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Grace Morris

Irish Wish ending explained: do Maddie and Paul end up together?

Paul and Maddie look lovingly at each other.

Irish Wish is a Netflix romcom that follows book editor Maddie Kelly (Lindsay Lohan) who is hopelessly in love with famous Irish writer, Paul Kennedy (Alexander Vlahos) and prepares to confess her feelings to him. 

Taken in by his charms and head over heels in love, Maddie writes his book "Irish Hearts" without credit. At his book launch, Maddie believes his feelings are reciprocated when he prepares to ask her a big question regarding their relationship. However, she's devastated when he doesn't confess his love to her, but instead asks her to work on his next book with him.

Maddie tries to calm herself down when she notices an instant spark between Paul and her best friend Emma (Elizabeth Tan) and attempts to stop their flirting. She refuses to believe they have a future together, but she couldn't be more wrong.

Within months of dating each other, Paul and Emma are engaged and it's not long before Maddie and Heather (Ayesha Curry) jet off to attend their wedding in Ireland.

Maddie is forced to put her feelings aside and the luck of the Irish doesn't favour her as soon as she lands. She loses her luggage and has a run-in with a sarcastic English man James (Ed Speleers) over a mix-up with their suitcase.

With no Ubers around, Maddie gets on a bus to the wedding location and is shortly followed by James. He reveals he is a nature photographer and tells her he isn't a fan of Paul's work when he sees Maddie holding his book. Maddie takes it personally since she was the one who edited the book and they have a brief heated exchange.

Maddie arrives at Paul's sprawling country estate and struggles to watch the happy couple prepare to get married. She goes on a walk around Lough Tay and while on a video call with her mom Rosemary (Jane Seymour) she wishes that Paul was marrying her and not Emma.

Suddenly, a woman pops up behind her and encourages her to make a wish on the wishing chair. Despite not believing in magic, Maddie wishes that she was getting married to Paul Kennedy.

And to her surprise, her wish comes true! But she soon realises that sometimes you need to be careful who you wish for.

So do Maddie and Paul get together? Here's what happens at the end of Irish Wish...

Maddie and James in Irish Wish. (Image credit: Netflix )

Irish Wish ending explained: do Maddie and Paul get together?

Maddie wakes up from her "dream" in Paul's bedroom and panics when she sees him naked and quickly pulls away when he tries to kiss her in front of Emma, but Emma isn't phased by their romance.

Soon enough, the reality of marrying Paul dawns on her and she's over the moon. While Maddie prepares for her big day, James is disappointed to see that his photography gig at the sheep shearing festival has been cancelled.

The woman who granted Maddie's wish appears while she's at a wedding dress fitting and Maddie chases after her, worried that she will take away her wish as she senses she's not happy marrying Paul. Maddie crosses paths with James again by running into his car. However, he has no memory of their meeting on the bus before.

Paul's mother Olivia comes over and asks James to photograph the wedding, but even though it's not the kind of work he is interested in, the money is good enough to convince him.

During the night, Maddie is startled when Paul tries to get intimate with her and accidentally attacks him, leaving him injured. Paul decides to stay at home and recover while Maddie and James go off to scout outdoor locations for the wedding shoot.

James makes a snarky comment about Maddie and Paul's relationship, knowing they're not right for each other and they share a touching moment when he takes a photo of her on the Cliffs of Moher. Meanwhile, Paul and Emma flirt while she tends to his injured eye.

On the way back, they get caught in a storm and have to stay the night at a pub. Sparks fly between the pair as they nearly kiss, but she's quick to remind him (and herself) that she's getting married in two days and they dance together.

Elsewhere, Maddie's mom is panicking as she's missed her flight to Dublin to attend the wedding. Maddie turns up late to her wedding rehearsal covered in mud and finds Emma has taken her place.

Romance blossoms for James and Maddie. (Image credit: Patrick Redmond / Netflix)

As they exchange vows, Maddie faints after seeing the woman who granted her wish on the stained glass window winking at her. When she wakes up, Maddie says James' name and points out the woman who made "everything happen" to Paul's family.

The woman who granted her wish is revealed to be Saint Brigid and despite the mishap, Maddie goes forward with the wedding, regardless of her growing feelings for James.

After an awkward game of "How well do you know your Fiancé?" James tells her that she hopes she isn't making a mistake marrying Paul and she insists that she's going forward with the wedding.

James confesses his feelings for Maddie, but it isn't enough for her to change her mind and they get into an argument when she tells him he shouldn't come to the wedding. 

Saint Brigid turns up at the airport to do more meddling and deliberately trips up Maddie's mom with her suitcase as she goes flying onto the floor.

Maddie soon realizes she is making a mistake when she sees Paul and Emma on the patio together. They are clearly in love and Emma starts crying when Paul bids her goodnight.

The next morning, Paul catches Maddie and James having a private conversation where he suggests Maddie call off the wedding if she isn't happy. Maddie reveals that marrying Paul is her wish come true, but he questions why she's so sad.

As Maddie prepares to walk down the aisle, she confesses to the vicar that she has done something wrong and made a wish to Saint Brigid. 

The vicar laughs and tells her: "You have to be careful with that one. She's known to have a bit of a sense of humor. When you ask her for something, she may not give you what you want, but she'll always give you what you need."

After a heart-to-heart with Emma about her feelings towards Paul, she realises they were destined to be together and would be making a mistake to keep them apart, so calls off the wedding. 

James and Paul get into a fight at the wedding. (Image credit: Netflix )

The situation erupts into chaos when Paul and James get into a fight as Paul accuses him of "stealing his bride," while James accuses him of stealing Maddie's ideas for his book. They get into a physical altercation and trash the place when Maddie's mom calls telling her she's in hospital with a hairline fracture of the metatarsal.

Emma falls out with Paul for calling her "irrelevant" and Maddie chases after James. Maddie believes they're meant to be together, but James feels too guilty for destroying her and Paul’s relationship and chooses to walk away from her and wish her all the happiness in the world.

They kiss and James drives off. A devastated Maddie realizes that the only way to erase everything that has happened was by going back to the magical spot where her wish had come true. Maddie begs Saint Brigid to unwish her wish and that she has learnt her lesson. Saint Brigid grants her wish and she is transported back to her old reality.

Maddie is back in her room and she has the bridesmaid dress waiting to be worn. Maddie is overjoyed to see Emma get married and hopes to see James again at the wedding, but he is not the photographer covering the event.

Before leaving the wedding venue, she stands up for herself when Paul asks that she work on his next book and she refuses to write anything for him without being credited as the co-author.

She goes to the place where James is staying and is told that he's already left, but she soon finds him sitting on a bench in the village. He is oblivious to their whirlwind romance they had in another reality and tells her that he turned down the photography job in Bolivia after a woman encouraged him to stick around for a while and see what might happen.

Maddie decides to stay in Ireland too to write a book on the Cliffs of Moher and they go there together, falling in love all over again.

Irish Wish is available to watch globally on Netflix now.

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