Prime Video has ordered a feature-length capstone to The Summer I Turned Pretty, intending the film to serve as the story’s ultimate conclusion. Jenny Han, who wrote the books on which the series is based, is attached to pen and direct, with leads Lola Tung and Christopher Briney reprising their roles as Belly and Conrad.
A feature finale made to order for the biggest milestone of the story
Han has indicated that there’s one huge moment still to go in Belly’s arc — one she thinks merits the scale of a movie.
- A feature finale made to order for the biggest milestone of the story
- What we know and don’t know about the finale film so far
- Why a movie ending could make strategic sense
- What fans can expect to see on screen in the finale
- A trend on the rise: event films as franchise codas
- The bottom line on the series’ finale film plans
That tease fits the books: We’ll Always Have Summer ends with Belly and Conrad’s wedding, which the series finale conspicuously did not show. Though the plot is being kept under wraps, a movie-length epilogue would allow room for the emotional beats fans are dying to see — from family blessings to a hard-won reconciliation — and also dovetail directly with the trilogy’s larger endgame.
The books also withhold a bittersweet letter Susannah writes for the day of Belly’s wedding, which many readers consider the emotional keystone of the trilogy. Transferring that moment to a feature might enable the adaptation to bring in the final grace note of its source material without underselling it.
What we know and don’t know about the finale film so far
Prime Video has officially announced the movie and Jenny Han’s dual position as writer-director. Tung and Briney are attached; further casting, production slate, and release window have yet to be revealed. The look and feel of Cousins Beach can still be expected — the show’s warm, sunlit visual signature should stay put as a calling card across three seasons.
Behind the series, Amazon’s television banner was in charge of production, and the film will move on within that ecosystem. Streamers are increasingly using an event film to deliver a decisive beat, piquing interest while also offering creatives room to bring arcs home outside of an episodic structure.
Why a movie ending could make strategic sense
The Summer I Turned Pretty has been a growth driver for Prime Video’s YA slate, driving up subscriber engagement and social chatter every summer. Nielsen’s weekly streaming charts frequently included the series while it ran, and TikTok hashtags rooted in the show racked up billions of views, evidence of a rewatch-mad audience.
The soundtrack helped, too. Luminate and Billboard have recorded significant bumps for featured artists — Taylor Swift especially — whenever new episodes were released, a feedback loop that helped keep the show in cultural conversation in the off-seasons. Circana BookScan, meanwhile, recorded continued sales lifts for Han’s novels with the series, highlighting how wide-ranging the franchise’s cross-media draw was.
What fans can expect to see on screen in the finale
A final film allows for the addition of more than one ceremony. Anticipate room for Conrad’s and Jeremiah’s perspectives to settle with age, a more robust Fisher-family reckoning, and some consideration of Belly as something beyond the center point of a love triangle — school, potentially career aspirations, and those lifelong friendships that grounded the series so well.
The adaptation could find the sweet spot, just so, to land on first-crush madness combined with loss. A feature format might weave together those modes in a single, unified arc — Cousins offering sunny, romantic set pieces counterbalanced by the weight of Susannah’s legacy — providing closure that felt earned rather than abrupt.
A trend on the rise: event films as franchise codas
The strategy fits a broader trend: fan-beloved series scheduling a movie to end their dash through narrative. Recent successful examples include extended Downton Abbey on the big screen and The Last Kingdom’s cinematic coda, which allowed creators to dictate pacing but also gave faithful viewers a tidily conclusive end.
For Prime Video, the goal in eventizing the finale is to help a very crowded media landscape focus, create a clean marketing moment, and provide a format that works well for global rollouts. For Han, it means the opportunity to help steer the last word on a world she created in book form and that now exists also on screen.
The bottom line on the series’ finale film plans
For fans of The Summer I Turned Pretty, the series’s final chapter is finally coming — as a movie penned by its author, led by the beloved central romance and set against a lush seaside backdrop. The details are few, the anticipation is sky-high and, because many people have turned out to no longer care at all about what makes something good or bad, the runway is clear for a finale that pays off a phenomenon — on its own terms.
Until then, the entire series is still available on Prime Video, offering fans and newcomers alike an opportunity to catch up before Belly’s story comes screeching into the homestretch.
