The summer-loving show that took over our lives in 2022 will make a comeback in 2025 for its third season on Amazon Prime Video. The Summer I Turn Pretty comes from Jenny Han's universe. The same woman who brought us To All the Boys I Loved Before and XOXO, Kitty pulls at our heartstrings with one of her best stories set at Cousins Beach and told by Isabel "Belly" Conklin. Throughout the books and series (by the same name), Belly tries to decide between two handsome brothers while surviving high school and soaking up summer with her family and friends. Although the series mainly focuses on Belly's love triangle with the Fisher Brothers, fans also see glimpses of the other characters. For the sake of time, I want to focus on the love triangle plot in this article. I hope to explore the different parts of the show in future articles because I sincerely love anything Jenny Han writes and would love to analyze and talk about it all.
The Summer I Turned Pretty (thesummeriturnedpretty) Instagram has kept us on edge for a Season 3 release date since its video in May 2024. The video featured the main cast playing beach volleyball, and Lola Tung (Belly) yells, "See you Summer 2025," into the camera, making all our hearts soar and cry simultaneously. The Instagram post's caption revealed that the series was filming the third and final season with an 11-episode run that would stream on Amazon Prime Video in 2025.
Ten months later, on March 7, 2025, The Summer I Turned Pretty, Lola Tung, Amazon MGM Studios, Jenny Han, and Prime Video Instagram collaborated to announce the Season 3 premiere month. Alas, we're still in the dark on the exact date our favorite Cousins Beach Residents are returning to the small screen.
Season 1: The Summer I Turned Pretty premiered June 17, 2022, and Season 2: It's Not Summer Without You premiered July 14, 2023. If we consider those June and July dates, I predict that Season 3: We'll Always Have Summer will premier the first half of July (1st-14th). According to that prediction, we'll spend 6 weeks (episodes 1-3 dropping on the first premier day) at Cousin Beach and beyond trying to unravel how Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah solve their issues.
On May 1, 2023, I finished rereading The Summer I Turned Pretty book series and rewatched the first season as I eagerly waited for season two to be released, per my post on my Instagram. I share this because as much as I love the show, I loved the books first. Jenny Han created this beautiful world for us to fall in love with. Our hearts grew excited when Amazon Prime Video brought it to life in 2022. But fans never thought the show would run into so many stalls in production due to Writers/Actors strikes that stopped filming after season 2. This is why season three will be released two years after season 2's incredible run.
It's Not Summer Without You left fans in shambles after Belly chose Jeremiah Fisher over Conrad Fisher after they were locked in a hotel room together in the Season 2 finale titled "Love Triangle." Belly struggles to fall asleep as she contemplates her love life - which Fisher's brother she is meant to be with versus which one her heart wants. Yes, those are very different things. Although Jeremiah stands up for Belly in more ways than Conrad does, she loves them differently. As much as she admires Jeremiah, Susannah Fisher (their mother) wants Belly to end up with Conrad. Susannah loves her boys, but she knows Conrad and Belly shine brightest together rather than apart. But she also knows that Conrad would sacrifice his happiness to see his brother happy, even if it means handing over the girl he loves.
At the end of Season 2, we see that come to pass, to all of our dismay. After Conrad interrupts Jeremiah kissing Belly at the college, he decides to hand Belly over to his brother. Essentially, he makes Belly's decision for her by not fighting for their epic love.
When Season 2 premiered, Lola Tung talked to People Magazine about the beloved love triangle between her character, Belly, and the Fisher brothers. She called the situation "beautiful" and cited how she loves the Fisher brothers. Lola says Jeremiah is "someone who has always been there for her, fighting for her, has always been willing to just stay home with her if she's sick, has always been there for her as a friend." While these are all great qualities, he gives things she "doesn't get out of Conrad." Even though both brothers put Belly first despite themselves, "even when she's not feeling it," Conrad is the brother who has "an undeniable love for her." Conrad is the man who will put her needs ahead of his own. Meanwhile, Jeremiah does his own things, and in the end, his free spirit rips him and Belly at the seams. Free spirits aren't terrible, but Jeremiah, unfortunately for himself and Belly, is still exploring his sexuality, while Belly knows who she wants.
"They both have confusing ways of showing love sometimes but young love is confusing sometimes. You’re just trying to figure out what it means to be in a relationship, what it means to be in love, what first love feels like. So it's really cool to get to explore that," Lola Tung says of the show and the love triangle to People Magazine.
To Conard Girls' dismay, Season 2 was solely focused on building Jeremiah and Belly's romantic side of their connection, while we only received glimpses of Conard and Belly. Most of the screentime with Conrad involved him brooding, fighting with Belly or someone else, or staring heart eyes at Belly. But Conrad Girls does get glimpses of a Conard-Belly relationship at the very beginning of season 2 (first few episodes) as it weaves from past to present events. Their short-lived relationship lasted several months and ended badly during her prom night.
On the other hand, Jeremiah Girls had many sweet moments between Jeremiah and Belly. Although I'm a Conrad Girlie, I loved the moments between the characters. I agree with Lola that their relationship is beautiful, but it lacks the epic love that she has for Conrad. Jeremiah hasn't fallen to following in his dad's footsteps in the two seasons streaming, but his downfall is on the way if season 3 follows book 3's tragic storyline. Jeremiah, true to his free-spirited nature, falls into various people's arms until he kisses Belly during a sweet pool scene.
Fans of The Summer I Turn Pretty books know the spiral that's coming in Season 3, the ultimate downfall of Jeremiah Fisher, and the rise of Conrad and Belly. No matter which brother fans root for, we all agree to see Belly happy whether she chooses Jeremiah, Conard, or herself. I hope that at the end of season 3, Belly will be happy and in love with the person she truly wants to be with or live her best happy single-girl life.
To fill the void while waiting for The Summer I Turned Pretty, Jenny Han and romance fans can watch Seasons 1 and 2 on Amazon Prime Video. Fans can also venture over to Netflix and stream XOXO, Kitty Seasons 1 and 2, and all three To All The Boys I Loved Before films.
Jenny Han is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series and The Summer I Turned Pretty series.
She is the creator and co-showrunner of The Summer I Turned Pretty series on Prime Video. She's an executive producer on the films To All the Boys I've Loved Before, To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, and To All the Boys: Always and Forever, all on Netflix. She's also the creator and executive producer of XO Kitty, a To All the Boys spinoff series. Her books have been published in more than thirty languages.
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Emily Craig Hooie is an author, poet, and blogger. With a Bachelor of Science in English from the University of North Alabama, she always knew writing was her future. Her background in writing covers many genres, ranging from Southern Gothic to young and new Adult. With five pieces of published poetry under her belt and after the success of her debut book, Will You Love Me Again?, she wanted to fuel her passion for writing with two sequels, thus Where Will We Go?: A Sequel and What’s Next, Lucy? were born. She lives in Athens, Alabama, with the love of her life Dustin and their dogs, Buttercup and Copper.
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