After four glorious years, The Summer I Turned Pretty is set to come to an end when the final episode of Season 3 airs on September 17.
Fans always knew it would be a three season arc – it is based on a trilogy of books, after all – but that hasn’t made it any easier to say goodbye.
So, as we all grapple with our denial that the series is nearly over, the internet has begun to ask one collective question – when are we getting a spin-off?
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While fans of the show would probably settle for any rendition, there’s one particular spinoff that everyone has been begging to see.
For years viewers of the show have been asking showrunner and author of the books, Jenny Han, to create a new series centered around the origin story of mothers and long-time best friends, Laurel and Susannah.
So, when I got the opportunity to sit down for a chat with Han and cast members Lola Tung (Belly) and Rain Spencer (Taylor), of course I had to ask the question.
And I can tell you this much, it’s not not happening.
“I’d say, you never know,” Han tells 9honey Celebrity.
“I would say I don’t have any current plans at the moment, but that’s the spin-off that people always ask about.
“Even with the books, they’d be like, ‘Can we get a young Laurel and Susannah story?'”
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The Summer I Turned Pretty is currently the number one most watched TV series among women aged 18 to 34, and once you watch it, it’s not hard to understand why.
The story centres around a young girl named Belly (Tung) who finds herself caught in a love triangle with two brothers, Conrad (Chris Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno).
But while the baseline story may sound simple, the show dives much deeper into themes of grief, nostalgia and female friendships – particularly between Tung and Spencer’s characters.
Fans of the show have found the relationship between Belly and Taylor to be a truly authentic depiction of friendship, with many seeing it as the most enduring love story of the series.
“I love how different they are as people,” Spencer explains.
“This idea of opposites attracting… like Taylor has one thing that Belly needs and Belly has something that Taylor needs and they’re able to grow up together and love each version of the other person.”
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Over the seasons the two characters have had their differences but always managed to find their way back to one another, with Tung saying it all comes down to their communication.
“They’re honest with each other and they tell it like it is but they will always be on each others’ sides,” she says.
”I think both of them have said to each other, ‘whatever you decide I’m on your team’.”
When it comes to Han’s point of view on the relationship, she explains that the hardest part of a life-long childhood friendship is keeping up with each other.
“As you get older you’re like, ‘if we met today would we be friends?'” she explains.
“[For] some people, the answer is ‘no’, but then you have that history and that connection that you can’t really erase.
“It’s like letting them each grow up to be who they’re going to be and being supportive of that.”
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Even though five years may not be a lifetime, it’s clear in my short amount of time with Han, Tung and Spencer that three women have formed a lifelong connection.
So when asked about their feelings toward their time on the show together coming to an end in just a few weeks, they all have the same answer – it just doesn’t feel real.
“Seeing all the reactions to this now it feels so alive and new,” Spencer says, while Tung adds, “I don’t think it’s fully sunk in yet.”
The trio have worked tirelessly over the years to bring the novels loved by so many to life for the screen, with Han describing these final few weeks as “a whirlwind”.
“It’s funny because you work so hard to get to this point where episodes are coming out and you get to share it with people, but then it’s also like a whirlwind,” she says.
“You know, like, where are we now? We’re in Sydney.”
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