Jenny Han on That ’Summer I Turned Pretty’ Poster Change Post-Finale and Classic Film Easter Eggs

Even after The Summer I Turned Pretty series finale aired, creator and showrunner Jenny Han still wanted to have fun with the show’s eagle-eyed fans.

Never a stranger to offering Easter eggs throughout, Han decided to surprise fans even weeks after the finale. The original poster showed Gavin Casalengo’s Jeremiah kissing Lola Tung’s Belly on the cheek as Chris Briney’s Conrad looked on. But the updated poster now features Conrad and Jeremiah switching places, highlighting Conrad as the endgame and paying homage to the Sabrina movie poster.

Referencing classic films in the show has become a norm for Han, who wrote a love story while keeping in mind the other great love stories that have come before.

“You get to kind of stand on their shoulders a bit and borrow from that, just that cultural resonance,” Han tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I’ve always approached Summer I Turned Pretty as a show that I want to feel like a memory in some ways. You’re remembering your own first times and first loves and heartbreaks, and so I think just naturally in that comes references to other love stories.”

The classic references made throughout the show include Sabrina, Casablanca, It’s a Wonderful Life, Romeo and Juliet, the 1995 rom-com Before Sunrise and the 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Thornton Wilder, Our Town. Though it’s not necessary for fans to have watched the films, Han said it’s a “bonus for people who have” and “fun to be able to give that introduction to people who may not have it.”

“When I was first pitching the show, it was really hard for me to ironically think of good comps. Because I think there’s film comps, but less so [shows] on TV of what I was looking to capture. To me, it was more about just a feeling that the show gave you, which was something that felt really familiar and cozy and like a memory.”

In a conversation with THR, Han talks about her initial plans of the series poster swap, the fan reactions from the finale, the upcoming TSITP film and paying homage to iconic music and films in the YA show.

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Now that it has been some time since the show finale aired and as someone who I imagine is very in tune with the fandom and perhaps the online conversations, what did you make of the reaction to it all?

I was very moved by it. It made me happy to see people happy. I felt really glad when I saw people’s reactions to the finale and how emotional they were about it. [It] was mostly just such an honor to see people gathering together to watch it and really having that communal experience. I think that was maybe one of the most special parts just of the whole season.

Something that seemed to get attention was weeks after the finale aired, there was a poster switch with Conrad and Jeremiah switching places next to Belly. Instead of Jeremiah, it’s now Conrad giving Belly a kiss on the cheek while Jere looks on. Can you talk about that poster switch?

That was always my idea to do the switch. Fans know that in the classic movie Sabrina, David is the one kissing Sabrina but he’s not the person that she ends up with. So I thought it just added a little bit of intrigue and fun to see the switch. But also, it was just one of the big things was trying to figure out where [and] when to do that moment. We ended up doing it much later, but I had toyed with the idea of doing it sooner than that.

Oh I’m sure that would’ve proved to be a mind game had you released it sooner, making people wonder who Belly ends up.

(Laughs.) You got to have fun. It was just a beautiful photograph and we had shot it both ways.

Though the show finale aired, it’s not a goodbye just yet given the movie was announced. And given the fans had the books as a reference for the show, the film seems to offer perhaps more freedom to explore things you didn’t in the books. I know you don’t like to give spoilers but what are you looking forward to really diving into in the film that perhaps you didn’t get to in the books? What’s unfinished in your eyes?

I just see the movie as an opportunity to really just have fun and spend more time with these characters. It’s a very complete kind of story. It’s not one that I would spend 10 episodes on so I think [it’s to] give it more as a gift to the fans. But a gift to myself as well because it’s been a very joyful experience writing it.

Fans are obviously eager to know what’s next. How are you approaching continuing the story in the next film? Does the audience response influence how you’re thinking about the continuation of it or do you already have your vision for it and sticking with that?

I’ve already written the movie so I guess we’ll just see! I think it’s still a bit too soon to talk about.

Any fan of the show will know that the story has had its fair share of Taylor Swift songs. Given you have used so much of her catalog already, were there any songs of hers that you wanted to use in the show but couldn’t find a right way to use it? Any you already have in mind for the film?

It’s also too soon to say, because I haven’t made the film yet. I think you have to really see the full picture before you make any big decisions like that.

Were there any you didn’t get to use in the show that you had wanted to?

No, I feel really happy with the music that we used on the show.

In the show, Belly has a tradition of classic movie nights with the moms that is established early on, and film references are deliberately integrated into Belly’s journey of self-discovery. You reference a range of films in the show, from It Happened One Night to Sabrina. What guided your selection of the titles you chose to reference in the show? What was the criteria so to speak for the films to reference and what they chronicle?

