Warning: The following contains spoilers for The Summer I Turned Pretty, both the TV series and the books. Read at your own risk.
And they lived happily ever after! OR DID THEY? Even though The Summer I Turned Pretty aired its series finale with Belly (Lola Tung) and Conrad (Christopher Briney) returning hand-in-hand to Cousins Beach after a très romantic reunion in Paris, there’s apparently still more to the story of Belly, Conrad, Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno), and the other folks from Cousins Beach remaining to be told. Fortunately, we know the rest of the story is coming, in the form of a surprise movie that’s going to cap everything off.
It’s huge news for the rabid fanbase that has made The Summer I Turned Pretty into one of Amazon Prime Video’s biggest hits. Let’s see what we know about the newly announced film thus far.
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When is The Summer I Turned Pretty movie going to be released?
No timetable for the finale movie has been revealed, but The Summer I Turned Pretty author/co-showrunner Jenny Han is not in any particular hurry.
“I don’t know when it will be out, but I don’t think it’s safe to say next year because we haven’t filmed it yet,” Han told Variety. “I honestly, really want that extra time, because it’s just getting the actors a little bit closer to adulthood. We’re getting to see Belly at 15, turning 16, and then seeing her as this young woman. And now Lola is 22! I think that I always wanted some distance for the movie, so I’m really glad to get that breathing space.”
We’ll talk about the potential story ramifications of that comment in a moment, but what this means for the release date of the Summer I Turned Pretty
Will The Summer I Turned Pretty movie be released in theaters?
Nothing is known about Amazon’s release plans for the movie, but the fact that it’s being specifically classified as a film instead of several new episodes means some sort of a theatrical release — even if it’s just a one-day-only sort of event — is certainly possible. It’s unlikely that they’ve made any decisions about this yet.
What will the movie be about?
While Prime Video hasn’t specifically said anything about the plot, Han gave us a pretty significant clue in a quote she gave in the announcement about the movie: “There is a big milestone left in Belly’s journey, and I thought only a movie could give it its proper due. I’m so grateful to Prime Video for continuing to support my vision for this story and for making it possible to share this final chapter with the fans.”
While the book series ended with Conrad and Belly getting married, the show simply ended with the pair getting back together in France and re-starting their relationship. That means Han is almost certainly telling us that Belly and Connie’s wedding will be the focus of the movie, since that’s Belly’s only remaining milestone that was in the novels but not the show.
That said, the wedding probably won’t go exactly the way you might think, since the epilogue of the third novel doesn’t have enough content to support a movie’s worth of storytelling. Jenny Han, who will direct the film as well as co-write it, will certainly need to expand this part of the story for the movie, but it’s tough to guess what exactly that will involve.
But we do know one major thing: There will be a big time skip, of at least a year, between the series finale and the movie, as Han seems to want the actors to be the same age in the movie as they are in real life when they shoot it — and star Lola Tung is still a year younger than Belly is in the book’s epilogue.
The Summer I Turned Pretty movie cast and crew
Jenny Han will direct and co-write the film along with co-showrunner Sarah Kucserka, and we should expect to see just about the entire main cast back as well.
Expected cast members
Where to watch The Summer I Turned Pretty
For those fans who want to revisit the series over and over again while they wait for the movie, you can watch all three seasons of The Summer I Turned Pretty exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.
