{"id":699353,"date":"2026-06-12T08:18:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T08:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/699353\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T08:18:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T08:18:14","slug":"every-year-after-boss-on-book-changes-cheating-twist-and-season-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/699353\/","title":{"rendered":"Every Year After Boss on Book Changes, Cheating Twist and Season 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from \u201cEvery Year After<\/a>,\u201d now streaming on Prime Video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tShowunner Amy B. Harris had three specific plot points in mind when she set out to adapt Carley Fortune<\/a>\u2019s YA romance novel \u201cEvery Summer After<\/a>\u201d for Amazon Prime Video, now titled \u201cEvery Year After.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pilot ending with \u2018You came home,\u2019 the anatomy textbook scene, and the truck sex, where he says, \u2018You broke my heart\u2019 had to be in there,\u201d Harris tells Variety. (In a separate conversation with Variety\u2019s Jennifer Maas, Fortune echoed the importance of \u201cYou came home,\u201d the textbook scene, and friendship bracelets.) \u201cI thought, \u2018These are non-negotiables, and then everything else we\u2019ll figure out where it fits or doesn\u2019t.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHome\u201d in this situation refers to the lake town of Barry\u2019s Bay, located in rural Ontario, Canada. The idyllic location serves as the backdrop for the slowburn romance of best-friends-turned-lovers Persephone Fraser (Sadie Soverall) and Sam Florek (Matt Cornett). The pair meet as young teenagers when Percy \u2013 as she is referred to \u2013 becomes an annual summer visitor after her parents purchase a property in town. Over the course of the next few summers, the two grow closer over horror films and swims in the lake, frequently accompanied by Sam\u2019s older brother Charlie (Michael Bradway), Percy\u2019s best friend Delilah (Abigail Cowen), and Jordie (Joseph Chiu), a fellow local and Sam\u2019s best friend.<\/p>\n

After years of will they\/won\u2019t they, Sam and Percy begin dating, but break up the summer before college when Sam says he needs to focus on school and ends their long-distance relationship. After, Percy sleeps with Charlie \u2013 a move that they both feel immense guilt over, and prevents Percy from getting back together with Sam. A decade later, Percy, now an adult living in Seattle, gets a call from Charlie telling her their mom, Sue Florek (Elisha Cuthbert), has died. A grieving Percy heads back to Barry\u2019s Bay after years of no communication, and finds old feelings stirring up as her and Sam grow close once again. She\u2019s accompanied by her best friend Chantal (Aurora Perrineau), a workaholic lawyer engaged to a manchild.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSadie Soverall as Percy Fraser, Matt Cornett as Sam Florek<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJustine Yeung\/Prime Video<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the book, that\u2019s all that happens. But Harris\u2019 version takes the audience deeper into their lives, weaving in characters with their own plots in the present day and subtly changing the ways in which Sam, Charlie, and Percy\u2019s story plays out.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe most glaring difference is the reveal that the novel\u2019s Sam already knows about the ill-fated one-night stand thanks to Charlie, but the TV version finds out on screen. Well, sort of \u2014 Percy admits the truth in between the closing credits of Episode 5 and the opening of Episode 6.<\/p>\n

There were conversations about moving up the reveal in the show, according to Fortune. \u201cI didn\u2019t want that,\u201d she says. \u201cI also felt you need to have an understanding of the characters before you learn that. You need to be able to see how we got there. And I think you have to spend that time with them before the reveal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of our first big conversations in the [writers\u2019] room was who reveals it and when,\u201d says Harris. \u201cIn a series where we\u2019re exploring everybody\u2019s perspectives, you realize all these relationships had been so fractured by what had happened to them.\u201d In a later epsiode, Charlie admits to staying away from home due to his guilt and losing out on time with his brother and dying mom.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI wanted to see Sam\u2019s response, I wanted to feel the heartbreak,\u201d says Harris. \u201cThe reason we decided to make that more of a silent musical moment is that the audience sort of knew what was coming by then \u2013 and this is a weird way to say it \u2013 but whatever her excuse is, and what she\u2019s explaining to him isn\u2019t going to make it better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lack of awareness on Sam\u2019s behalf also poses a question that the book didn\u2019t: Why didn\u2019t he ever reach out to Percy? After their teenage breakup, what did he tell himself happened?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked about whether or not to show this, but I actually imagined Sam probably did reach out a few times, trying to reconnect with her, and she refused,\u201d says Harris, who ultimately decided against it. \u201cAt some point he went off the rails, and that\u2019s what\u2019s so upsetting about relationships ending: Things go horribly awry, and sometimes don\u2019t get answers as to why it all went so badly, and you\u2019re left to pick up your own pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was important to Harris not to set Percy up to take all the blame despite her mistake: \u201cSam was culpable for how badly their relationship went in their teenage years. He was hot and cold. Anytime things got tough for him, he shut down and made her feel like she wasn\u2019t valued.\u201d<\/p>\n

