Honestly, nothing beats a good time-travel romance. From Doctor Who to The Time Traveler’s Wife and everything in between, we’re obsessed with stories that stretch across decades, or even centuries. And is there anything more forbidden romance than falling for someone from another era?
The Ministry of Time delivers all of that and more. Kaliane Bradley’s genre-bending novel follows a civil servant assigned to care for one of the government’s first “expats,” historical figures brought into the present through time travel. Equal parts sci-fi, romance, political thriller, and dark comedy, it’s as funny as it is gut-wrenching, and it leaves you thinking about its biggest questions long after you’ve turned the final page. Needless to say, we’re counting down the days until the TV adaptation arrives.
Before we get there, though, we need to revisit that unforgettable ending. Did they actually end up together? Do they stay in the present? And, most importantly, should we prepare to sob our eyes out or kick our feet in delight? Let’s dig in. (Warning: Spoilers for The Ministry of Time novel ahead!)
What do we know about The Ministry of Time adaptation?
In February 2024, the BBC announced it had ordered an adaptation of The Ministry of Time. Rather than a feature film, the beloved novel is getting the limited series treatment, with a six-episode drama produced by A24 for BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Production is underway in London after filming kicked off in 2026, and we’ve finally discovered the cast bringing this story to life.
Leading the central romance are Aoife Hinds (Normal People, Dune: Prophecy) as Sophy and Billy Howle (The Perfect Couple, Under the Banner of Heaven) as Commander Graham Gore. Eagle-eyed fans will notice one major change from the book: The unnamed narrator has been given the name Sophy for the adaptation. It seems likely the change was made to simplify matters for television, especially without the novel’s first-person internal monologue.
Attila Szvacsek / HBO / Everett Collection / Watermelon Pictures
When the adaptation was first announced, author Bradley shared her excitement, saying, “This is very exciting, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it all comes together. If I could travel back in time six years to tell past me what was going to happen with that polar explorer she’d just started writing about, I think she would have done some very Victorian swooning.”
Do the narrator and Graham end up together in The Ministry of Time?
While The Ministry of Time isn’t a romance novel first and foremost, the love story at its center is impossible to ignore.
As Commander Graham Gore’s assigned “bridge,” the narrator gradually falls for the Victorian explorer while helping him adjust to life in the present. Along the way, Graham challenges her assumptions about the modern world, while quietly expressing his growing affection in his own distinctly 19th-century way, such as by cooking her increasingly elaborate meals.
Of course, nothing stays simple for long.
The Ministry is thrown into chaos when the narrator’s handler, Quentin, is shot and killed. Adela, the Ministry’s Vice Secretary, takes over as her new handler just as two mysterious operatives from the future — the Brigadier and Salese — launch an attack on the narrator and Graham. They reveal they’ve been stranded in the past ever since the Ministry took control of the time door. Gasp!
After the attack, Graham and the narrator are relocated to a safe house, where they finally act on their feelings. Yay! Graham admits that every carefully prepared meal and every awkward gesture has been his attempt to court her, as he’s just still figuring out how romance works in the 21st century. Aw!
But their happiness is short-lived. Escaping the safe house, they reunite with expat Maggie, and the narrator reveals that all of the expats have been fitted with tracking devices. Graham feels deeply betrayed by the deception.
The biggest twist comes when they find Adela, who is revealed to be the narrator’s future self. In that future, she and Graham marry and have a son, but Adela has traveled back in time to ensure the Ministry survives and history unfolds according to the timeline she believes is best.
The confrontation ends in disaster. The time door is destroyed, killing Adela, the Brigadier, and Salese. In the aftermath, Graham turns a gun on the narrator to force her to use Adela’s access codes to erase the Ministry’s files. He escapes alongside the surviving expats, though fellow explorer Cardingham is eventually recaptured.
The narrator loses her job at the Ministry, though she isn’t held responsible for the destruction of the time door. Months later, she receives a photograph from Graham and Maggie, showing they’ve made it to Alaska. Rather than leave the past behind, she decides to go after Graham, choosing the uncertain future they could build together.
Whether she ever finds him is left deliberately unresolved, making The Ministry of Time’s ending a bittersweet question.
