.

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The Five Star Weekend is now streaming on Peacock and the book is also available wherever books are sold.

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