‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ creator Jenny Han on season two’s ties to the Cape, Taylor Swift, and finding forgiveness
Cousins Beach is the ultimate summer vacation spot in the “The Summer I Turned Pretty” trilogy. Home to multi-generational memories and three best friends stuck in a love triangle, this fictional Massachusetts shoreline is the magical setting for three novels and now two seasons of the popular young adult franchise. (The streaming series, however, is filmed in Wilmington, N.C.) Jenny Han — executive producer and co-showrunner of the series — released the first “The Summer I Turned Pretty” novel in 2009 with the show’s first season debuting last June. The second season arrives on Prime Video on Friday, diving back into the world of Isabel “Belly” Conklin (Lola Tung), her love interests, Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah Fisher (Gavin Casalegno), and the aftermath of a summer of tumultuous change.
The Globe spoke to Han before the season’s release about translating the novel trilogy for TV, Cousins Beach’s New England inspiration, and why she’s always Team Belly.
Q. Cousins Beach was inspired, in part, by Cape Cod, where you wrote part of the first “The Summer I Turned Pretty” novel. What about Cape Cod felt like the right setting?
A. I used to be a paid companion in grad school, and I would visit there with the family I worked for. I loved going to the drive-in and eating pie and walking on the beach. I just liked how friendly and cozy of a place it was. It didn’t feel like a glamorous kind of beach. It felt like a neighborhood kind of a beach.
It’s mostly based on Cape Cod, but also, at that time, I was going to Martha’s Vineyard and the Hamptons. And it’s also based a little bit on the beach I went to growing up, which was Nags Head [in North Carolina]. So it’s a lot the beaches I’ve been to in my life.
Q. Did Lola Tung capture your vision for Belly?
A. Lola has this inner light and this quality that makes you want to root for her. She has this kind of innocence, but also, this knowingness about her. When we first cast her, she had never acted professionally before; she was still [in] her first year of college. I think that really lent itself beautifully to the part, because everything was new to her, and everything was new for Belly. [Belly] was out in the world for the first time, in a way. I think that it was a bit meta in that sense.
Q. The first season felt dreamy and romanticized, while also revealing Susannah’s cancer diagnosis. While previewing this season, I teared up at least five times. What was it like transitioning to a much more difficult and sad story line?
A. The first season is really about that dreamy, innocent time. It’s that perfect summer where it feels like anything can happen. It’s all about summer love, and it’s like, “This is gonna last forever.”
And season two, you come back in the first episode, and it’s like, “Nothing lasts forever.” I picked “August” [by Taylor Swift] for the teaser for a reason. If you listen to the [lyrics], “so much for summer love,” it’s very rare that summer loves can last until September. It’s there for a moment in time. It’s a metaphor about life. It’s ever-changing, [and] you have to enjoy that perfect moment while it’s there. That’s what season two is about because all of them are in a place where they’ve had to learn those hard lessons.
Q. The novel “It’s Not Summer without You,” which the second season is based on, came out in 2010. How do you make sure the show is true to the story you first released 13 years ago while balancing new readers and watchers?
A. It’s funny because sometimes I’ll see people online like, “Change the ending” or “Don’t change the ending” or “Make it be just like the books.” My North Star is always just doing what I think is best for the story.
I love to delight the fans, but I also like to surprise the fans. If it’s exactly the same, that’s not going to be as exciting to watch. In season one, there was the deb ball, which wasn’t in the books. People by and large like the moment where we have “The Way I
Loved You” [playing], and Belly doesn’t have a [dance] partner because Jeremiah has just found out about [his mother] Susannah’s cancer. Conrad stands up, and it’s this really beautiful moment that we wouldn’t have had. Hopefully people will enjoy the changes, and fingers crossed for that.
Q. Are you Team Conrad or Team Jeremiah?
A. I am not on a team. As the author of the books, the creator of the show, I have to really be able to empathize and feel compassion for all the characters. People always side-eye when I say I’m Team Belly, but even when I was writing the books, I was feeling myself going on that journey with her.
Q. I saw your Instagram post with some of the cast at the WGA strike with a “The Summer I Turned Union” sign. What was that experience like? A. It was cool because many of the cast [members] live in New York, so I was like, “Come with me,” because I go [there] to picket. The actors have many of the same concerns the writers do about artificial intelligence, and I think that’s important for the actors to be aware of their rights and their contracts, too.
Q. Why is Cousins Beach so magical to these characters?
A. It is really the place of their childhood. It represents a place of safety. They are each other’s family. This season is about trying to recapture that magic in the face of everything that they’ve lost, trying to feel that lightness and freedom again.
It’s important, even in times of grief, to know that you can be happy again, and that’s OK, and it’s important to find those moments that you can do both things at the same time. [Belly has] been under this cloud for months and has felt such shame and guilt and hasn’t been able to forgive herself. I would say that’s one of the other big themes is forgiving.
Season two of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” will be available on Prime Video on Friday.