'Riverdale' Star KJ Apa's Netflix Rom Com Has A Cast Filled With All Your Favorite Actors

Netflix’s ever-growing stable of original rom-coms has brought on another title. On Friday, June 8, Variety reported that a rom-com starring Riverdale's KJ Apa has been acquired by Netflix, titled The Last Summer. And no, this feature film is not about the five “good” summers Carole Radizwill said she had left. Set in Chicago, The Last Summer follows a group of teens as they navigate the precious, blink-and-you’ll-miss-‘em summer months that follow high school graduation, i.e., their “last” summer.

Slated to hit Netflix in 2019, production on The Last Summer is already very much underway. According to Deadline, the movie began filming in Cleveland last month. The ensemble features a bevy of talented actors, including K.J Apa (Riverdale), Halston Sage (Before I Fall, Paper Towns), Tyler Posey (Teen Wolf), Jacob Latimore (The Chi), Maia Mitchell (The Fosters), Sosie Bacon (13 Reasons Why), Gabrielle Anwar (Burn Notice), Ed Quinn (One Day At a Time, 2 Broke Girls), Gage Golightly (Teen Wolf), and Mario Revolori (Everybody Hates Chris, GLOW). What a lineup.

The movie will also apparently feature 250 extras who signed up to hang out in front of some cameras at a skate park. As the local Fox affiliate reported, there was a casting call for background actors to be in a scene that takes place at a skateboard competition in Cleveland earlier this week. Oh, and said competition features pro skaters Zion Wright and Alex Sorgente.

The Last Summer is directed by Bill Bindley, who also co-wrote the script alongside Scott Bindley. Bill Bindley said in a statement to Variety,

“I grew up on movies like Fast Times [At Ridgemont High] and Say Anything, and those films became iconic in large part because of their great casts. We’re really lucky to have this incredible group of young actors sign on with us.”

If you happen to be a rom-com fan (and why wouldn't you be?) who is ready for some fresh rom-com content, then look no further than Netflix's current slate of original movies. The streaming service has a bunch of Netflix original romantic comedies to choose from, including The Kissing Booth, When We First Met, A Christmas Prince, Love Per Square Foot, Blockbuster, and Happy Anniversary. On Friday, June 15, the streaming service will add matchmaking caper flick Set It Up to its catalog. In September, Sierra Burgess Is a Loser, a modern retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac that’s set in a high school, will premiere on Netflix. And at some point next year, The Last Summer will join Netflix's original rom-com party.

In addition to being a member of the beloved genre that is the rom-com, The Last Summer also happens to be a teen movie. The teen rom-com genre is a terrific genre combo. It is the genre that has blessed us with perfect works of art like 10 Things I Hate About You, Clueless, and Easy A. (Huh, judging by that list, it sure looks like the ultimate trifecta is a teen rom-com that is on a classic work of literature. To-be-released Netflix original Sierra Burgess Is a Loser already looks like a winner.) When a mashup of these movie genres is good, it is so good.

Based on everything we know so far about The Last Summer (the outstanding ensemble, the plot, the skateboarding), it sounds like this Netflix original has the potential to bring honor to the teen rom-com genre. There is only one way to know for certain, and yes, it involves patiently waiting until the movie slips on some elbow pads, straps shinguards to its legs, and kickflips its way on over to the Netflix library in 2019.