The Summer I Turned Pretty cast on the show’s Asian-American representation, soul mates and having Olivia Rodrigo’s Drivers License on repeat

Amazon Prime Video young-adult series The Summer I Turned Pretty has skyrocketed co-stars Lola Tung, Christopher Briney and Gavin Casalegno to social media fame

Cast members talk about their reaction to their sudden popularity, finding their feet in their roles, and what lies in store for their characters in season two

Reading Time:4 minutes

(From left) Christopher Briney, Lola Tung and Gavin Casalegno attend Amazon Prime Video’s “The Summer I Turned Pretty” and Teen Vogue event at Mr Purple on June 29 in New York. They reveal what lies in store in season two of the show. Photo: AP

Published: 4:15am, 3 Aug 2023Updated: 4:54am, 3 Aug 2023

The first time Lola Tung realised anyone was watching The Summer I Turned Pretty – really watching it – was last year at a New York Yankees baseball game with her cast mates.

The stars of Jenny Han’s coming-of-age YA romance adaptation were recognised by strangers who professed their love for the show, which had barely been out a week. The series was soon to be a hit, heading towards a No 1 debut on Amazon Prime Video.

“It’s been a wild ride, in the best way,” says Tung. She was 19 when she landed the breakout role – her first professional acting gig – of Isabel “Belly” Conklin, a teenage girl coming into her own one fateful summer, and she reprises it for season two, which was adapted from Han’s sequel novel It’s Not Summer Without You.

Fuelled by viral online reactions and the popularity of Han’s bestselling novels, The Summer I Turned Pretty was renewed even before the series premiered last June, and skyrocketed Tung and her co-stars, Christopher Briney and Gavin Casalegno, who play brothers and romantic rivals Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher, to social media fame virtually overnight.

Tung, Briney and Casalegno in a scene from season two of “The Summer I Turned Pretty”. Photo: TNS

Summer fever has only grown since; following the release of the first three episodes of season two, Amazon announced that the series had more than doubled its worldwide audience since the first season, and the hashtag #thesummeriturnedpretty has reached more than 8 billion views on TikTok. New episodes are being released weekly.