This article contains spoilers for the final episode of The Replacement.

It seems an old British favourite is getting a new lease of life: The Replacement, which originally aired in 2017, joined Netflix last week. And it has already become a huge success for the streamer. The psychological thriller currently sits at the number four spot in the UK Top 10 Netflix shows, behind Adolescence, The Residence and Harlan Coben’s Caught.

For those who missed The Replacement at the time, the series follows successful architect Ellen (Morven Christie), who hires a woman called Paula (Vicky McClure) to cover her job when she goes on maternity leave, and quickly fears she has made a terrible mistake when her maternity leave cover starts to take over her life.

At the time, thousands of people tuned in to watch the third and final instalment of The Replacement – the BBC’s part-psychological thriller which focused on the uniquely female topic of maternity leave.

We watched architect Ellen Rooney reach dizzying heights of paranoia over the unblinking Paula Reece, as she convinced herself that her maternity cover was out to steal her job.

As it turns out, she was wrong. Paula wasn’t just trying to steal her job; she had designs on Ellen’s entire life, particularly her clueless husband and her newborn baby daughter.

Ellen confronted Paula with her accusations, only to discover that Paula has been pretending that her long-lost daughter was alive. Oh, and she’d murdered Ellen’s BFF and colleague, Kay Gilles (Neve McIntosh).

Surely, thought viewers, this was grounds for Paula to a) lose her job, and b) get her ass thrown in jail. But we were wrong. Nobody believed Ellen, so she ended up losing her job. Paula then headed out to successfully convince Ellen’s husband, Ian, that his wife had been embroiled in an illicit affair with her boss, David. And, when a naturally irate Ellen took her to task over all of this, Paula literally threw herself down a flight of stairs to frame her rival for assault, which led to Ellen being banned from seeing her own baby.

Phew.

As if things couldn’t get more twisted, Paula kidnapped baby Leah (handily balanced on a windowsill) and forced Ellen to down a packet of pills before locking her in a booby-trapped car.

Thankfully for everyone watching, Ellen fought off the effects of the drugs, escaped from the car, alerted the police, was reunited with her baby before dumping her disbelieving husband to the kerb.

Which was… well, it was a little confusing for some viewers.

It’s safe to say that a lot of people have a lot of unanswered questions. But, when it comes to parallel universes, we know exactly what would have happened if events had unfolded slightly differently.

Yup, we’re talking alternate endings.

Speaking to the Radio Times, show writer Joe Ahearne revealed: “In a very, very, very early version of the story, we flirted with Paula’s daughter being the one who did the deed. 

“We discussed that a bit because we thought that could be fun. Then the explanation for Paula’s behaviour would be that she’s trying to protect her child, and she’s fighting for her child.”

He added: “But, the more we thought about it, we thought, well, really the drama is between these two women, so it’s really got to be Paula at the end because it’s about the two of them. 

“And also Ellen is the heroine, so I want Ellen to be right at the end of the day.”

And that wasn’t the only plot twist the team behind the drama thought about pursuing, as Ahearne revealed: “Another fan theory we had toyed with and rejected was Paula being an ex-patient of Ian’s.”

The writer went on to admit that he doesn’t know whether Ellen will ever take Ian back – and he was keen not to elaborate as to whether or not she would spark up a romance with David (Dougray Scott).

“There could be hope for them as friends,” he said. “I’m not saying that she’s going to end up with anybody because having a man is not the solution to the problem of this drama.”

Images: BBC