Every Year After’s twist isn’t just about love

Prime Video’s Every Year After leans into a major season 1 secret tied to Percy’s past with Charlie—while Sam appears blindsided in the show. Carley Fortune and Aurora Perrineau both push back on the idea that the story is simply another love triangle like The

Percy (Sadie Soverall) returns to Barry’s Bay carrying a history that won’t stay buried. In Prime Video’s Every Year After, her reunion with Sam (Matt Cornett) is supposed to feel like a second chance—until it doesn’t.

Years after a heartbreaking split from Sam. Percy and the Florek brothers—Sam and Charlie (Michael Bradway)—are pulled back into each other’s orbit. But Percy keeps her distance from reconciling with Sam because of what happened between her and Charlie. During a rough patch with Sam. Percy had sex with Charlie. and the fallout is the reason she cuts things off in the past.

The twist is where the story’s emotional pressure snaps into place. In Carley Fortune’s Every Summer After. Sam eventually finds out about Percy and Charlie’s hookup—meaning the truth exists. On screen, however, Sam appears oblivious to the one-night stand and how it shapes Percy’s decision to pull away. The result is a season 1 tension built not just on romance. but on timing—what Percy carries. what Sam doesn’t know. and what the viewer is meant to feel as the pieces come into view.

Fans can’t help comparing Every Year After’s surprise reveal to another beloved book-to-screen romance: The Summer I Turned Pretty. That series centered on Belly (Lola Tung) and a love triangle with brothers Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) and Conrad (Chris Briney). Fortune, 42, pushed back on the framing.

“It’s not about a person choosing between other people,” Fortune explained exclusively to Us Weekly. “That’s what a love triangle is, when there is equal kind of tension in the triangle. It’s just not what it is. I think the show is very much about important places and those people and places that stay with us for many. many years. It’s about coming home.”.

She added, “It’s about how we grow and we evolve, but the younger versions of ourselves are always with us. I think it’s very tender.”

Aurora Perrineau—who plays Chantal—echoed that sentiment while offering her own take on what the story is really doing. “I think it has the same yearning as The Summer I Turn Pretty. but I think it’s really not a love triangle. ” she told Us. “I don’t think it’s a love triangle. I think, also, it’s just a bit more adult, because it’s about adults.”.

Perrineau also described the emotional engine of the series more plainly: “I think it’s more of a ‘conversation of forgiveness’ between Percy and Sam,” she shared.

She continued, “I think it’s something that a lot of people — maybe not in the exact scenario have dealt with — but it is that thing of trying to understand how to forgive people and if you can. I think that’s something that people will attach to.”

So while viewers may look for a familiar triangle pattern—Percy connected to Sam and Charlie. both brothers in the orbit of her past—the show’s central shock is less about choosing and more about what forgiveness costs when the truth isn’t aligned. And for a story that opens with Percy returning after learning about the death of ex Sam’s (Matt Cornett) mom and stepping back into Barry’s Bay. that misalignment lands like a question the characters have to live with long before the romance can move forward.

Every Year After is streaming now on Prime Video.

Every Year After Prime Video Percy Sam Florek Charlie Florek Sadie Soverall Matt Cornett Michael Bradway Carley Fortune Every Summer After The Summer I Turned Pretty love triangle forgiveness