‘Every Year After’ Cast Reveals How They Felt About Dramatic Secret Reveal
This article contains spoilers for season one of Prime Video’s Every Year After and the novel Every Summer After.
Sure, good things happen at the lake.
But it’s also a place where hard truths are confronted. At least, that’s the case in Every Year After, the Prime Video adaptation of Carley Fortune’s best-selling novel Every Summer After, out now.
And much like the 2022 novel on which the series is based, the now-and-then story following childhood sweethearts Percy Fraser (Sadie Soverall) and Sam Florek (Matt Cornett) who reunite as adults at his mom’s funeral features a divisive twist: a 17-year-old Percy has a drunken hookup with Sam's brother Charlie Florek (Michael Bradway) following their breakup.
Although, the shocking moment doesn’t necessarily play out in the same way. In the book, it’s revealed that Charlie came clean to his brother in the months after the dalliance took place. But in the show, they vow to keep it a secret, the truth coming to light 11 years later when Percy realizes she needs to tell Sam the truth if they are ever able to have a future.
But with Sam finding out the truth just after he professes his love for Percy after a decade apart—a reunion that takes place once he calls off his relationship with fellow doctor Taylor—it made for an explosive confrontation. And the timeline jumps made the move all the more impactful.
“I really, really loved the way that they have these parallels of Sam and Percy when they're kids and when they're adults, having similar but opposite stories,” Cornett explained as he and Soverall sat down for an exclusive interview with E! News. “The way it's filmed and the way it kind of cuts back and forth. You see that they're in a very similar situation but on opposite ends of the spectrum, having opposite conversations.”
Justine Yeung/Prime Video
He added, “I think that's something that I love so much, is you get to see that even though they've grown up, their life is still inherently at its core the same.”
So naturally, on the days Soverall and Cornett had to film the big reveal—on a rock overlooking their beloved lake—it was, Soverall admitted, a bit “daunting and stressful.”
It was, “two days of tears, of improvisational like apologies,” she revealed. “It was a real marathon for both of us, but each time I really enjoyed doing it, felt quite cathartic.”
And beyond the trust they had with the people behind the scenes, they had each other.
“I have to say, Sadie was so impressive in that scene,” Cornett emphasized, revealing that director Jeff W. Byrd “asked her, "I just want you to just go off, I just want you to say what you're feeling, say what you're thinking, as Percy, I just want you to have this moment, and like, have this apologetic, almost begging moment,’ and she killed it.”
Justine Yeung/Prime Video
In fact, it led to some off-camera tears from her leading man, the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series alum sharing, “There was a moment that she was going off, and I turned to her, and I had tears streaming down my face because the thing that she was saying, was so real, and so raw, and so genuine, that it was incredibly impressive.”
With Charlie and Sam duking it out, quite literally, over the revelation, Bradway notes the moment hit hard.
“It's so fun as an actor to be able to have this secret that not a lot of people know about,” he shared with E!. "You can kind of hold on to it, and you use that in different relationships. Who knows the secret? Who doesn't know? I mean, everyone loves a great twist, and I feel like this show does that really well.”
Cate Cameron/Prime
The season ends on a hopeful note, with Sam surprising Percy in his family tavern she now runs, leaving the actors hopeful for their characters’ next chapter in a potential second season.
“I am excited to hopefully see them have to come together and reconcile what happened and have a real honest conversation with each other,” Cornett shared. “I do think that obviously things can be fixed, but I think that there is a lot of talking that needs to happen. I think that they need to be able to become friends again first, before they can even consider moving forward as a couple. So I'm excited to see that kind of relationship regrow and almost have to start from the ground up.”
As Soverall noted, “Forgiveness isn't always a linear thing. Maybe they will regress, and maybe they'll get better.”
Every Year After season one is now streaming on Prime video. How—and when—Sam learns about Charlie and Percy’s hookup isn’t the only deviation from the show. For more changes made to Every Summer After for the Every Year After show, keep reading…
Cate Cameron/Prime
A (Fittingly) More Macabre Profession
In Every Summer After, Percy (Sadie Soverall) is now 30 and living in Toronto as a successful senior editor at an interior design magazine, where she works alongside her best friend Chantal (played by Aurora Perrineau on the show).
"That puts me in a position of power, assigning stories and overseeing photoshoots at the country's biggest decor magazine," she said in chapter three. "It's work that I love and that I'm good at, and at Shelter's 40th anniversary bash, the magazine's editor-in-chief Brenda credited me with bringing the publication into the digital era."
Meanwhile, in Every Year After, the one-time horror superfan Percy works as an obituary writer, although it's a writing career she isn't the most passionate about. As she explained in the first episode, it's "one of the few things newspapers still need writers for. It pays the bills."
Cate Cameron/Prime
A Closer Look at Percy's World
In the novel, Percy's career in media also leads her to her now-best friend, Chantal, who only makes a feature through phone calls during Percy's visit.
"Chantal and I met as interns at the city magazine where she is now the entertainment editor," she added. "We bonded over the peculiar business of fact-checking restaurant reviews."
As for Chantal on the show, she is a high-powered attorney juggling her job and wedding planning while accompanying Percy on her trip. With her spending the week in Barry's Bay, viewers get a closer look at her complicated relationship with fiancé Drew and her interactions peopl from Percy's past life.
