‘Elemental’ Writers Say Wade’s Shocking Fate Traumatized Early Test Audiences: ‘The Kids Were Just Inconsolable’

thewrap.com:

Note: The following John Hoberg and Kat Likkel interview discusses major spoilers for “Elemental.”With “Elemental” now in theaters, audiences are seeing the beauty of both Element City and the love story between a fire element named Ember (voiced by Leah Lewis) and a water element named Wade (voiced by Mamoudou Athie).

They’re also seeing how emotionally charged and, at times, sad their love story can be. Screenwriters John Hoberg and Kat Likkel came onto the story in 2019, after three previous versions of the script had already been workshopped.

Speaking with TheWrap, the pair laughed about how their version was the first to introduce the concept of Wade dying to save Ember. “Our first version was the fourth version, and he didn’t die in the previous three, so I guess that was our first contribution: killing Wade,” Hoberg said.Throughout the movie, the audience sees Ember and Wade not only fall in love but, in Ember’s case, struggle to make their relationship work because of their elemental differences.

Eventually, Ember’s city of Fire Town is threatened by a massive flood, trapping her and Wade in a storage room. Because of her heat and his liquidity, it doesn’t take much to get Wade boiling, and he begins to evaporate and die.It was a gamble that, according to Hoberg and Likkel, resulted in a rather uncomfortable early test screening.