The Summer I Turned Pretty Stars Share Hopes For A Prequel Series

Well before Belly and Conrad — before Junior Mint, “Connie Baby,” and a passionate love declaration on a train to Brussels — Cousins Beach played host to a different love story: The Summer I Turned Pretty moms, Laurel and Susannah.

Whether you consider them platonic soulmates or something more, their relationship laid the foundation for a beautiful life with their respective families, often feeling more like they’re one big brood.

So powerful is the women’s connection that several fans have called for a TSITP prequel series about Laurel and Susannah’s younger years. And, now, stars Jackie Chung and Rachel Blanchard are weighing in on the hypothetical spinoff.

Beach Besties

During a recent post-finale interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the women voiced their interest in getting to know their characters in a new era. “I think it would be really fun to see when they first met, so I’d love to see a prequel,” said Blanchard, who plays Susannah, mentioning Maddie Ziegler and Elle Fanning as two fan-castings she was into.

Chung, who plays Laurel, offered Maybe Happy Ending star Helen J. Shen after recently seeing the show on Broadway. “I think she’s pretty brilliant,” she said.

On the show, Laurel and Susannah are said to have met in college — and given how thoroughly the YA charm of TSITP won over viewers of all ages, it’s easy to see the appeal of following the friends in college. “I think it’d be interesting to see how Laurel decided to become a writer. Obviously, how she met everyone in her life, all these important relationships,” Chung said, adding that she’d particularly enjoy seeing Laurel and John’s basement wedding. (The pair got married when Laurel was pregnant with Steven, she says in Season 3.)

Blanchard, for her part, would “love to see where [Susannah] was with her art and the decision to let that go for a little while, and really the beginning of our friendship.”

Even from the bits and pieces that are mentioned in TSITP, it’s clear that Laurel and Susannah had some incredibly rich lore. As John, Laurel’s ex, remarked in Season 1: “Sometimes, I think the only person you ever truly loved is Susannah.”

Then, of course, there’s the nostalgia of it all. Chung said she’d be excited to see the young women’s wardrobe, and based on the show’s timeline, it seems that they would have been in college in the mid- to late 1990s before both becoming mothers in the early 2000s. The fashion potential is endless!

Jenny Han Says...

So, is a Laurel and Susannah spinoff really possible? Jenny Han — who wrote the TSITP books and created the series — is currently at work on a film about Belly and Conrad’s next chapter. While she hasn’t weighed in on a prequel series specifically, she did tell the Los Angeles Times that she’s “definitely open to doing more stories in the universe.”

The only caveat? “It has to feel like genuine excitement for me, because showrunning is 24/7, 365 days a year. I feel I have to be there every day to make sure I can stand behind it.”