The cast of The Summer I Turned Pretty made Season 3 into a cultural phenomenon, but from what we can now tell from reports, they’re not getting paid like it. According to sources, the young stars were told they’d only get salary bumps for the record-breaking season if they agreed to do an upcoming film, a request some felt pressured into accepting.
Season 3 of The Summer I Turned Pretty blew up and got 70 million viewers in 70 days and completely took over the internet. The love triangle between Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah became the only thing anyone could talk about, so when a film was announced, it felt like an obvious decision.
According to sources, Lola Tung, Christopher Briney, and Gavin Casalegno, the show’s leads, started earning around $35K-$40K per episode in Season 1. By Season 3, that number had grown, with sources pegging their paychecks around $100K an episode. But they got those bumps by agreeing to something they may not have wanted to do: commit to a feature film.
The actors were negotiating salary increases heading into Season 3. Then Prime Video and production company Wiip asked them to sign on for a movie conclusion, and according to sources close to the cast, some actors weren’t interested, and they were told the raises were contingent on accepting the film deal.
For the movie itself, they’re being paid three episodic fees, basically what they’d make for three episodes of the show. After Season 3 exploded in popularity, renegotiations were initiated, but Amazon denied.
This isn’t unique to The Summer I Turned Pretty. Outer Banks’ cast tried getting big raises for their final season and got one-time bonuses instead. XO, Kitty‘s cast did the same thing. However, the Stranger Things cast actually succeeded in securing bumps, partly because they had established actors like Winona Ryder and David Harbour in the ensemble.
Everything we know about The Summer I Turned Pretty film
Filming for The Summer I Turned Pretty film starts April 27, 2026 in Wilmington, North Carolina, but the movie won’t arrive anytime soon. Gavin Casalegno, who played Jeremiah Fisher, said it’ll hopefully be out in 2027, and Han confirmed it’s definitely not dropping in 2026.
Plot-wise, we have been teased that there’s “another big milestone left in Belly’s journey.” In the book’s epilogue, we saw Belly reading Susannah’s letter on her wedding day, which could absolutely be that milestone. More details are awaited for now.
The Summer I Turned Pretty is streaming on Prime Video.
Edited by Nibir Konwar