‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Cast Breaks Down Season 3 Finale Moments From Belly-Conrad Rekindling To Steven-Taylor Romance & Susannah’s Lasting Impact On Her Boys

SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from the Season 3 finale of The Summer I Turned Pretty.

The Summer I Turned Pretty is over (for now), but we are still breaking down everything from the Season 3 finale.

The episode, which marks the end of the show’s television run though Prime Video abruptly announced Wednesday that there will actually be a film to conclude the adaptation of Jenny Han’s YA book trilogy, not only saw Belly (Lola Tung) and Conrad (Christopher Briney) rekindle their romance but also introduced some interesting threads for the rest of the Fisher-Conklin families and their loved ones that will not doubt be explored in the feature-length conclusion.

Tung told Deadline in an interview Thursday morning that Han had written a first draft of the film, with Briney positing that it’ll be quite a while before they step on set. Luckily, there’s plenty to still discuss about Wednesday’s finale episode, especially when it comes to all that went down back in the States as Belly and Conrad jetted around Paris.

Jeremiah (Casalegno) has given up on following in his dad’s footsteps to instead pursue his passion for cooking, and he also begins exploring a new romantic connection with Denise (Isabella Briggs) that leads to a pretty steamy make out session in the kitchen at the Cousins house. Steven (Sean Kaufman) and Taylor (Rain Spencer) have their relationship tested once again when Taylor finds out Steven is making plans to move to San Francisco without telling her. Meanwhile, the parents seem to just be trying to hold everything and everyone together — particularly Laurel, who actress Jackie Chung jokingly calls the “cruise director” of the families.

Deadline spoke with the cast about some of the biggest moments from the episode to get their takes.

On Belly and Conrad’s Rekindling

While it likely didn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Belly and Conrad found their way back to one another, audiences don’t actually get to see anyone’s reactions to them reconnecting.

Given that Jeremiah had given Conrad his blessing to reach out to her, Casalegno says he thinks the younger Fisher brother “is expecting it.”

“We see in his conversation with Denise that he was kind of dreading it, and it was something that he knew was inevitable,” Casalegno continued. “So I think he’s at the point of his life now where he’s just come to terms. He’s like, ‘Yeah, that is what it is.’ She’s always loved him, and he still had love for her. I feel like it was inevitable.

Spencer echoed a similar sentiment, telling Deadline: “I don’t know if I think Taylor would be very shocked.”

Most importantly, how will Laurel feel about her daughter’s relationship with Conrad given her very strong reaction to Belly and Jeremiah’s almost-wedding? Ultimately, Chung says, Laurel just wants to protect Belly.

“I think she would be happy for them, but I think she would want to see the dynamics of the relationship to see if it’s right,” she said. “I know she knows Conrad and loves him and knows that he is a good-hearted, loyal person, but I think she would need to see that this was a good relationship in order for her to support it. I don’t think it’s an automatic given, just because she knows him and loves him.”

It is worth remembering that this is not exactly the same Belly who accepted Jeremiah’s hasty proposal in his bedroom at Finch. She’s moved across the world and found a newfound sense of independence that is on full display in those last few episodes.

More than anything, Laurel is probably just proud of her daughter for her growth in the wake of a very difficult time.

“I think we all see the maturity and growth that she’s experienced from leaving home and being in Paris,” Chung added. “I think Laurel will be super proud of her for taking responsibility for herself and taking care of her studies online and getting a job and paying rent and having roommates and doing all of these big life essentials that you have to learn and you have to do as an adult. I think Laurel’s just happy to see Belly become her own woman.”

On Jeremiah Picking Up the Pieces

In the initial aftermath of the failed wedding, Jeremiah struggles to figure out what is next for him or how to move on from the person who he thought he’d be spending the rest of his life with. Over the course of the final few episodes, while Belly is finding herself in Paris, Jeremiah is picking up the pieces of his own life back at home.

“I think it was cool to see how everyone gathered around Jeremiah to pick him up. Obviously, he was going through a lot emotionally,” Casalegno said. “Steven was there for him. Taylor was there for him. Even Laurel. I think the conversation at the doorway was a pretty pivotal [moment] for Jeremiah and Laurel’s relationship as well.”

By the time the finale rolls around, he seems to have recalibrated, at least somewhat. He’s pursuing his passions and even potentially has eyes for someone else. Now that Jeremiah has made peace with Belly and Conrad, Casalegno says “I’m just excited to see how he pursues his passions and what he does.”

One of the most pivotal moments for Jeremiah in this finale comes when he finally receives the approval from his dad he’s been seeking for a very long time. To get it meant more than he could ever likely properly express, Casalegno explained.

