Summary
- Defending Jacob draws inspiration from real cases, weaving a gripping tale around a 14-year-old accused of murder.
- The novel’s author, William Landay, delves into human behavior and explores the concept of a “Murder Gene” in the story.
- The Apple TV+ series makes some key changes from the original novel, including a different fate for Jacob and Laurie.
Defending Jacob isn’t based on a true story, but it’s inspired by similar real-life cases. Adapted for Apple TV+ by Mark Bomback, the crime-themed series is centered on a 14-year-old boy accused of murder. Defending Jacob stars Chris Evans and Michelle Dockery as Andy and Laurie Barber. When their son Jacob is accused of murdering a classmate, they’re concerned about the long-term consequences. After evidence connects Jacob to the crime scene, Andy and Laurie are forced to consider the unthinkable.
As it turns out, Defending Jacob was inspired by real-life concepts but not one case in particular. The aforementioned Mark Bomback wrote the novel of the same name that the Apple TV+ original is adapted from and he used some true stories to come up with most of what happened in the miniseries. The show received strong reviews for everything from the performances to the plot twists, with the latter showing how gripping the not-so-true story was.
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Defending Jacob Is Based On A Novel
The Novel Was Released In January 2012
Defending Jacob is based on William Landay’s eponymous 2012 novel. Several months after the initial publication, the author spoke about the backstory during an “Authors at Google” speech. He recalls a midlife crisis at age 30 while working as an assistant district attorney and how he incorporated various life experiences when pursuing a writing career. Landay states that the Defending Jacob characters aren’t based on real people, but were rather inspired by all the reasons that people choose to read crime novels.
Specifically, he wanted to pinpoint what “non-criminals” find appealing. Landay discusses the idea that “bad men do what good men dream,” and why readers like to be exposed to danger without really being exposed to danger. “There were many cases that inspired various aspects of [Defending Jacob], most of them of only local interest in the Boston area, where I live.”
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Landay considered human behavior in the courtroom when writing the characters and questions of nature vs. nurture. He references an orphan from Oklahoma named Jeffrey Landrigan, who was convicted of murder and later met his biological father in prison. For Landay, he began thinking about science that supports a so-called “Murder Gene.” He realized that the concept hadn’t been fully explored in literature and then used his research to create the family history of Andy and Jakob Barber, two fictional characters.
For the setting in Defending Jacob, Landay based everything on his real life: “The park is real, the schools are real.” He also used some of his own personality traits for Andy Barber, and aimed to write a story “where the audience couldn’t distance themselves.” In terms of pacing and tone, Landay states that, “I find that books are feeling a little long,” and so he wanted to make sure that entertainment was prioritized for his “basic bargain” with readers.
How Defending Jacob Is Different From The Novel
Jacob’s Fate Was Different In The Two Versions
In Defending Jacob on Apple TV+, Andy reveals a dark secret about his father’s past, which naturally concerns his wife and pushes the narrative forward. In short, Laurie must address the possibility that Jacob could be evil, which was genetically passed down from Andy’s dad. This was the big question of the novel and is what the TV series began to delve into.
However, one change to the Defending Jacob Apple TV+ series shook things up a bit. First off is the Hope situation. In the TV series, Jacob leaves a party he and Hope went to together early, and then she disappears. Everyone immediately suspects him because of his past, including his mom. However, Hope turns up okay, and Jacob is exonerated again. In the novel, Hope is killed — strangled, the same as Ben. This makes Laurie and Andy both believe their son is a killer.
Jacob didn’t die in the car crash at the end of the series. However, he died in the novel.
Jacob didn’t die in the car crash at the end of the series. However, he died in the novel, so Laurie was being tried for murder. Andy refused to testify against her in both versions, and she got off in both situations. She had amnesia and remembered nothing in the series, which could mean a fresh start for the family. However, Andy knows deep down what happened and has to wonder if Jacob will come out of his coma and survive.
This also changes things for Laurie. In the novel, she seemed ready to kill her son because she no longer trusted him. He gets off legally, but she remains scared there is something wrong with him, and she kills him in the book without any closure for her or the readers. In the series, Jacob agrees to admit to the murder if his mother stops acting this way, but it doesn’t seem like a real confession and is just him trying to get her to stop. In both cases, she seemed to be the one out of control.
