In director Stanley Kubrick's original treatment for The Shining, the ending was vastly different, including Wendy Torrance killing her husband Jack. The Shining is one of those movies that's so iconic that just about everyone knows the basics of the plot, whether or not they've actually seen it, much less read the best-selling Stephen King novel it's based on.
Struggling writer Jack Torrance accepts a job taking care of the remote Overlook Hotel for the winter, taking his wife Wendy and young son Danny along for the season. Of course, instead of a quiet place to focus on his work, what Jack finds is a hotel with a past full of mayhem and murder, and ghosts eager to corrupt his soul and add him to their ranks of the damned. Jack goes nuts, picks up an axe, and goes hunting for his loved ones. Wendy and Danny escape, Jack kills interloper Dick Hallorann, and then freezes to death while lost in the hedge maze.
Or at least, that's what happens in the finished version of The Shining. It's no secret that script ideas often undergo large changes on their way to becoming actual movies, and Stanley Kubrick's horror epic is no exception. Especially different is the ending, which was altered heavily as pre-production progressed.
The Shining’s Original Ending Had Wendy KILL Jack
In Stanley Kubrick's original story treatment for The Shining movie, the director - who co-wrote the final script with Diane Johnson - ended the film quite differently. Instead of Jack busting down the door with an axe to get at Wendy and Danny after the ghost of Grady releases him from the freezer, he would've jumped out at her suddenly outside their room, then began brutally beating her. Faced with no other choice, Wendy uses the knife she was carrying to stab Jack to death, but not before he puts up a bit more of a fight.
That's actually not where the story ends though, in Kubrick's treatment of The Shining. Instead, Dick Hallorann arrives at the Overlook, only to be possessed into continuing Jack's mission of murder. Dick tries to kill Danny, but the boy uses his powers to confuse Dick, allowing Wendy to add to her body count by stabbing the Overlook's chef to death as well. Wendy and Danny then escape in Dick's SnowCat, as they do in the final film. Needless to say, it's not hard to see why this was changed. For one, it turns Wendy into the only murderer in the film, and throws Jack out of the picture far too early. This is one case where a writer changing their mind was a good thing.