‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’: Lola Tung & Chris Briney Explain Big Change in Belly & Conrad’s Love Story

[This interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike authorization.]

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2, Episodes 1-3.]

The Summer I Turned Pretty is back and already breaking hearts with the up-and-down love story between Belly Conklin (Lola Tung) and Conrad Fisher (Christopher Briney), whose time together unfolds in two different timelines.

The first timeline picks up during the summer of Season 1, just as Belly and Conrad’s relationship is beginning, and the second timeline kicks off at the start of the following summer, at which point Conrad isn’t even speaking to Belly, nor is his brother Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno). With the reveal that Conrad and Jeremiah’s mother Susannah (Rachel Blanchard) has also died from cancer, this new summer doesn’t have the same kind of promise the previous one did.

The structure is reminiscent of Jenny Han‘s books on which this series is based. As the creator and showrunner of the series, Han’s attention to detail is sure to delight her readers and excite viewers, but there are more than a few changes to the source material in the opening three episodes, most notably in Episode 2, “Love Scene.”

(Credit: Prime Video)

“I think that I was really excited and curious to know what would be kept and what would be adapted to the screen directly because there’s obviously always a lot of change with those things,” Briney tells TV Insider. “There are still a lot of moments that are very close to the books… [that] fans will recognize, and I’m excited for that.”

One sequence in particular that comes to life from the pages of Han’s books is a trip Belly and Conrad take to the Cousins Beach house around Christmas time. Sneaking out of her home to meet Conrad, Belly embarks on an evening trip to the summer spot where she and Conrad share hot chocolate (Belly’s specialty), run around on a snowy beach, and share a romantic evening by the fireplace.

Spoiler alert! We caught up with #TheSummerITurnedPretty‘s #LolaTung and #ChrisBriney on that big #bellyconrad moment in Episode 2, and how it differs from the book. pic.twitter.com/IPwABr7B95

— TV Insider (@TVInsider) July 14, 2023

In the books, Belly and Conrad’s night is a little more PG-13 than in the show, which sees the couple actually consummate their relationship. The development could mean some bigger changes down the line if the show were to continue into a third season; the third book revolves around more adult themes than the first two.

Briney’s reaction to this change initially was that of surprise. “Jenny could answer this so much better than I could,” the actor says. “Most things she could probably answer better than I could, but it does change things and I think it modernizes it in some ways. I think it addresses a more contemporary audience, if you will.”

(Credit: Prime Video)

Ultimately, the introduction of this moment “heightens the stakes that’s for sure,” Briney reveals. Similar to Briney, Tung sees the introduction of sex into the story as a way of making it more accessible to a current audience as Han’s books were published in 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Tung says when it came to Han’s approach this time she “wanted to see what the story would look like in 2023 and where it was going from where we left off, and I think this felt right.” The sequence also featured some dialogue from the books, particularly a moment when Belly calls Conrad “cold-hearted,” and he, in turn, says, “for everyone else maybe. Not for you.”

“What came out of it was just this really beautiful scene and a moment where you get to see a really sweet side of their relationship amidst all of the drama, you know?” Tung says. “So yeah, it was really interesting to see that change and to have that moment for the two characters.”

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Tung’s book-to-screen scene she was eager to see come to life was Belly’s prom during which the pair breaks up: “That was one that I was very nervous for, but also very excited for, because it’s this very iconic moment in the books. And it was a challenge for sure because people were really waiting for it.”

The rainy scene in which the pair exchanges words in the parking lot before parting ways, “was really, really fun to do,” Tung shares, adding, “I mean, sad but fun to do as an actor and really lovely to do it with such a wonderful cast.”

See more drama unfold between the characters as The Summer I Turned Pretty drops new installments on Prime Video each week.

The Summer I Turned Pretty, Season 2, New Episodes Fridays, Prime Video