What Was ‘When Harry Met Sally’s Original Ending? Rob Reiner’s Wife Inspired the Final Version
What To Know
- The original script for When Harry Met Sally gave Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) a different ending.
- Late director Rob Reiner changed the ending after meeting his future wife, the late Michele Singer Reiner.
- Rob and Michele Reiner were found dead in their home on December 14, 2025.
It’s hard to believe that When Harry Met Sally could have had anything other than its happy ending, with that iconic New Year’s Eve love confession. But late director Rob Reiner almost filmed a different outcome for Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) and Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) — until he met his wife.
The filmmaker married the late Michele Singer Reiner, a photographer and actress, the same year that the 1989 rom-com came out. When Harry Met Sally‘s director of photography, Barry Sonnenfeld, introduced Reiner to his second wife on set about a year prior. About three decades later, Reiner revealed that he changed Nora Ephron’s script because of the woman he fell in love with.
What was the original conclusion to Harry and Sally’s romance? Keep reading to find out how Reiner’s off-screen love impacted the ending of one of the greatest rom-coms in history.
How does When Harry Met Sally end?
The will-they-won’t-they rom-com’s final moments see Sally about to leave a New Year’s Eve party, not wanting to be kiss-less at midnight. She then spots Harry, who just ran all the way there through the New York City streets. At long last, he makes his love confession, which Sally initially rejects before he rattles off a list of everything he loves about her.
She changes her stance for good when Harry delivers his most iconic line: “I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”
Afterward, viewers get a documentary-style interview with Harry and Sally, who reveal that they got married three months later. Well, Sally corrects Harry that actually took 12 years of friendship and three months for them to tie the knot. When we last see them, the couple are talking about the details of their coconut wedding cake.
What was When Harry Met Sally‘s original ending?
Sally and Harry didn’t get their happy ending together in the script’s first draft. “They meet each other years later and walk their separate ways,” Reiner told Couchsurfing, per People. “I met my wife while making the movie, and we changed the ending, and this is what we came up with. Billy came up with some of this dialogue, and that’s how we decided to end the movie, that they do end up together.”
Reiner explained during an appearance on CNN’s Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace that when they were filming, he couldn’t figure out how he was going to find love again, and that “gave birth to When Harry Met Sally.” He said, “I’d been married for 10 years, I was single for 10 years and making a mess of my personal life, in and out of relationships and not being able to make anything work.”
Reiner, who was first married to the late Penny Marshall from 1971 to 1981, was going to have the movie reflect his personal life. In the end, it still did, because he met Michele. “I met my wife, Michele, who I’ve been married to now 35 years,” Reiner said. “I met her while we were making the film, and I changed the ending.”
Reiner also confirmed that, like himself and his wife, Harry and Sally were still together 30 years later at an anniversary screening. “That doesn’t mean they haven’t had tremendous ups and downs or been on the verge of divorce and got back together, just like any relationship. But I do think they’re still together,” he said, according to Variety.
