What if one final summer could rewrite EVERY heartbreaker’s ending? 😱

Belly’s choice in the finale left us wrecked—Conrad or Jeremiah? But whispers from Jenny Han hint at a beachside twist that shatters it all. Waves crashing, secrets spilling… is true love finally crashing the party? Dive into the exclusive first-look trailer that just dropped and spill your #TeamConrad thoughts below! 👇

The beachy haze of Cousins Beach isn’t fading anytime soon. Just weeks after the tear-soaked finale of The Summer I Turned Pretty‘s third season dropped on Prime Video, the streaming giant has thrown fans a lifeline: a full-length feature film to cap off Belly Conklin’s whirlwind romance saga. Announced on September 17, 2025—the very day the series bowed out with its emotional gut-punch—the movie promises to pick up right where the show left off, delivering what creator Jenny Han calls the “true” end to her beloved trilogy. But as production revs up and a teaser trailer sparks frenzy online, questions swirl: Will this silver-screen sendoff honor the books, satisfy the die-hards, or just ride the wave of nostalgia for another cash grab?

For the uninitiated—or those who binge-watched under the covers—The Summer I Turned Pretty is the brainchild of Jenny Han, the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before auteur whose 2009 young adult novel kicked off a trilogy that has sold millions worldwide. The books follow Isabel “Belly” Conklin, a gawky teen who blossoms into her own during lazy Cousins Beach summers, entangled in a love triangle with the Fisher brothers: brooding Conrad, the soulful artist type, and sunny Jeremiah, the golden-boy charmer. It’s equal parts The O.C. drama and Little Women heartache, laced with themes of first love, grief, and that elusive “one perfect summer.”

Prime Video scooped up adaptation rights in 2019, and the series premiered in June 2022 to solid buzz. Starring newcomer Lola Tung as Belly, Christopher Briney as Conrad, and Gavin Casalegno as Jeremiah, it quickly became appointment viewing for Gen Z and millennials alike. Season 1 clocked in at seven episodes, capturing the awkward thrill of Belly’s 15th summer turning 16. By Season 2 in July 2023, viewership exploded—Amazon reported it as their No. 2 most-watched series among women 18-34, trailing only The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The show’s secret sauce? A killer soundtrack (think Taylor Swift deep cuts and K-pop bops), sun-drenched cinematography filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina (standing in for Massachusetts), and Han’s hands-on tweaks that fleshed out the books’ sparse plots with fresh subplots, like Belly’s college dreams and the Fishers’ deepening family fractures.

Critics were split. Outlets like The New York Times praised its “effervescent charm and relatable pangs of youth,” giving Season 1 an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. But detractors, including Variety, called out the “soapy clichés” and “predictable beats” that felt ripped from a CW playbook. Fans, however, ate it up—social media exploded with #TeamConrad vs. #TeamJeremiah wars, fan edits racking up millions on TikTok, and even real-life “Cousins Beach” pilgrimages to the North Carolina set. The series drove subscription spikes for Prime Video, proving Han’s knack for turning teen turmoil into cultural catnip.

Fast-forward to 2025: Season 3, renewed in August 2023 and billed as the final bow, hit screens on July 16 with a double-episode premiere. Spanning 11 installments, it dove headfirst into the trilogy’s third book, We’ll Always Have Summer, ramping up the stakes with Belly’s senior year, Susannah’s lingering shadow (the Fisher matriarch’s cancer battle remains a gut-wrencher), and that eternal brotherly rivalry threatening to sink the whole crew. New faces joined the fray: Isabella Briggs and Kristen Connolly as series regulars, alongside recurring turns from Sofia Bryant, Lily Donoghue, Zoé de Grand’Maison, Emma Ishta, and Tanner Zagarino. Rachel Blanchard returned as the ethereal Susannah, while Jackie Hoffman chewed scenery as Laurel, Belly’s no-nonsense mom.

The season’s weekly drops built unbearable tension, peaking with the September 17 finale that drew 25 million global viewers in its first week alone—Prime Video’s fifth most-watched returning season ever. In a nod to the books’ divisive ending, Belly finally picks a side, jetting off to Paris in a credits scene heavy with wedding bells and “14” motifs (a recurring Han Easter egg for superfans). But Han wasn’t done. During a glitzy Paris red-carpet bash for the finale, she dropped the bomb: A movie was greenlit to “conclude” the story, with Han and showrunner Sarah Kucserka penning the script.

Prime Video execs Courtenay Valenti and Vernon Sanders hailed it in a joint statement: “The Summer I Turned Pretty has struck a chord with audiences everywhere, creating moments of joy, nostalgia, and connection that have made it a global sensation.” The film, a direct sequel to the series, will fast-forward a bit—think post-college Belly navigating adulthood’s curveballs—while circling back to unresolved threads like the fate of the Fisher beach house and lingering brotherly beef. Han teased on TODAY that it’s “still in the script stages,” ruling out a 2026 drop: “We don’t know when it’s coming out, not next year.” Fan theorists are buzzing about a Christmas 2025 release, tying into the finale’s holiday tease, but Han shut that down with a laugh: “It’s too soon to say.”

