In the book, Sam already had an idea of what went down between Percy and his older brother that sent them both running away from Barry’s Bay. In the show, though, this was changed, and Sam’s reaction to the news that Percy slept with Charlie unfolds in real time.
“For television, seeing [Sam’s] visceral response to it was so important because it’s dramatic and emotional, and it makes Percy have to stand up and tell the truth, which is what she did in the book, but she’s standing up here, and the reaction is not, ‘It’s okay.’ It’s actually a huge betrayal,” Harris said. “It breaks up his relationship with his brother and with Percy, and I think to be able to tell that story in a way that really gave Sam [a reaction in real time]… You want it to be in the present. And then it really allowed us to play for the next episodes after that with the drama of how that’s unfolding.”
Sam takes a lot of anger out on Charlie. Michael Bradway, who plays Sam’s older brother, liked the change because it “raised the stakes” for the cast as actors. Should the show get renewed, Sam and Percy will still have work to do in coming back together as a couple.”
L-R: Sadie Soverall as Percy Fraser and Matt Cornett as Sam Florek in ‘Every Year After’
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“If we’re lucky enough to have a season two, they’re not settled, right? He still has feelings about what happened between them, and I think that is going to make their relationship complicated in the best way, and her guilt still should. They’re working through it. It’s not a happy ending per se yet,” Harris said.
“I think they still have a lot of emotions and issues to work through, and I think that’s what I don’t see as much on TV that I am really interested in exploring. After you get your happy ending, it’s really just the beginning of a relationship, and relationships are not static, they’re constantly changing, and good things can happen to you, or bad things can happen to you, that are exterior from your relationship, and I really want to explore the challenges of being in a couple.”