Like the real-world figure, Kathy (Jodie Comer) originally had children in The Bikeriders, and writer and director Jeff Nichols regrets cutting them from the narrative. The movie is based on Danny Lyon’s photobook, which featured scenes from his years of travelling with the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club. While it does not tell the same story exactly, the movie features fictionalized versions of the same characters in similar situations. Lyon’s book is so important to the movie that his photos are featured in Bikeriders‘ post-credit scenes.

What the movie never truly explored is that Kathy had three children before she ever even met Benny. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Nichols revealed that the children were originally in the movie for one shot, but they were eventually cut. The mentions were distracting to viewers, who regularly forgot that they existed, and it made the love story feel weak. Check out his full explanation below:

[It was] one of my biggest regrets of the film. We had scenes of her talking about her kids, but we only had one shot of them. And when I first started showing people the film, it was really distracting. I hadn’t involved that family enough to make it integral to the film. It was really distracting and it made people really not like her. But more than that, it was just kind of confusing. They were like, wait a second, where are [the kids]?… It brought up all these questions, which in the book, when you’re reading it, makes her really fascinating, and it is my biggest regret that as a storyteller, I didn’t craft that in a way that it could stay.

Kathy Needed Her Children In The Bikeriders

Striking Kathy’s Children From The Narrative Hurt The Themes

While the characters are fictional and not entirely based on real-world people, the people who inspired the movie are still essential to the story. Their photos and monologues helped to drive the entire direction of the narrative and its many characters. Kathy is one of those extremely influential figures. She serves as a force to draw Benny away from the Outlaws, who are known as the Vandals in the movie. She is a regular everyday Midwesterner and having three children helps to serve both the themes and to enhance Kathy’s character.

The children were a constant through line in Kathy’s life. Failing to include them removed a massive influence that kept her both grounded and realistic. She could not simply be swept away on Benny’s bike, because she had children to care for and to care about. Benny, who had nothing tying him down, could see a woman living life as a single mother and who was incapable of just riding away without a thought. It provided an interesting contrast to their relationship and also made Benny and Kathy’s future more concrete.

Because Kathy was in her mid-20s, including the children would also offer more insight into her life before Benny. It would make her more three-dimensional, adding more to her character than just being the tempting love-interest for Benny. Children could undoubtedly introduce more conflict, and they could also connect with Benny and make him reconsider life with the Vandals. By choosing to leave Kathy’s children out of The Bikeriders, Nichols left many of Kathy’s potential conflicts on the cutting room floor.

Source: EW