Here Are The Biggest Changes The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2 Made From the Books
What's the opposite of a summer bummer?
Grab your beach towel and sunglasses because we're finally back in Cousins Beach, thanks to The Summer I Turned Pretty's highly anticipated second season. The Amazon Prime Video hit dropped the first three episodes on July 14, giving fans a much-needed update on the love triangle between Belly (Lola Tung) and brothers Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno), as well as revealing what happened to Susannah (Rachel Blanchard) after her cancer returned at the end of season one. Spoiler alert: Grab tissues on both fronts.
Based on the second book in Jenny Han's trilogy, It's Not Summer Without You, the show made several major changes to the source material, including the addition of two new characters, more screen time for some familiar faces and a major first for Belly that will shock fans who read the 2010 novel.
But that doesn't mean OG readers should stress over some of their favorite moments going MIA.
"Season two has to follow its own journey aside from the book," star Sean Kaufman, who plays Belly's old brother Steven, told E! News. "Jenny does a fantastic job for the book fans to tie a lot in. There'll be a lot of scenes where people are like, 'Oh snap, that's straight from the book.'"
Given that the book season two is based on came out more than a decade ago, Kaufman praised the way Han, who serves as showrunner, was able to update the series, saying, "She does a great job of finding new opportunities in 2023."
In season one, that meant making Jeremiah sexually fluid and exploring topics such unconscious bias and classism. And in the new season, a non-binary character is introduced.
Here are the biggest changes the first three episodes of TSITP season two made:
"I want to. I want it to be with you."
And with those 10 words, The Summer I Turned Pretty's entire trajectory changed as the decision for Belly (Lola Tung) to lose her virginity to Conrad (Christopher Briney) marked one of the Amazon Prime Video TV series' biggest departures from Jenny Han's books.
While the pair also staged a secret visit to Cousins during Christmastime on the page, Belly and Conrad did not have sex. But in the second episode, it's revealed that the couple are intimate for the first time in front of the fireplace. "Conrad, it's only you," she tells a sleeping Conrad after. "There's only ever been you." Of course, this makes their relationship—which never reached the official distinction of boyfriend and girlfriend in the book, like it does onscreen—much more serious and their eventual breakup all the more devastating.
"That was a big change from the books," Christopher told E! News' Erin Lim of the sex scene. "It definitely caught me off guard."
In episode three, viewers are introduced to Susannah's half-sister Aunt Julia (Kyra Sedgwick) and Conrad and Jeremiah's cousin Skye (Elsie Fisher) after Belly and the boys learn that Julia is selling the Cousins Beach house. The distant and cold Julia and Skye, who identifies as non-binary, are characters created for the TV series, helping to raise the stakes and tension.
"I think I was daunted by the concept when I first heard about it, but that diminished the second I got there," Kyra told E! News of joining the cast. "Everyone was so lovely." It also helped having Elsie by her side, with Kyra adding, "We had each other to bond and be the new kids on the block."
As in season two, Belly's brother Steven (Sean Kaufman) and her best friend Taylor (Rain Spencer) are given expanded roles compared to their book counterparts. While they briefly make appearances in the second novel, the duo decide to hop in the car and head to Cousins to help Belly and the Fisher boys, with Steven also having the ulterior motive of wanting to spend more time with Taylor.
Mom's got problems, too.
Like her daughter, Belly's mom Laurel (Jackie Chung) is struggling to process the death of Susannah, her life-long best friend. While her grief is mostly off-page in the book, the TV version of Laurel writes a memoir about her friendship—titled It's Not Summer Without You, the same as Han's 2010 novel that served as the basis for season two—with Susannah, which she initially feels conflicted over promoting.
"Both seasons have been different from the book because I feel like my character has been expanded so much in the series," Jackie told E! News. "So there isn't much of the career, life, romance in the books that I get to experience."
The infinity necklace is a piece of jewelry that has big significance in Belly and Conrad's relationship. He first bought it with the intention of giving it to her for her 16th birthday in season one, but never did.
Fans finally got to see Conrad gift Belly with the item in the season two premiere after they decide not to become a couple to protect Jeremiah's feelings. In the show's recreation of the infamous prom scene, a devastated Belly gives the necklace back when Conrad breaks up with her. And Belly stumbles upon the token while gathering items from Conrad's dorm room. But, unlike in the book, Belly doesn't take it, choosing to leave it on the desk.
While Han previously told E! News that it was Casalegno's "golden retriever energy" that landed him the role of Jeremiah, the actor gets to show off his more dramatic side in the new season.
Between losing his mother and watching Belly date his brother, Jeremiah is going through it in the first three episodes. While Jeremiah calls Belly asking for help to locate Conrad in the books, it's Belly who phones Jer onscreen, with the younger Fisher brother initially trying to avoid her.
Belly and Jeremiah ultimately have a confrontation about their falling out in episode two, with Belly admitting she "hates herself" for feeling like she abandoned and let down Jeremiah.
"It was really, really bad," a crying Jeremiah tells Belly of Susannah's death. "I needed you and you weren't there. You left me." Sob!
The Summer I Turned Pretty season two's first three episodes are streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
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