From the high school friends blowing up her phone to the moms at her kids’ drop-off, everyone wants to know: Is Jackie Chung from The Summer I Turned Pretty Team Conrad, or Team Jeremiah?
“Team Belly,” Chung has told them diplomatically, but not unsurprisingly. Like the other members of the cast, who have been promoting the third and final season of the Amazon Prime show non-stop since it premiered on July 16, the actor is sworn to secrecy about Belly’s fate, which may or may not differ from the book trilogy by Jenny Han that the series is based on.
However, as the season has progressed—episode seven out of 11 premiered today on the streamer—another will-they, won’t-they storyline has emerged, this one centering Belly’s (Lola Tung) divorced parents, Laurel (Chung) and John (Colin Ferguson).
In the years since their split, John and Laurel have become reacquainted as friends. And then, in episode two of season 3, as something…more? After running into each other at a work conference, the pair find themselves in Laurel’s hotel room, tipsy and uninhibited. Immediately after their night together, Laurel seems regretful, while John is hopeful. And fans are eating it up.
The cross-generational appeal of The Summer I Turned Pretty—which on paper is about a teenage love triangle, but in reality is as much about parenting teenagers who make poor decisions—has been a surprising side effect of the show’s success. Since it premiered on Amazon Prime in 2022, the show has become a global phenomenon, and season 3 is the number one most-watched show among women 18-34. However, if the TikToks on my own For You Page are to be believed, the audience is a motley mix of people, from Gen Alpha to Boomers, who tune in every week to watch protagonist Belly choose between one of two brothers—Conrad (Christopher Briney) or Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno). “YA”—a.k.a. Young Adult—is merely a suggestion.
Over the past three seasons, viewers have grown fond of Laurel, Belly’s stern but loving mom, whose friendship with the Fisher boys’ mom, Susannah (Rachel Blanchard), is the reason Belly’s in this whole brother-love-triangle mess to begin with. Some have called for a spin-off series about Laurel’s middle-aged quandaries, about how she’s dealt with the loss of her best friend, a divorce, and a daughter who makes messy, almost unforgivable choices. Maybe it’s women who see themselves in Laurel—a woman who says she regrets her decision to marry and have kids so young, without taking the time to get to know herself first. Or maybe it’s Chung’s charm, or her quiet ferocity, that’s ignited such a fierce debate about where the character should go next.
Chung hasn’t heard anything from the powers that be about a Laurel-focused spin-off, though she’s aware of the discourse, as well as the hype around a potential prequel centering on John, Laurel, and Susannah’s college days.
“I think it’d be super interesting to see how they all met, how Susannah and Laurel became friends and how the relationship started,” Chung says. “I probably wouldn’t be part of it. I don’t think I could pull off young Laurel anymore.” For the record, Chung is 46—not 62, as the shocking internet rumor from a few years ago would have you believe.