Carley Fortune’s romantic bestseller comes to TV in Every Year After
If the romance drama Off Campus has left viewers aching for more unrequited love, Every Year After provides all the yearning a romantic could hope for. “I love yearning,” says Amy B. Harris, showrunner of the series adaptation of Carley Fortune’s romance novel, Every Summer After. “This is the year of yearning. That is what people are longing for — to jump into a show and yearn for people and yearn for themselves to want those things. I wanted to tell a story that came with that as its core.”
The series follows two timelines, one in which teenager Persephone “Percy” Fraser (Sadie Soverall) falls for Sam Florek (Matt Cornett) in the Ontario lake town of Barry’s Bay. When we meet Percy in her 20s, returning to town for the funeral of the Florek brothers’ mother Sue (Elisha Cuthbert), we discover that the two didn’t make it as a couple. However, true love has a tendency of bubbling up to the surface, and Sam and Percy can’t escape the feelings they have for each other — and nor can they ignore the mistakes of their past.
It was the notion of depicting a romance in two time periods, 10 years apart, that drew Harris to Fortune’s source material. “The idea that we’re following these two people’s yearning from friends to lovers in two different timelines, I thought was so beautiful,” she says. “When I was reading the book, I knew immediately that in series we can roll those two things together. We can keep that yearning going because we know there’s romance coming in the past.”
Another aspect that attracted Harris to the show’s potential — and what Fortune believes connected readers to the story — was its charming setting. “I think it’s being transported to the lake in Barry’s Bay for the summer, feeling a sense of nostalgia for summers that you may or may not have experienced,” says Fortune. “And I think people became emotionally invested with Percy and Sam’s story, because we all want somebody to notice us and see us, as a teenager. I know that I did. I wanted to give Percy what I didn’t have. We just want that moment of being held by somebody.”
Casting actors to embody characters that are already beloved by readers is no easy feat. For Fortune and Harris, finding Soverall and Cornett felt a bit like winning the lottery. “Percy and Sam are very smart. They’re a bit messy in terms of how they live in the world, but they’re very thoughtful,” says Harris. “When I saw Sadie’s first read, and we did a half-hour on Zoom together, she’s just an incredibly thoughtful, complex person. I just thought, ‘This is Percy.’ I knew it from minute one. And she weirdly looks like the description in the book, which happened to be like the icing on the cake. And Matt brought this deep kindness and stability and smarts. Their energy together was so similar to the book’s descriptions.”
The romance in the book is only part of the relationship dynamics that play out in Barry’s Bay. Cuthbert plays a character that only exists in the earlier timeline but was pulled in by the impact Sam and Charlie’s mother Sue had on the entire storyline. “She’s so involved in all of these characters and their journey,” Cuthbert says. “I was fascinated with the idea of being a part of it in a way where all her moments, with each character in flashback or in memory, are so pivotal and important. Every scene felt really special.”
What is obvious from the beginning is that Sue is an advocate for the romance that is budding between Sam and Percy in their teenage years. “It probably brings her back to what it was like for her to fall in love for the first time,” says Cuthbert. “I think anyone watching the show, and seeing their relationship evolve, will relate.” But there is also another relationship developing that has little to do with her son. “She meets Percy and they end up developing this mother-daughter relationship that they’re both yearning for,” says Cuthbert. “Sue being the boy mom that she is, really getting that first experience with a daughter-type, is exciting for her. And Percy wanting a mom-figure that is light, joyful, and full of love and support is great.”
Other key relationships in the first season of what Harris hopes will lead to more, are those between siblings and friends. “I love the brotherly bond between Sam and Charlie,” says Michael Bradway, who plays Sam’s brother. “I don’t have a brother, so it was really fun to explore that aspect of the show for me.” Aurora Perrineau and Joseph Chiu play friends of Percy and Sam, respectively, who are not necessarily fans of the two rekindling their romance. “I think Chantal just wants Percy to be happy,” says Perrineau. “He’s a bit far away from [Chantal], but she’s going to support Percy in anything she wants to do. And I think Chantal is inspired by how Percy pursues the things that she loves.” Chiu’s character, however, is far from convinced that them being together is a happily ever after. “Jordie said Percy is the devil,” says Chiu. “He has seen Sam at his lowest, and as his best friend, he’s heard all the bad things. He knows that, for Sam, Percy’s the one and he has to support it, but until they get married and settle down, I don’t think Jordie’s going to believe Sam.”
Both the book and its TV adaptation — which makes a change to a relationship-defining moment that has roused ire in those who feel protective about the source material — is likely to raise strong opinions. As the creator of the occasional rupture between Percy and Sam, Fortune welcomes all the feels. “I know there are readers who threw their books across the room and there’s a lot of crying,” she says. “I think if I can provoke a physical reaction in someone when they’re reading, that means I’ve done my job.”
Every Year After, streaming on Prime Video