Sweeney Todd’s Original Script Had A Much Darker Ending

Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is one of the greatest film musicals, but its original ending was considerably darker. Adapted from Steven Sondheim’s stage musical and released to critical acclaim, Sweeney Todd is an exemplary depiction of Burton’s macabre and tragic sensibilities. It also marked the sixth of currently eight collaborations between Burton and star Johnny Depp.

Sweeney Todd follows the vengeful barber (Depp) as he returns to London after 15 years of exile. He seeks revenge against Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), who falsely convicted him because Turpin hungered for Todd’s wife, Lucy (Laura Michelle Kelly), and then stole his child. Pie shop owner Nellie Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) encourages Todd to enter a partnership, murdering clients so she can bake their organs into pies.

After killing Turpin, Todd is horrified to discover his blind rage caused him to kill a beggar woman, later revealed to be Lucy, who was driven insane by Turpin’s torment. Sweeney Todd ends with the barber murdering Lovett for claiming Lucy had died years previously before his throat is in turn slit by Toby (Ed Sanders), a young boy in her care. It’s implied that Todd allows Toby to kill him, but the original script makes this far more explicit. The screenplay sacrifices some of the film’s subtlety but clarifies Todd’s remorse as he is haunted by his victims in a final musical number.

Sweeney Todd‘s final scene shows Johnny Depp’s bloodthirsty barber holding Lucy’s body, as Toby creeps up behind him. It’s hinted that Todd is aware of his presence, raising his neck to make the murder easier for the boy. However, there’s a look of confusion directly before his throat is cut, leaving his demise ambiguous. The script’s original ending clarifies this act, as Todd turns to watch Toby appear from the shadows. As the boy picks up Todd’s razor, the barber unbuttons his collar and tilts his head back. The final film’s ending is undeniably tragic, with Depp delivering one of his best performances, but the script truly emphasizes Todd’s sorrow. Todd locking eyes with the boy as his throat is slit would have improved his arc, not simply accepting death but silently pleading for his misery to end.

This is but one difference in the script that would have made for an even darker ending. The screenplay’s climax is grander and more horrific. In the film, Todd throws Lovett in her bakehouse oven and coldly glares at her, unflinching as she burns alive. However, in the script, he sinks to his knees, covering his ears to drown out her screams, before crawling towards Lucy’s body. He appears more human and defeated, overwhelmed by grief as he sobs, whereas he remains composed in the film. The script also features an extra song missing from Tim Burton’s movie, that sees Todd’s victims reappear as ghosts, including Turpin and Lucy. Todd and Lovett also return as ghosts, before he is left alone in the darkness, his life flashing before his eyes as he collapses in his own blood. The sequence is exciting and clarifies how deeply haunted Todd was by his actions.

The script’s musical number could have provided striking imagery, but it’s unnecessary from a storytelling perspective. Sweeney Todd: The Demon of Fleet Street instead opts for restraint, with a more sobering final scene that underscores the horror of Todd’s actions. One corpse cradling another, Todd’s last image is the face of his lost love, a reunion befitting a true Tim Burton tragedy.

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