Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3 finale.Well, after three seasons, The Summer I Turned Pretty has officially come to an end. After calling off her wedding to Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno), Belly (Lola Tung) went to Paris for ten months, where she took some time to really find herself and grow on her own. It was there that Conrad (Christopher Briney) came to see her, and the two finally got back together for good. While it's been exciting to see how the ending of The Summer I Turned Pretty has played out, it's also been a bittersweet occasion, because the finale means saying goodbye to the characters that we've been following for three seasons. Happily, it has been announced that The Summer I Turned Pretty will be returning for a movie, which is likely to follow Belly and Conrad's wedding from the third book's epilogue.
A movie would be the perfect way to wrap up The Summer I Turned Pretty, but that doesn't have to mean the end of the show or this magical and cozy world that Jenny Han has created. While the story arcs of Belly and the rest of her generation should end with the movie, The Summer I Turned Pretty has the perfect opportunity after the movie to continue with a spin-off. There's not much story left to tell for these characters beyond what will be covered in the movie, but The Summer I Turned Pretty should do a spin-off prequel series about Laurel (Jackie Chung) and Susannah's (Rachel Blanchard) college years.
We Need to See a 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' Prequel Series About Laurel and Susannah
The stories of the younger generation of The Summer I Turned Pretty have pretty much entirely been wrapped up at this point, and the movie will be a welcome cherry on top to really honor the third book's epilogue. That being said, there is so much potential in the possibility of a show that details the story of Laurel and Susannah's time in college together. The Summer I Turned Pretty has woven in many details about their past, like how they met in college, considered each other their soulmate, and both got married and had kids at pretty much the same time. Still, though, there are so many fascinating details to mine about Laurel and Susannah's past. A prequel series could show Laurel and Susannah meeting and becoming close, as well as starting relationships with John (Colin Ferguson) and Adam (Tom Everett Scott), and even giving birth to their kids.
There will never be another messy love triangle quite like that of Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah, but there is still a lot of potential for some other messy storylines in a possible prequel series. Season 2 of The Summer I Turned Pretty dove more in-depth into the complicated dynamics within Susannah's family, particularly related to her relationship with her half-sister, Julia (Kyra Sedgwick). A prequel could expand on these dynamics and make Julia more of a major character, as well as show how the Cousins Beach house became as much Laurel's as it was Susannah's. There's also plenty of romantic drama that the series could cover, both in Laurel and Susannah's relationships with their eventual husbands, as well as with potential other love interests that we have yet to learn about.
Laurel and Susannah's Friendship Is the Basis for Everything in 'The Summer I Turned Pretty'
The Summer I Turned Pretty's world is so well-written and fun to watch, but it would be just dragging things out to extend the main characters' stories beyond the movie. The show has already given so many compelling details about Laurel and Susannah's backstory that it seems like a natural next step to explore their time in college together, from when they first met to when they started bringing their kids to Cousins each summer. The entirety of The Summer I Turned Pretty's complex dynamics within the Conklin and Fisher families was formed well before Belly, Conrad, Jeremiah, and Steven (Sean Kaufman) were even born, and this untold story lingers over the entirety of the show. A prequel series would give us the opportunity to return to Cousins Beach, as well as to see Laurel, Susannah, Adam, John, and Julia before they became parents.
Because Susannah died between the first and second seasons of The Summer I Turned Pretty, we never got to see as much of her character as the others, yet she has continued to influence the show beyond her passing. Susannah was so enthusiastic and full of life, but as Season 1 and 2 explored, she also had a way of ignoring the difficult things in favor of the fun and more exciting ones. This could be the basis for some interesting conflict, coupled with the way that Laurel and Susannah's marriages were always framed as obstacles in the way of their extremely close bond. No fans of The Summer I Turned Pretty will want to see more conflict for Belly and her generation after they've finally gotten their happy endings, so a fun, wedding-centric movie is the perfect way to wrap things up. There is a huge aspect of The Summer I Turned Pretty's world that has not yet been explored, though, and it would be a shame to never get to see the specifics of how Laurel and Susannah became and stayed so close.
The Summer I Turned Pretty is available to stream in its entirety on Prime Video.
9.1/10 The Summer I Turned Pretty 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed TV-MA Drama Romance Release Date 2022 - 2025-00-00 Network Prime Video Directors Erica Dunton, Jesse Peretz, Jeff Chan Cast See All Lola Tung Isabel 'Belly' Conklin Christopher Briney Conrad Fisher Where to watch Close WHERE TO WATCH Streaming
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