Enter the trailer: On September 25, Prime Video unleashed a 90-second “first look” that lit X (formerly Twitter) on fire. Grainy waves crash over sepia-toned flashbacks—Belly and Conrad’s stolen glances from Season 1, Jeremiah’s beach volleyball antics—before cutting to a grown-up Belly (Tung, now 22, looking every bit the poised ingenue) staring down a tuxedoed Conrad at what screams “wedding rehearsal.” Cue the swelling strings, a voiceover murmuring, “Some summers change you forever… but what if one could fix everything?” It ends on a cliffhanger: A mysterious envelope stamped “Cousins Realty” flutters into frame, hinting at the house’s sale igniting fresh chaos. No full cast reveal yet, but Briney and Casalegno are locked in, with rumors swirling of Kyra Sedgwick (from Season 2’s Adam arc) expanding her role and a potential Taylor Swift cameo nodding to the soundtrack’s queen.

The trailer’s drop was pure viral alchemy. Within hours, #SummerMovieTrailer trended worldwide, amassing 500K views on Prime’s YouTube channel. X users like @c0nradsb3lly gushed, “thinking about how the summer i turned pretty movie trailer is going to be bellyconrad centered,” racking up hundreds of likes. TikTok stitches dissected every frame, with #TeamJeremiah stans decrying the Conrad bias and book purists griping about timeline tweaks. “It’s giving The Last Song but gayer,” one viral review quipped, referencing Miley Cyrus’s Nicholas Sparks flick.

But not everyone’s surfing this hype wave. Some fans, scarred by the series’ deviations—like amping up Belly’s friend Taylor’s arc or killing off a minor character for shock value—worry the movie will stray further from Han’s 2011 finale, where Belly’s choice felt more bittersweet than triumphant. “The books ended perfectly imperfect,” tweeted a top-thread user with 10K followers. “Don’t Hollywood-ize the messiness.” Critics echo that, with The Hollywood Reporter questioning if a theatrical push (rumored for limited IMAX runs) risks diluting the show’s intimate, bingeable vibe. Budget whispers peg it at $50 million—modest for Amazon MGM Studios—but expect beachy opulence: Think drone shots of crashing Atlantic waves and a score blending indie folk with pop anthems.

Han, ever the steady hand, addressed the skeptics on Good Morning America September 18: “This isn’t fan service; it’s the ending Belly deserves—one that’s messy, real, and full of that summer magic.” At 42, Han’s no stranger to YA-to-screen pivots; her To All the Boys trilogy grossed over $50 million on Netflix alone. Yet Summer‘s intimacy—rooted in her own East Coast childhood summers—feels personal. “I wrote these books as a love letter to that fleeting feeling of youth,” she told USA Today. “The movie lets us linger a little longer.”

Zooming out, this film’s timing is savvy. YA adaptations are hot again post-After and The Kissing Booth, but streaming’s shift toward “event TV” (hello, Squid Game Season 2) makes a hybrid movie-series finale a bold play. Prime Video, fresh off Fallout‘s success, is betting big on IP extensions—think The Boys spin-offs. Viewership stats back it: Season 3’s 25 million debut viewers skewed heavily female, 18-24, a demo Amazon’s courting amid cord-cutting woes. Globally, the show topped charts in 80 countries, with spikes in the UK, Brazil, and South Korea—where K-dramas like Crash Landing on You share its swoony DNA.

Behind the glamour, production hurdles loom. Filming kicks off in October 2025 in Wilmington, per Deadline sources, but cast schedules are tight: Tung’s eyeing indie dramas, Briney’s linked to a Gossip Girl reboot rumor, and Casalegno’s juggling music gigs. Labor strikes’ aftershocks could delay post-production, and with no director attached (Sara Zandieh helmed most episodes; fingers crossed for her return), whispers of a prestige hire like Emerald Fennell (Saltburn) add intrigue. Plot-wise, expect callbacks: The Paris trip from the finale? Expanded into a Euro jaunt clashing with beachy roots. And that house? It’s the emotional anchor, symbolizing loss after Susannah’s off-screen decline. Han’s script, co-written with Kucserka, leans into “growth over romance,” per insiders—Belly as a young woman, not girl, facing real-world grit.

Fan reactions? A powder keg. On Reddit’s r/TheSummerITurnedPretty (200K subscribers), threads dissect the trailer like Oppenheimer blueprints: “The envelope? Divorce papers for Laurel and Adam!” one theorizes. X’s algorithm fed the fire, with semantic searches pulling up 50K posts on “Belly Conrad wedding” since September 17. But toxicity creeps in—#Team wars turned ugly last season, with doxxing threats against actors. Han’s addressed it head-on: “Ship who you want, but kindness first.”

Merch madness is underway too. Prime’s shop dropped “Cousins Beach” hoodies ($45) and “Team 14” mugs, selling out in days. Collaborations with Free People and Glossier tap the aesthetic—flowy sundresses, seashell jewelry—for that effortless summer glow. Soundtrack leaks? A demo of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” remix featuring Belly lyrics has insiders buzzing.

As speculation builds, one thing’s clear: The Summer I Turned Pretty tapped a vein of universal longing—the ache for endless youth, uncomplicated love, and beaches that fix everything. The movie could cement it as Han’s crown jewel or flop like The Perfect Date. With Tung’s star rising (she’s Emmy-buzzed for a guest spot on Euphoria), this feels like a launchpad.

Han summed it best in Elle: “Only a movie will do” for this finale—big, bold, unmissable. Mark your feeds: By summer 2027 (or whenever it lands), Cousins Beach calls again. Will you answer?