The years of adolescent build-up also remove an important factor: Charlie. Percy both has her first kiss and loses her virginity with him in the book, something Harris was deliberate in changing.<\/p>\n

The former is set up the same way, with Sam refusing to kiss Percy during a game of truth or dare, only for Charlie to swoop in \u2014 and ultimately back out in the show. The not-kiss was due to a combination of factors: the primary one being that Juliette Hawk, the actress for young Percy, was 17-years-old, while Carson MacCormac, who plays Charlie in the flashbacks, was 25.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could bring in a stunt double and have them kiss, and then it\u2019ll be OK,\u201d says Harris, explaining the original thought process. \u201cBut then it brought up a conversation about what the kiss did or didn\u2019t do for the characters. I think Charlie was jealous that Sam and Percy had found each other as people, but I did not want to play into any version of longing from Charlie to Percy. Sam knowing that Percy leaned in was as potent as if the kiss had happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a love triangle by any definition, if you ask Harris. Charlie has his own story \u2013 one that unfolds in the book\u2019s sequel, \u201cOne Golden Summer,\u201d and presumably in the show\u2019s second season, which has yet to be greenlit.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tMichael Bradway as Charlie Florek, Sadie Soverall as Percy Fraser<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJustine Yeung\/Prime Video<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI did not want Percy\u2019s first time to be with Charlie. I felt it was very important that Sam be her first, and that they had that intimacy that was theirs first before she moved on to other people,\u201d says Harris. \u201cI also think that \u2018a first\u2019 is a compelling person who looms large.\u201d<\/p>\n

Percy and Sam\u2019s first time was purposefully written to be a sweet, natural moment after their planned to-the-minute first attempt at sex is interrupted by the revelation that Delilah\u2019s pregnant, something Percy didn\u2019t pick up on, too wrapped up in her romance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a terrifying thing that happens to teenage girls,\u201d says Harris. \u201cEven though Percy did the right thing at the end, I think she always felt really guilty about that and how she handled herself. I do think this really happens for a lot of young people: You fall in love with someone, get very wrapped up in that, and you hurt friends. It\u2019s a bit of a cautionary tale.\u201d<\/p>\n

Delilah\u2019s off-screen abortion isn\u2019t brought up in the present day storyline, but does add complexity to the web of secondary characters in the show, highlighting her closeness to Jordie, who finds himself drawing closer to Chantal, with the pair dating by the last episode of the season.<\/p>\n

Harris knew \u201cright away\u201d she wanted to increase the roles the three have, finding it essential to flesh out both Percy and the world of Barry\u2019s Bay. Take Chantal, for example, who never makes the trip with Percy in the book. Harris wanted to figure out who she was, asking: \u201cWhy is Chantal in Percy\u2019s life? What does she have to teach Percy, and what does Percy have to teach her? How will the lake affect Chantal when she shows up there?\u201d<\/p>\n

