Jenny Han Teases ‘Gift’ for Fans (Exclusive)

Jenny Han never wanted to rush Belly and Conrad’s story.

The author of The Summer I Turned Pretty book trilogy and showrunner of the beloved Prime Video series made an exciting announcement on the heels of the series finale: a movie is coming that will see Lola Tung and Christopher Briney return as their characters to truly conclude the story.

Hours after that news broke the internet, Han tells PEOPLE she crafted season 3 of the show with the idea for a continuation of the story in mind.

“I knew that’s what I wanted to do, and I knew that it was going to take a beat to put everything into place, but that was always my vision,” she says.

Explaining why she feels a movie is needed to properly send off these characters, Han says, “I feel like there [are] still some more things that the audience wants to see, and I wanted to deliver that to them in a bigger way than [just] wrapping up at the end of the season.”

“I’m really excited to direct it, and I’m excited to make a movie,” she continues.

Han’s first book-to-screen adaptation was a movie, 2018’s To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, though she was not as creatively involved in that process. “It’s really different than TV.”

The movie has not yet been filmed and will not premiere until after 2026 — Han confirmed on the Today show — but she says it will be a “gift” for fans, particularly those who read her trilogy of books.

“I’m excited to offer that gift to the fans who I know really want to see Belly and Conrad together in a relationship,” Han teases. “Because we see the beginnings of a return to each other [in the finale], but you don’t get to see what that looks like. So I’m excited for that.”

She plays coy about what exactly will unfold onscreen, though. “We’ll see” is all Han will say about the chances that the movie will include the ending scene of the We’ll Always Have Summer epilogue, which sees Belly and Conrad jump into the ocean on their wedding day.

Briney, 27, and Tung, 22, aren’t exactly sure what’s to come in this new installment either.

“I truly don’t know,” Briney says of what he thinks the movie will bring for Conrad and Belly. “I was always playing Conrad with sort of this being the end. I mean, I read the books and I was like, ‘The last chapter, this is where we leave those characters.’ So I don’t know.”

There is “a lot unaddressed” between him and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno), though, which he knows will play a role in the plot.

As Tung puts it, the finale is “the beginning of their happy relationship, but there’s a lot of unfinished business with Jeremiah, and even Steven and Taylor.”

“There’s so much to explore,” Tung says.

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The Summer I Turned Pretty can be streamed in full on Prime Video.