The Summer I Turned Pretty fans were very sure that season 3 was building up to kill off a major character, which creator Jenny Han is finally addressing.
Han, 45, was asked whether a scene where Belly’s (Lola Tung) dad, John (Colin Ferguson), asked Laurel (Jackie Chung) for Pepcid due to his heartburn was hinting at something bigger.
“No, not at all!” Han told Entertainment Weekly recently. “It was a moment to show a couple who had known each other a very long time who were giving it another try and kind of falling back into their old dynamics of low-key annoyance.”
The moment, which was featured in a September episode, caused viewers to be concerned about John’s fate.
“Omg is Belly’s hot dad gonna have a heart attack,” read an X post. “Why are we talking about chest pain. I’m kinda scared.”
There were other posts questioning the significance of the scene. “Doctor robby. patient’s name is belly’s dad. age 53. struck by anterior chest pain while trying to get back together with his ex wife,” wrote another social media user. “Or maybe they’re already back together it’s kinda unclear. bp 137/ 89. likely myocardial infarction. don’t page conrad, he’s to[o] close to the case.”
After shutting down the theory, Han also weighed in on speculation that season 3 featured heavy “product placement” for a variety of brand-name items — including Apple AirTags.
“A lot of people think that everything is product placement on the show, and I’ll just say that I really like living in a real world, a real universe,” she continued. “And I would never say, ‘Can you please pass me the heartburn medication?’ You would just say like, ‘Where’s the Pepcid?’ Or, you know, AirTags, like, that’s just what she would have.”
Han wanted to be authentic by naming Pop-Tarts, going to stores like Michaels and eating brand name cereal, adding, “To use a generic, random brand, it doesn’t feel like I’m living in the real world. … It’s just all real. It’s not product placement, we just use brands.”
While The Summer I Turned Pretty wrapped up its run on September 17, Prime Video has since announced a continuation with a feature film. Before the series finale, Han weighed in on fans who have been pointing out hidden details and Easter eggs throughout the seasons.
“People are always picking up on stuff,” Han told Entertainment Weekly earlier this month. “There’s definitely some that people have not picked up on, which I wouldn’t discuss until after everything’s out, and then you could look carefully for some of those little breadcrumbs.”
Han did acknowledge that not every theory was correct. “I saw something today that was not true,” she added. “There’s definitely intentional things, and then there’s also things that were not [intentional]. I feel very flattered that people spend time thinking about what we made and giving it that level of attention and time in their own lives.”
Han concluded: “It’s a privilege that people care enough to come up with their own theories about things. People should be able to look at the work and come up with their own opinions on it that are separate from me, in terms of being the creator. Those [theories] are all valid, and whatever you take away is what you’re taking away from it. So even if it may not have been intentional, I think that there’s validity.”
The Summer I Turned Pretty is currently streaming on Prime Video.
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