Chantal, Delilah and Percy form a trio over the course of the season, with the former two coming together to help Percy when Sue leaves her the family restaurant in her will. It\u2019s a sore spot for Sam, Charlie and Sam\u2019s briefly onscreen now ex-girlfriend, who\u2019s afraid that this may be a beyond-the-grave message from mother to son, trying to get them back together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely think Sue felt there was a lot of unfinished business between her kids and Percy, and that bringing her back to Barry\u2019s Bay was essential for all of them to move on in their lives,\u201d Harris says, saying Sue understood that the Tavern and Barry\u2019s Bay were \u201cwas inspiring and powerful for Percy in a way that it wasn\u2019t for her boys.\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t know if she necessarily had a plan to get these crazy kids together, but I do think she understood that these three children who she loved so much \u2014 who were becoming adults \u2014 were kind of stunted and could never move on until they worked through their issues together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chantal and Delilah individually have enough on their plates too. Over the course of the season, Chantal grows frustrated with her needy fianc\u00e9 and begins falling for Jordie, who has harbored feelings for Delilah for years, but seemingly moves on and reciprocates Chantal\u2019s affections. Delilah, who goes through a mainly off-screen divorce during the show, is shown to have feelings for Jordie in the season\u2019s last episode, but spends a significant amount of screentime engaged in a secret affair with Charlie, who she has had a crush on since she was a teenager.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAurora Perrineau as Chantal, Abigail Cowen as Delilah<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJustine Yeung\/Prime Video<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen asked about the possibility of fans growing attached to Charlie and Delilah as a couple, Harris hints that their story isn\u2019t over yet \u2013 despite the Easter egg in the season finale implying that Charlie\u2019s love interest from the books will be making an appearance soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a book out there where Charlie has a different endgame that I think fans are very excited by, but I don\u2019t know when we\u2019ll tell that story,\u201d Harris says diplomatically, referring to the series\u2019 Alice Everly, a photographer who falls for Charlie decades after taking a photo of him, Sam and Percy on a boat from a distance. \u201cThere\u2019s a long journey where Charlie and Delilah are still very much in each other\u2019s lives. The Chantal-Jordie-Delilah love triangle is going to be a big thing in Season 2 \u2014 which might become a quadrangle when Charlie shows back up in Barry\u2019s Bay.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Charlie positioned to serve as the Season 2 lead, Fortune is aware of the split opinions concerning his character. \u201cThere are fans who loved Charlie the best in \u2018Every Summer After.\u2019 The reason why I knew that I had to write \u2018One Golden Summer\u2019 is because fans wanted a love story and a happy ending for Charlie. The majority of fans, I\u2019ve found, love him already. If you\u2019re a Charlie hater, you get a new perspective on him in \u2018One Golden Summer.\u2019 But with the show because we\u2019re seeing the brothers and their relationship, I think we already have empathy for them in a different way. So if you are left off with a bitter taste in your mouth about Charlie \u2014 first of all, I don\u2019t relate to you, and also, how fun? I love hating characters. Who doesn\u2019t want to pick a brother?\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris and Fortune agree they both have empathy for their characters, with Harris saying: \u201cHe made a big mistake that changed his life forever. He ran away from home and spent a lot less time there. His relationship with his brother \u2014 which I do think was the most important relationship for him from day one \u2014 is why he kept the secret for so long, because he couldn\u2019t bear the idea of not having Sam love him and look up to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope people can be empathetic towards him. I certainly am,\u201d Harris continues, adding that he begins to grow and start figuring himself out this season. She confims the photograph Charlie comes across in the finale and stares at as he has a heart attack is Alice\u2019s. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t know it yet, but the audience who loves \u2018One Golden Summer\u2019 will know that there\u2019s this woman out there that we\u2019re touching very lightly in this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a broken heart, and now his heart is actually giving out, because he doesn\u2019t have a place to call home anymore. At the very end of the episode, Sam comes home and is welcomed by Percy. Charlie doesn\u2019t have anywhere to be but his office,\u201d Harris adds.<\/p>\n

While the book ends with a clear cut reunion of Sam and Percy getting back together, the show leaves the status of their relationship a lot more open-ended \u2014 having had sex in Sam\u2019s truck after his mother\u2019s wake and him arriving at the Tavern on Percy\u2019s opening night \u2014 allowing the two to continue to figure out their issues as the show progresses, alongside Charlie and the rest of the crew. <\/p>\n

Fortune, for her part, hopes to see an \u201camalgamation\u201d of storylines old and new: \u201cI want to see these characters from the first season who we now have \u2014 these new fresh storylines for that world in the book \u2014 I want to see those expand and grow and carry over to the second season, while bringing in Alice, her grandmother, and having this new season with Charlie. I want both.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things I\u2019m so excited by, with Sam and Percy, is that the will they\/won\u2019t they of this season is like, how will they? One of the reasons why I thought it was so important that he find out about the betrayal in this season is that it\u2019s still very raw for him,\u201d explains Harris, who confirms their story isn\u2019t over yet. \u201cGoing into Season 2, they\u2019re going to try to make this work, but they haven\u2019t been together in over a decade. They\u2019ve both changed. You don\u2019t just get a happy ending; that\u2019s the beginning of whatever comes next.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a busy few years for Prime Video, especially in the YA romance adaptation space. The show will likely draw comparisons to \u201cThe Summer I Turned Pretty\u201d for all it\u2019s similarities and differences, and the hockey series \u201cOff Campus\u201d catapulted to fame in May with the release of Season 1 and Season 2 already in production. \u201cEvery Year After\u201d will too, no doubt, bring a whole new level of attention to the characters, actors, and the existing books.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a way to prepare for it,\u201d says Fortune about the new wave of eyes on Barry\u2019s Bay. \u201cI was talking to Sadie about this. You hold your relationship with the work close to your heart. We do this thing that means a lot to us, we put it out into the world for the audience, and we have to let it go. And doing that protects our own relationship with it. That\u2019s sometimes more challenging than other times. But it\u2019s happening. The train has left the station.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJennifer Maas contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from \u201cEvery Year After,\u201d now streaming on Prime Video. Showunner Amy B.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[302643,302644,88,302645,302053,7048,92],"class_list":["post-699353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-amy-harris","tag-carley-fortune","tag-entertainment","tag-every-summer-after","tag-every-year-after","tag-prime-video","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}