Justine Yeung/Prime Video
An International Romance
In the novel, the setting is exclusively Canadian—set around the province of Ontario. Percy is from Toronto, about 198 miles from Barry's Bay, and remains there as an adult.
However, in the series, the best friends are Americans—which proves to be a hiccup for Chantal when her passport expires one day before she was set to return to the U.S. in episode three—who live in Seattle. And though Sam (Matt Cornett) and Charlie Florek (Michael Bradway) are Canadians who hail from Barry's Bay, as in the book, the show traded in its Ontario setting for British Columbia.
It's a change that not only complements Seattle's role as the big city, but, as showrunner Amy B. Harris previously noted to Teen Vogue, after finding their perfect setting on the West Coast, "we didn't want to lie and say it was Ontario."
Adding a border to cross also factors into Sam and Percy's long-distance friendship-turned-romance. In fact, after she gets her license, Sam asks if Percy would be able to make a solo trip up to the lake, prompting her to quip, "Drive to another country? I doubt it."
Cate Cameron/Prime
No Longer a Solo Trip to Barry's Bay
After Charlie Florek (Michael Bradway) calls Percy with the news of Sue's death and her upcoming memorial in the show, Drew urges her to spend the week with her best friend in Barry's Bay.
By doing so, the show transitions Chantal, now a high-powered attorney, from Percy's over-the-phone BFF to road-trip partner, giving her her own opportunity to be changed by Barry's Bay.
While Chantal agrees to take her in the series, Percy makes the trip solo in the book without telling her best friend and decides to rent a car to make her way to Barry's Bay.
"I briefly consider not telling Chantal where I'm going, but then I have visions of getting in an accident and no one knowing why I was on the highway far from the city," she admitted in chapter three. "So, I write a quick text from the rental car lots, adding a few I'm totally fine exclamation points before I hit send."
Cate Cameron/Prime
A First Kiss Not Courtesy of The Blair Witch Project
In the novel, Percy and Sam finally share their first kiss after the former asks to sleep at their house when she got spooked by The Blair Witch Project in the summer of 2013. As the pair share Sam's bed, they confess their feelings for one another before locking lips.
Meanwhile, despite their sleepover taking place under similar circumstances on the show, they don't share their first kiss until the next episode, during a very flirty anatomy lesson the following year.
Cate Cameron/Prime
An Unlikely New Owner for The Tavern
When Percy plans to leave Barry's Bay early after learning that Sam's girlfriend Taylor (Roan Curtis) in the present, the executor of Sue's estate requests that she be present during Sue's will reading. She learns during the meeting that she was bequeathed The Tavern, which shocks everyone.
With Charlie in talks to sell that restaurant to Percy's former best friend Delilah Mason (Abigail Cowen), the new ownership leads to a conflict between the brothers and Percy. As for The Tavern's fate in the book? Longtime employee Julien bought it at a “family discount” from Charile and Sam.
Justine Yeung/Prime Video
Hey There, Delilah. What's It Like in Barry's Bay?
Like in the novel, Delilah visits Barry's Bay for the first time during Percy's yearly trip. However, in the series, Percy learns that Delilah has since become a staple of the town—and the Florek boys' lives—with her and her husband Whit owning a stunning summer house in the area.
Cate Cameron/Prime
Sue's Mental Health Struggles
Sam shares in both the book and the series that his and Charlie's dad died of a heart attack. However, the show expands on Sue's grief journey.
"After dad died, she kind of fell apart," Charlie, who was 14 at the time, begins. "That first year, you were 11, maybe you don't remember or maybe you didn't see it. I tried to hide it from you."
"Mom was dark, down. I guess some shrink might even say depressed. Sometimes, she would just stay in her pajamas all day," he explains. "Sometimes, I come home from school and she'd just be sitting at the kitchen table, staring. It was scary."
And it was a time that fundamentally changed the elder Florek. Charlie reveals that during that time, he took on additional responsibilities, including grocery shopping.
"She got better and things got better," he adds. "I feel bad for saying this, but I'm still so pissed at her. She left us alone that year."
Justine Yeung/Prime Video
Sam Learns the Devastating Truth About Percy and Charlie
Throughout the book and series, Percy and Charlie are wracked with guilt over an incident that led Percy to leave Barry's Bay for good.
As for why it happened? After Charlie decided not to spend their last summer at Barry's Bay since he was going off to college early, Percy spent her time with Charlie. In a vulnerable moment, Charlie—who harbored feelings for his little brother's girlfriend—and Percy have sex.
After Sam decides against proposing to Taylor in episode five, he meets with Percy to confirm that he is now single and wants to be together. Burdened with guilt, Percy admits that she and Charlie had sex a decade earlier after their breakup.
Sam, learning this news for the first time, is devastated and walks away as Percy pleads for him to understand how much she regrets it.
Meanwhile, Percy continues to call Charlie and eventually texts him to say that his younger brother knows about their ill-fated move. Charlie confronts Sam, who chooses to cut off contact after their mom's memorial.
In the book, however, by the time Percy comes clean to Sam, he's already had years to digest the information. After all, it was Charlie who first told Sam—and Sue—just months after it happened.
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