Dash & Lily is set to become one of the big Christmas hits on Netflix, thanks to its festive New York setting and its fun and romantic storyline. The show is based on the young adult novel, Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, the same team who wrote Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, which was also turned into a successful movie in 2008.

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The story follows teens Dash and Lily, who fall for each other after Lily leaves a red notebook on the shelves of a New York bookstore, which contains a list of dares and challenges that any would-be suitor has to complete.

Kept The Same: Dash & Lily Follow The Same Basic Plot As The Book

Despite the different title, the Dash & Lily TV series does stick pretty closely to the basic plot of the Rachel Cohn and David Levithan novel. The famous red notebook is used by the two protagonists to communicate with each other as they leave it hidden in iconic New York locations, as well as to challenge each other with outrageous dares.

Without giving away too many spoilers, fans of the books will be pleased to learn that the Netflix adaptation has not changed the original ending.

Different: The Actors Playing Dash & Lily Are A Lot Older Than 16

In the novel, Dash and Lily are 16-year-old teenagers, the perfect age for a wild romantic adventure with no ties and commitments. However, the actors who are playing the characters in the adaptation are not 16. In fact, they are not even teenagers.

Austin Abrams from The Walking Dead plays Dash, even though he is 24-years-old, while the 26-year-old Midori Francis, best known for her role in the 2019 movie The Good Boys, will play Lily. Luckily, the two can just about pass as teenagers, so it should not affect anyone’s enjoyment of the series.

Stayed The Same: Midori And Austin Started Their Own Notebook To Keep In Touch

Because of the nature of the plot in Dash & Lily, Midori and Austin didn’t get to film many scenes together. To keep in touch on set, they took their inspiration from the script and created their own notebook, which they would use to leave messages for each other.

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This really helped the two young stars to get to know each other better, so that when the time came for their characters to finally meet on screen, they had also developed a bond off-camera, too.

Different: The Authors Of The Books Are Not Writers On The Show

While the original novel, Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, was entirely created by writing team Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, the duo did not have any involvement with the adaptation. The script for the TV show was written by Joe Tracz, who also wrote the successful Netflix series A Series of Unfortunate Events and the movie version of the Broadway musical, The Big Chill.

Tracz is also named as an executive producer on Dash & Lily, alongside pop star Nick Jonas and Hollywood director Shawn Levy.

Stayed The Same: Both The Book And TV Show Are Set At Christmastime

Part of the charm of the original YA novel is that the events the book describes take place at Christmastime when New York looks great and everyone is in a more festive mood.

There was no way that Netflix was going to move the setting to a different time of year, especially when Christmas-themed TV shows and movies have proven to be so successful for Netflix. The show definitely makes the most of the festive background of NYC at this time of year.

Different: Lily's Grandpa Is Not Such A Major Character

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One of the most popular characters in Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares is Lily’s beloved grandfather, Arthur. In the novel, he is quite a key character, and though he still has an important part to play in the TV adaptation, it seems that he is unlikely to figure as much on the small screen as he does in the pages of the original book.

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Experienced actor James Saito, who plays Arthur, is only credited as a recurring character on the show and not one of the main cast.

Stayed The Same: The TV Show Was Filmed In New York

Both the book and the Netflix adaptation are set in New York, and fans will be pleased to hear that the TV show was filmed in the Big Apple, as well. The city is one of the stars of the show, and some key scenes take place at iconic New York landmarks.

To capture the festive feeling of the city at Christmas, most of the filming took place in the fall of 2019, which also means that the crew was able to avoid the problems faced by many 2020 productions.

Different: Some Dares In The Book Are Switched Between Dash And Lily

Although the Netflix series follows the basic plot of Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, the writer and director have made some small changes to scenes to make the book work as a limited eight-part series.

One thing that fans of the novel might notice is that some of the dares have switched characters, for example, a dare originally made by Lily to Dash might now be the other way around. Hardcore Dash & Lily fans might notice, but most viewers won’t even realize there has been a change.

Stayed The Same: Just Like The Books, There Are Plans For A Netflix Sequel

Writers Rachel Cohn and David Levithan have already released two sequels to Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares: The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily sees the couple reunited at Christmas, while Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily sees the duo head to London, England – also at Christmas!

Netflix expects their new series to be a success, as they have already announced that they are going to be making a second season, though as yet no-one knows if this will be based on one of the novels.

Different: Some Scenes From The Book Are Missing

Trying to cram a 260-page novel into eight 30-minutes episodes was always going to be a tall order, and writer Joe Tracz had to make some tough decisions when it came to which scenes made the cut and which had to be cut out.

Fans of the books will want to see every tiny Dash & Lily detail included in the TV series, but while there may be a few elements missing from the adaptation, the Netflix version is faithful enough to the original novel to be a hit with those who have read the novel and those who are discovering Dash & Lily for the first time.

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