Jenny Han’s (author, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before) The Summer I Turned Pretty is being adapted into series for Amazon Prime Video, and according to Deadline, some of the main characters have already been casted. Newcomer Lola Tung is set to star as Belly, the lead character, alongside Rachel Blanchard (You Me Her), Christopher Briney (Dali Land) and Jackie Chung (Coming Home Again).
The Summer I Turned Pretty is being adapted into an eight-episode series that follows the love triangle between Belly and a pair of brothers who she has grown up with over years of visiting the beach. According to Deadline, the series, like the book on which it is based, is a multigenerational drama that in addition to romance, focuses on the changes in a mother’s relationship with her children, and the strength of life-long female friendships.
The summer Tung’s Belly turns 16 years old, she realizes she is no longer the awkward girl of her pre-teens and rather a head-turning beauty. When Belly is noticed by Conrad Fisher, the boy she’s been in love with forever, she has to navigate the excitement and anxiety of a crush turning into something more like first-love. Conrad will be played by Briney, via Deadline, who is a straight-A student and accomplished athlete. When Belly arrives at Conrad’s family’s beach house, she discovers he’s changed, becoming a more distant version of himself.
Belly’s mother Laurel will be played by Chung, who, according to Deadline, is a slightly technophobic author who has been stressed and unable to focus on her beloved novels since her divorce from Belly’s father. Laurel’s best friend and Conrad’s mother Susannah will be played by Blanchard. Susannah and Laurel bring their families together at Susannah’s beach house each summer to escape the business of their normal lives.
Han has written the pilot for The Summer I Turned Pretty and will co-showrun the series alongside Gabrielle Stanton (showrunner, Haven), via Deadline. The series is co-produced by Amazon Studios and wiip Studios, the production company that produced Apple TV+’s Dickinson.