The Summer I Turned Pretty movie: Do we really need another summer at Cousins?

You know how all good things must come to an end? A few shows just don’t get that memo, and can tear themselves apart in the process of it. Season after season, they lose the spark that made them special. It breaks my heart to even say that, considering I’ve seen a few of my favourite shows become victims. And now I’m scared The Summer I Turned Pretty might be heading down that road with this movie. If it does, all the years, the tears, the screaming, and the obsession with Cousins could end up feeling like they never really mattered.

As someone who read Jenny Han’s books and sat down every Wednesday to yell at Jeremiah while melting over Conrad, the finale left me both wrecked and relieved. Belly finally made her choice, and yeah, I think it was the right one. Honestly, with all that back and forth, she should’ve been a Libra. I loved watching her flourish and finally get where she was meant to be, even if that meant being disappointed in her in the process of it. But when the show ended, it hit me most weirdly. No more edits popping up on Reels at 1am, no more insane theories spamming my group chat, no more random bloopers from the cast. I didn’t realise I’d miss that chaos so much until it just stopped.

Do we really need to go back
to Cousins again?

And then out of nowhere, Jenny Han says, “Surprise, movie’s happening, same cast, one more summer.” I honestly didn’t know how to feel – half of me was screaming, the other half wanted to crawl under a blanket and pretend she never said it. Do we really need to go back to Cousins again?

The thing is, the series already gave us an ending that worked. It didn’t copy the books, and that was honestly a blessing. The novels jumped straight to a wedding, but the show let us sit with the grief, the awkwardness, the healing. Jeremiah had one of the best redemption arcs I’ve seen in forever. Seriously, right up there with Steve Harrington in Stranger Things. He finally understood that Belly wasn’t just a stand-in or someone to lean on while he mourned his mom. His growth felt earned.

Belly found herself outside of the eternal love triangle. She made her own friends, tried other romances, and circled back to Conrad with a maturity she didn’t have before. Conrad stayed Conrad – thoughtful, quiet and always just a little ahead of everyone else. Their letters weren’t corny, not to me. They were a way of healing. Exactly the kind of thing Susannah would’ve wanted for them.

The ending felt whole.
Grown up. The right note to end on

And the rest of the cast? Staylor were iconic. Adam somehow became tolerable as a dad. Denise and Jeremiah? Totally unexpected, but somehow it worked. The ending felt whole. Grown up. The right note to end on.

Even so, the little fangirl in me still wants more. I want Belly and Conrad’s wedding. I want them to finally have the peace they earned after three exhausting seasons. I want updates on everyone else, a deeper look at the Fisher brothers fixing what was broken, and a proper tribute to Susannah. The fade-out at the beach house was gorgeous, but a movie could take us further.

That’s where the risk comes in. Sequels can be messy. Some shows keep the magic. Others ruin everything. We all watched Riverdale go off the rails. We all saw Pretty Little Liars drag on forever. That’s what happens when hype is valued more than story. And that’s my biggest fear – Amazon taking the neat bow the show gave us and ripping it open just to stretch out views.

The last episode was already nearly 80 minutes long. No one would’ve
complained if it had gone longer

Christopher Briney and Lola Tung have both said they hope the movie gives us happy, healthy versions of Conrad and Belly. And yes, part of me desperately wants that too. I want to see Conrad smile without pain in his eyes for once. But couldn’t that have been handled in the finale? The last episode was already nearly 80 minutes long. No one would’ve complained if it had gone longer.

One thing I’m not worried about? The music. Jenny Han using Taylor Swift the way she did was absolute genius. The songs weren’t just a soundtrack; they became their own characters. Every fight, every kiss, every glance felt bigger because of them. If the movie gives us even one more Taylor needle drop, I’ll forgive a lot. And I still think we’re getting a Christmas release. That holiday cut at the end wasn’t an accident.

At the end of the day, The Summer I Turned Pretty was more than a show. It was a cultural moment. Every week, the world tuned in, whether to gush over Conrad, rage at Belly, or defend Jeremiah. It gave us something silly and wholesome to gather around, and that doesn’t happen often anymore.

So thank you, TSITP, for the summers, for the screaming, for making us feel like the beach house belonged to us, too.

Infinity doesn’t always need a sequel. The show already gave us growth and closure in a way the books never did. But if Jenny Han wants to let us back into Cousins, I’ll be there. Hopeful and holding my breath. Maybe we’ll get the wedding, the brotherly bond, the Susannah tribute, and the Taylor tracks we’ve been dreaming about. Or maybe we’ll learn the hardest lesson of all. Some summers are better left as memories.