The controversial moment is tragically painful and hard to watch but apparently a much less intense and shorter version was filmed.
"There was a cut that was a very short version of the scene, that more just alluded to suicide, and then Hannah's dead. But it didn't hold the same weight as showing the step by step of it," Tommy Dorfman, who plays Hannah's poetry club friend-turned-foe Ryan, told Seventeen.
s you might know, Hannah actually overdoses on pills in Jay Asher's 2007 novel so why did the producers decide to not only make her death more graphic but show it in so much detail? It was to send viewers a potentially life-saving message that suicide is never a glamorous choice.
"They felt for a TV series, if you're going to watch it, you want to show it as horrific as it actually is," Jay told EW. "So the way she does it, you can't watch it and feel like it's glamorised in any way. It looks and is painful, and then when she's found by her parents, it absolutely destroys them."
Showrunner Brian Yorkey shared similar thoughts on the decision Netflix BTS special, Beyond The Reasons. "We worked very hard not to be gratuitous, but we did want it to be painful to watch, because we wanted it to be very clear that there is nothing, in any way, worthwhile about suicide," he said.
If you or a friend is struggling with similar feelings, there is help at hand. You can speak confidentially to a trained counsellor 24 hours a day at headspace.org.au or Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800.