Jenny Han Reveals The Easter Eggs That Hinted At This TSITP Plot Change
"I always was planning this."
Jenny Han had given The Summer I Turned Pretty fans the clues all along about the final season’s big setting change. In the show’s last episodes, Belly starts a new life in Paris after ending her engagement to Jeremiah. The French exit is a change from the books, in which Belly relocates to Spain after running out on her wedding. Now, Han is explaining why she shifted locations... and pointing out the Easter eggs that had been hidden in the show from the very beginning that hinted at Belly going to Paris.
The author told Entertainment Weekly that she simply felt Paris would be a more romantic location for Belly to discover herself in than sticking to the book’s Spanish setting. “I just always loved the idea of a girl going to find herself in Paris and fall in love, it's just so much more romantic,” Han said.
Even before she knew if filming in the City of Lights could be a possibility, Han made it her mission to ingrain Parisian influences into her show. “I always planned to shoot the end in Paris,” Han said. “I almost wanted to make it impossible for Amazon to say no to us filming the end in Paris.”
That end-goal led to various little references and details hinting at this new final location long before Season 3. “I've been putting in Paris Easter eggs since the very beginning of the show,” Han said. “I mean, the last book is named after Casablanca, so it always felt right.”
In Casablanca, main characters Rick and Ilsa’s love story begins when they meet in Paris. The title of Han’s final book, We’ll Always Have Summer, is a direct reference to Rick’s parting line to Ilsa: “We’ll always have Paris.” Notably, in the second episode of Season 3, Belly and Conrad bond while watching Casablanca together in the Cousins Beach house.
Han went on to point out a nod to Belly’s French future from the Season 2 premiere. “Belly was reading The Hunger Games in French, so I always was planning this — whether we shot there or not,” Han said.
Sure enough, in the first episode of Season 2, Belly mentions that she’s reading her favorite book series in French since she already knows the English version by heart.
Shortly after that scene, Belly is shown holding a French vocabulary book — another hint to her new life four years down the line.
So, if you’re planning a The Summer I Turned Pretty rewatch, keep an eye out for any little clues about Paris, because according to Han, there are a lot that fans might have missed.
