Jenny Han, author of the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before book series, is about to have a whole new wave of fan attention. According to Deadline, Amazon has ordered a television adaptation of her young adult series The Summer I Turned Pretty for their streaming service.
The Summer I Turned Pretty is a book trilogy following Isabel “Belly” Conklin as she spends her summers at Cousin’s Beach with her family. Isabel’s mother’s best friend and her two sons – with whom Isabel finds herself trapped in a love triangle – also spend their summers at the beach. Following the multigenerational drama that ensues, the trilogy focuses on the relationships between mothers and their children, and how love, friendship, and heartbreak impact life.
Via Deadline, the adaptation will be an eight-part series based on the first book in the series. Han has written the pilot for the series, and will serve as a showrunner alongside Gabrielle Stanton (executive producer, The Flash). Karen Rosenfelt (producer, Twilight), Paul Lee (producer, Dickinson), Nne Ebong (producer, Invasion), and newcomer Hope Hartman are additionally attached as executive producers.
Amazon’s pick-up is not the first time an adaptation for the series has been attempted; Lionsgate optioned the books for a film series in 2013, the same year the books were published, according to Deadline.
Regarding the adaptation, Han said, “The Summer I Turned Pretty is many years in the making, and I’m so excited to tell Belly’s story in 2021,” said Han. “For the longtime book fans, I think it will have been worth the wait. For those newly discovering the Summer series, I hope you fall in love with these characters and this place that is so dear to my heart.” (Deadline)
Previous adaptations of Han’s work have become huge phenomenons in their cinematic form. All three of her To All The Boys novels have been made into films for Netflix. The final film in the trilogy, To All The Boys: Always and Forever releases on the streamer Friday, February 12.
Amazon Studios will be producing the series alongside wiip studios. No production timeline or release date has currently been announced, but if following in the footsteps of Han’s To All The Boys films, the series is sure to be a success.