I don’t think it was criteria per se; I think it’s just movies that I have personally been influenced by or inspired by. Casablanca, for instance, it’s something that’s just in the original DNA of the story, because the third book is called We’ll Always Have Summer, and that’s a reference to “We’ll always have Paris.”

Apart from Casablanca, were there any personal favorites of yours growing up that shaped how you thought about love and storytelling that you felt were important to include in the series?

Robin and Juliet, the Baz Luhrmann version and the Franco Zeffirelli version were influences for me, and you can see references in the second season, when I used “Kissing You” by Des’ree, which is the same song that plays when Leo[nardo DiCaprio] and Claire Danes first see each other through that iconic fish tank. For the 1968 version, I gave a nod to Juliet’s headband. I wanted to include that with Belly’s debutante ball look. So there are little nods throughout. I love the idea about that when you’re writing the love story, you’re really in conversation with every other great love story that’s come before it, and you get to kind of stand on their shoulders a bit and borrow from that, just that cultural resonance. I’ve always approached Summer I Turned Pretty as a show that I want to feel like a memory in some ways. You’re remembering your own first times and first loves and heartbreaks and so I think just naturally in that comes references to other love stories.

Many of the films referenced explore innocence, first love, growth and all the things that echo Belly’s journey. Did it feel like the films really helped guide the emotional tone or influence the story because it’s giving more context to what Belly is going through and feeling? Or, how did you view using the films throughout the show?

I think it’s really fun to layer in those kinds of references that film lovers might catch, but then add sort of a texture and emotional resonance for everyone else. But [it’s] not necessary to have watched those films or know them. I think it’s hopefully just a bonus for people who have.

What excited you about introducing these classics to perhaps a new audience?

I think it’s the same thing that excites me about using music that people may not have heard of. Just to give the introduction to, oftentimes younger audience that maybe isn’t as familiar with a song like “Teenage Dirtbag” or “Doin’ Time” by Sublime. I used that in the second season. I saw people being like, “Why did they not use the original Lana del Rey version?” without realizing that that was a cover, and the original was by Sublime. And so that to me is fun to be able to give that introduction to people who may not have it.

The films can vary between ones that embody romantic optimism films like It’s a Wonderful Life and Bye Bye Birdie with others having emotional realism like Eternal Sunshine or Before Sunrise. How did you find that balance of exploring contrasting films with the more lighthearted optimism to the more emotional ones?

Yeah, Before Sunrise is about two characters getting to know each other. I think that’s really what the finale episode is about — that culmination of Belly and Conrad’s story is them meeting each other as adults and maybe not knowing who these new versions of each other are in that moment. I think the central question to me was always if we met today and we didn’t have all this history between us, would we love each other? And to me, that episode is answering that question.

The visual of the story can also be heavily influenced. Which films inspired the show’s visual or tonal approach to summer and why did you choose those specific films?

When I was first pitching the show, it was really hard for me to ironically think of good comps. Because I think there’s film comps, but less so [shows] on TV of what I was looking to capture. To me, it was more about just a feeling that the show gave you, which was something that felt really familiar and cozy and like a memory. Probably the one I thought a lot about Our Town (classic 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Thornton Wilder) specifically in the second episode in the third season … that Christmas memory. When I talked to the art director for that episode about it, I said I really wanted it to have that kind of snow globe feeling that they’re kind of in this perfect moment together. And I just remember the experience of seeing the play Our Town the first time, and when she goes back to that childhood memory of that winter morning, and the production had been very like spare and there was like nothing on the stage. And then suddenly when she’s in that memory, you can smell bacon frying, and the sunlight is coming through the window. You can really just feel like you’re in that memory with her and that’s how I wanted that memory to feel.

Given you tend to add Easter eggs throughout episodes that fans could notice, were there any Easter eggs or references throughout the three seasons that fans did not catch onto? 

Maybe in season three in that Christmas flashback. Belly was watching It’s a Wonderful Life, and that movie is just about exploring the road not taken, and kind of the what if’s. I think that is something that the story engages with as well. I don’t know that I saw anyone talking about that.

When writing the upcoming film, were there any classics that you found inspiration from?

I think it’s like too soon to talk about the film. I don’t really like talking about something until I’m done with it, just because, even with the show, I’ll sort of be tweaking and making changes throughout. This audience stays close to details, and they pay really close attention to everything. I think I prefer to talk about it once it feels more solid.

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The Summer I Turned Pretty is now streaming all three seasons on Prime Video. Read THR’s coverage here.