Netflix’s adaptation of Carley Fortune’s This Summer Will Be Different is moving forward with its principal cast in place and production already underway.
The television project, based on Fortune’s 2024 novel, was greenlit in March and has since completed filming on Prince Edward Island. The series is now filming in Toronto. Netflix has not announced a release date.
The adaptation marks another major screen move for Fortune’s work, arriving amid continued momentum for Prime Video’s Every Year After, which is based on her debut novel Every Summer After and recently received a Season 2 renewal at Prime Video’s inaugural Obsessed Fest.
Who’s starring in This Summer Will Be Different?
Sophie Nélisse leads the Netflix series as Lucy Ashby. Her casting was followed by the additions of Roby Attal and Francesca Reale as siblings Felix “Wolf” Clark and Bridget Clark.
Nélisse’s credits listed with the announcement include Heated Rivalry, The Book Thief and Yellowjackets. Attal’s include The Sex Lives of College Girls and The Haunting of Bly Manor, while Reale’s include Stranger Things and Do Revenge.
Netflix also revealed a group of recurring cast members when production began: Jordan Rodrigues as Miles Lam, Jude Wilson as Zach, Natalie Brown as Christine, James Tupper as Ken, Tom Barnett as Peter and Celia Owen as Joy.
The cast is further rounded out by Malin Akerman as Aunt Stacy, Megan Follows as Cheryl, Nadine Bhabha as Farah and Matias Lucas as Carter.
What is the Netflix series about?
This Summer Will Be Different is Fortune’s third novel and was first published in 2024. The story centers on Lucy Ashby, played by Nélisse, who leaves her florist job behind to help her best friend Bridget, played by Reale, when Bridget becomes uncertain about her upcoming wedding.
Complicating that reunion is Lucy’s past with Bridget’s brother Felix, played by Attal. Lucy and Felix had a one-night stand on Prince Edward Island years earlier, on the night they met. Bridget has three rules for Lucy’s visits to PEI, including one that specifically forbids Lucy from falling in love with Felix.
The friendship between Lucy and Bridget is also central to the story: the two have been best friends since they began living together after college.
Netflix describes the adaptation as “a simmering, sun-soaked romance set across multiple summers on Prince Edward Island about Lucy, a young woman navigating her 20s and her first real love with her best friend’s brother, the one person she was never supposed to fall for.”
Who is making the series?
Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart are creators and showrunners on This Summer Will Be Different. They also serve as executive producers. Clark’s listed credits include Suze and One More Time, while Stewart’s include Workin’ Moms and North of North.
Fortune is also an executive producer on the Netflix adaptation. Additional executive producers are Jennifer Kawaja, Elise Cousineau and Sam Levine for Sphere Media. Kawaja’s credits listed with the project include Sort Of and Wayward; Cousineau’s include Cardinal and Small Achievable Goals; and Levine’s include Small Achievable Goals and The Z Suite.
The directing team includes Karen Maine, Jasmin Mozaffari and Fab Filippo. Maine’s credits include Yes, God, Yes and Nobody Wants This. Mozaffari’s include Ginny & Georgia and Firecrackers. Filippo’s include Sort Of and Save Me.
Where production stands now
Netflix and Fortune revealed that production began on Prince Edward Island, which the source material identifies as the home of Anne of Green Gables. The show has since wrapped its PEI filming and moved to Toronto.
For now, Netflix has not dated the series, so the key confirmed developments are the cast, the creative team and the fact that filming is already in progress.
Carley Fortune’s other screen adaptations
This Summer Will Be Different is not the only Fortune project moving through the television pipeline. One Golden Summer, described as a sequel of sorts to Every Summer After, will provide source material for Season 2 of Prime Video’s Every Year After.
Fortune’s second novel, Meet Me at the Lake, is also in development with Netflix and Archewell Productions.
With This Summer Will Be Different filming, Every Year After renewed and Meet Me at the Lake in development, Fortune’s novels continue to be a significant presence in the current book-to-screen romance landscape.