“His whole life has been in the shadow of Conrad…he just wants his dad’s approval and just really wants to impress his dad and show him who he is and the man he’s become. [He’s] really trying to live up to the unfair standards that his dad has set for him,” the actor said. “So I think him hearing, ‘I’m proud of you’ — even me, personally, being in that moment, I was emotional in the scene, simply for Jeremiah sake. That ‘proud of you’ just hit me. There’s been so much of his heart that has just yearned for that and feels like he’s always been second best or second choice.”

As for his romantic prospects, who’s to say whether Jeremiah and Denise will work out or if he’ll have found a new love interest by the time we next see this crew. Casalegno says whatever makes Jeremiah happy is good enough for him.

“I want Jeremiah to be happy, and I think he’s going through a lot and kind of finding out who he is and really discovering what his passions are. I’m happy for him. I’m happy for them. I think if that’s what he needs right now to be happy then I’m all for it,” he said.

On Taylor and Steven’s Relationship Growth

In addition to the tension between Belly and Conrad in Season 3, we also get quite a bit of “will they-won’t they” between Steven and Taylor. In the beginning of the season, Steven tells Taylor he’s ready for a commitment with her, which initially scares her away. When she approaches him a few days later to tell him she actually is on the same page, he’s now totally emotionally unavailable.

That argument ends when Steven is involved in a car crash moments after Taylor storms out of the car during the fight, but the effects of it linger throughout the season as the pair find their way back to one another.

“They’ve been so scared of commitment for a long time, and I think Steven was finally ready for that before the car crash. Then that happened, and it just created this separation where it was like, ‘Well, this is never gonna work. We can’t commit to each other,’” Kaufman said.

Although they’d already reconnected prior to the finale, Steven’s plans to move to San Francisco to pursue his and Denise’s startup certainly throws another wrench in their relationship. The prevailing difference this time around is their ability to work through the conflict without everything imploding.

Taylor, in particular, has always been an honest and loyal friend to Belly, but she really comes into her own this season when she’s caught in the middle of her relationship woes. It’s a source of massive growth for the character as she tries to figure out how to navigate the tricky situation that involves so many of the people she loves.

Balancing “what Taylor’s truth is in the moment and what she thinks is best for Belly in an honest and loving way, I think that’s what she’s attempting to do,” Spencer said. “Sometimes she does it right, and sometimes it’s more harsh or whatever, but I think it’s so important because you don’t want to lie to your homies.”

Kaufman says that he thinks seeing Taylor act in that capacity and truthfully navigate those relationships was a factor in Steven’s desire to try again.

“I think, for Steven, watching Taylor treat other people around her [with love] and change in that kind of way and treat other people with such loyalty, I think it was just eye opening to be like, ‘Alright, well, we can commit to each other actually fully,’” he explained, adding that “it’s going to be very exciting, the potential to see them actually be in a relationship and actually commit, and what that looks like.”

Spencer also chimed in that she’d “like to see that,” potentially in the upcoming film.

On Susannah’s Looming Impact

Although Susannah (Rachel Blanchard) passed away in Season 2, her presence still looms large in the final season of the show. There has been much online chatter regarding Susannah’s influence over the dynamics between Belly, Conrad and Jeremiah — for better and worse.

“I think some of the stuff she said to Belly was maybe taken a little too much as law in terms of, ‘You need to be with Conrad.’ I think there were some things lost in translation there, or some nuance that was missed,” Blanchard mused.

That is undeniably true, and Belly even brings it up in the finale as she pushes back on Conrad’s desire to rekindle their romance. She questions how much Susannah impacted their feelings for one another and whether their love can ever be separated from that. Totally valid questions, if you ask Blanchard, who adds that “I think Susannah did want to see them together, but not at the expense of their own needs.”

“When you lose someone when you’re so young, you kind of can get a little paralyzed in certain beliefs about the person. You maybe don’t realize that your parents are as prone to making mistakes as anybody else. I think all Susannah ever wanted, even though she may be romanticized the idea of them being together, is for them all to be happy and follow their own paths,” she added. “She would have been pretty devastated, I think, to see the fighting and to see Belly so unhappy. I think she’d be really proud of them for having that conversation. She would only want them to be together if it were their true feelings.”

Much of Susannah’s presence in the third season is to directly illustrate the influence she has over the dynamics at play, even after her death. From the letter she wrote to Conrad for his wedding day that’s accidentally given to Jeremiah to the flashbacks where she asks Conrad to protect his brother and Belly not to hurt her boys, it seemingly places a ton of weight on their shoulders as they try to navigate their own feelings.

Blanchard posits that, while it may feel overbearing at times, it was all coming from a place of love and, eventually, grief, as she came to terms with how much of their lives she was going to miss.

“I think she wanted to suck up every moment with them, and I think that is partly why she talked about Conrad and Belly. I think she just wanted them to know that she’s always there, even if she’s not physically present,” Blanchard said. “She was probably just really worried to leave them. They weren’t done growing up.”