The cast of Every Year After knew they were stepping into beloved territory. Adapted from Carley Fortune’s bestselling novel ‘Every Summer After’ – a BookTok sensation that spent 16 weeks on The New York Times Bestseller List and has sold more than one million copies – the series arrives with an audience already deeply invested in its characters. For the actors bringing those pages to life, that meant striking a delicate balance between honouring what readers loved while finding space to make each role their own.
Told across multiple timelines spanning six years and one pivotal week in the lakeside town of Barry’s Bay, Every Year After explores first love, heartbreak, regret and the enduring impact of the choices we make. As childhood memories collide with the present, the cast found themselves navigating not only emotionally layered characters, but the expectations that come with adapting a modern romantic classic.
For Sadie Soverall, who plays Percy Fraser, the connection to the material came almost immediately.
“I had read the book in the audition process, and I read it in a day,” she recalled. “I just kind of fell in love with it, and I felt really strongly that this was a story that I wanted to be a part of.”
That emotional investment made Percy an especially rewarding character to inhabit.
“She’s so complex. She makes mistakes, she’s flawed, and I think as a woman that’s really exciting to get to play. She’s also brilliant and creative and loving, and she’s both of those things at once.”
Opposite her, Matt Cornett admitted he came to the novel after landing the role of Sam Florek, but quickly understood why readers had embraced the character.
“He’s the silly, goofy guy,” Cornett explained. “He might be shy at first, but once he opens up, he is just a sweetheart… he cares really deeply and loves really hard.”
As Sam wrestles with grief, past relationships and an uncertain future, Cornett believes it’s that emotional complexity that defines him.
“He’s battling so many different versions of what’s happening in his heart and what’s happening in his head… it’s this push and pull constantly.”
It’s also what makes Percy and Sam such a compelling pairing.
“I think that makes them perfect for each other.”
Despite the novel’s passionate fanbase, neither actor felt constrained by readers’ expectations. Instead, both viewed the adaptation as a collaboration between Carley Fortune’s original vision and their own instincts as performers.
“I think you always bring a little bit of yourself into every character you play,” Soverall said. “It kind of seeps in, whether that’s one percent or ninety percent.”
She also appreciated that the series was able to deepen certain aspects of Percy’s journey.
“There were parts of Percy that were expanded, like this aspect of mental health that we wanted to work with, and felt really key to her character in the show.”
Cornett echoed that philosophy, acknowledging the importance of remaining faithful to Fortune’s work while still making Sam feel authentic.
“It was important for me to throw a little bit of myself into Sam… but it was also important to keep it very accurate to the book. Carly created these beautiful, complex characters that people love for a reason.”
Some cast members approached the source material differently. Abigail Cowen deliberately chose not to immerse herself in the entire novel before filming, preferring to discover Delilah Mason as production unfolded.
“I wanted to kind of challenge myself,” she explained. “I didn’t want to get too married to who she is. I wanted to discover it as I went.”
Reading only slightly ahead of production allowed Cowen to experience the character’s evolution in tandem with filming, while still appreciating the responsibility of satisfying longtime fans.
“We’re making this show for ourselves and also for the fans as well… and I think they’re really going to like what everyone did.”
For supporting players, the adaptation provided opportunities to expand beyond what existed on the page.
Aurora Perrineau noted that Chantal only appears briefly in the novel, largely through phone conversations, giving the creative team freedom to flesh her out.
“I kind of got to take some of my own liberties,” she said, while adding that showrunner Amy B. Harris maintained a very clear vision for the character.
Similarly, Joseph Chiu found Jordie was only lightly sketched in the book, allowing conversations with Harris to shape his performance.
“We talked about Jordie’s character and how he fits into this world,” Chiu said.
Off-screen, the ensemble’s chemistry developed naturally.
“We went out dancing a lot,” Perrineau laughed. “A lot of meals…”
“Karaoke,” Chiu added.
The friendships extended onto set, where cast members regularly spent downtime together rather than retreating to their trailers, creating the same sense of community that defines Barry’s Bay itself.
For Elisha Cuthbert, portraying Sue Florek carried a particular responsibility. Having read the novel after receiving the first script, she quickly realised how beloved Sam and Charlie’s mother was among readers.
“She really is at the core of it,” Cuthbert said. “She’s just a joy… a great fun mom.”
Her priority throughout filming remained simple.
“It was really important to me that Carly’s version of Sue was depicted in the performance that I gave.”
Perhaps no actor faced a greater logistical challenge than Michael Bradway, whose Charlie Florek appears across several distinct stages of his life.
Rather than relying purely on instinct, Bradway created an elaborate organisational system to track Charlie’s emotional journey.
“I made a cork board for every episode,” he revealed.
Each age was assigned a different coloured index card, allowing him to map Charlie’s scenes chronologically, regardless of the shooting schedule.
“When we were filming a scene, I could look back and think, ‘Where is Charlie coming from emotionally? What happened just before this?’ That helped me a lot.”
It’s an approach that perfectly reflects what Every Year After demands from both its cast and its audience. By constantly moving between adolescence and adulthood, first love and lingering heartbreak, the series asks viewers to piece together the emotional puzzle alongside its characters.
If the passion of its cast is any indication, Every Year After isn’t simply interested in recreating a beloved novel – it wants to honour why readers fell in love with Barry’s Bay in the first place, while inviting a whole new audience to experience that story for themselves.
Every Year After is now streaming on Prime Video.
