‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Movie Will Tackle These Missing Scenes From The Show—And No, I Don’t Mean The Wedding

It’s official: A The Summer I Turned Pretty movie is on the horizon. Fans have rejoiced, partially because we didn’t get nearly enough time with Conrad and Belly together (and also Conrad not being depressed), but also because we’ve missed some key parts of the story—some of which are bound to show up in the film.

The most-talked about missing scene? Belly and Conrad’s wedding. The books give us a glimpse of the big day in the epilogue (assuring us that yes, the two end up together forever because they are infinite), but the show bypassed that to instead end on a rather nostalgic note: Belly returning to the summer house for the first time, hand-in-hand with Conrad.

It made sense to me why they made this change—I mean, after all, we just had almost an entire season of wedding content revolving around Belly and Conrad’s brother. Besides, Belly’s story was never about marriage, it was a coming of age story. There’s something bittersweet about her return to the house after everything that happened—and when there was a time when she was sure she’d never see it again. That house represents family, home, and most of all, love—it was a homecoming to herself, to her heart, made all the more special that she was there with the love of her life.

But that doesn’t change the fact that fans are upset that we didn’t get the wedding scene (or Susannah’s letter), and considering it’s such a special part of the book, I do think we’re finally going to see it in the movie. That being said, I don’t think the wedding is going to be the premise of the film.

Look at it this way—movies need conflict. If everyone is happy and thriving, there’s no story to tell. And after all the conflict surrounding Belly and Jeremiah’s doomed wedding, it seems unfair that Belly and Conrad’s should suffer the same fate, even to a smaller degree. After years of back-and-forths and broken hearts, it’s hard to believe Jenny Han would want to show her favorite couple once again struggling.

But here’s the thing: There’s still a lot of conflict the show never addressed and strings that never got tied up, and I think that’s what the movie is going to cover.

At the end of the show, though we see Conrad and Belly return home to Cousins, we never actually see them reunite with the rest of the cast. It was almost sad to see the ensemble cast spending time together just a few scenes before, only to be glaringly absent for Belly’s return. Yes, she had Conrad, but the show was never just about their love story. It was about all the love in their lives and the beautiful patchwork family they built.

The last time Belly was in town, things were rocky—she was at odds with almost everyone in her life as her wedding completely broke down. Though it’s clear that there are, for the most part, no hard feelings, that doesn’t mean there aren’t things she has to sort through and fix. And knowing both Conrad and Belly, even though they’d never give one another up for anything, I also don’t think they’d feel comfortable taking the next big step until they finally got everything worked out.

(And hey! Now that everyone basically lives in San Francisco, they’re probably going to be forced to deal with these problems whether they want to or not. We love to see it!)

So while I do think we’re going to get an epilogue wedding, I think the movie will mirror the book in that it’s going to be an epilogue wedding. We’ll see it at the end, but the bulk of the movie will probably be about Belly and Conrad’s relationship with each other and their relationships with the ones they love most—and yes, probably a pretty romantic proposal, too. And if the finale’s credits scenes have anything to say about it, it might be about Christmas, too—because the holiday is clearly very important to Conrad and Belly, which hey, coincidentally seems like it could be a great time to propose and give them time to prepare for a summer house wedding. Just saying! Anyway!

Whatever the movie will end up being about, we probably won’t know for sure for a while. Still, a girl can dream.