Exclusive Interview

Inside ‘Every Year After’ Stars Matt Cornett & Michael Bradway’s Instant Connection and More

When Swooon met Every Year After‘s Matt Cornett and Michael Bradway, it was instantly clear that the two were born to play brothers. Stepping into the shoes of beloved BookTok boyfriends Sam and Charlie Florek from Carley Fortune‘s Every Summer After for the upcoming Prime Video adaptation, the two sat down to discuss their real-life friendship, reveal the scenes they’re most looking forward to adapting, and more!

“It’s funny, when we did our chemistry read, because Matt was cast before me, they wanted us to do a little 10-minute introduction, and so they turned off their cameras on Zoom,” Bradway explained. “It was just me and Matt, and we didn’t talk about the script. We didn’t talk about the book. We just got connected. We talked about sports, and we talked about that we lived 10 minutes away from each other, and after that, they kind of had to come on and be like, ‘Hey guys, we have to work now. You’re just hanging out for too long.'”

Ultimately, they agreed that “no matter what happens if I don’t book this or if I do, whatever, we’re gonna golf together. We’re gonna hang out no matter. We became best friends.” Luckily for us, Bradway landed the part, and the two have golfed together many times since.

Like true brothers, the two cracked up talking about the friendship bracelets they would make for each other. “His would say, ‘Put a shirt on,'” Cornett joked, to which Bradway responded, “If I got one for him, his would say, ‘Shut up.'” Of course, Cornett confirmed, “Michael doesn’t run around shirtless, but Charlie does everywhere, and I had to spend a lot of time around a shirtless Michael.” Bradway’s response? “He was lucky.”

Matt Cornett / Instagram

Season 1 of Every Year After follows Sam and Percy’s (Sadie Soverall) relationship, told over six summers from their childhood and one week in the present day. Looking forward to Season 1, which premieres in June, Cornett revealed his favorite scene to bring to life from Fortune’s book. He teased, “I think there are so many fun ‘firsts’ scenes with Sam and Percy that were some of my favorites to shoot.” He added, “Some of the really slow burn-type moments from the book were a lot of fun to shoot. I think fans are gonna be really excited to see [those].”

As for Bradway, the best moments to shoot were “a lot of the lake stuff.” According to Bradway, the book really comes to life during those Barry’s Bay scenes. “I’m excited because you have this idea of what you think the dock and the lake are gonna look like, and then when you actually see it on screen, it’s a whole different ball game.”

Prime Video

Naturally, we had to ask Cornett about another role of his that romance lovers adore: E.J. Caswell from High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. For anyone who has “A Billion Sorrys” on repeat, you’ll be glad to know that there are a few similarities between E.J. and Sam.

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“They both love with their entire heart, and they care very deeply,” he explained. “They also both love to be super goofy, even though E.J. was a bit more of the jock-y guy, I think that he still loves to be goofy and silly. That’s one of my favorite things about Sam, that Sam is such a goofball, but also this deep lover and caring person. And so that was some of my favorite stuff to film as Sam, the goofy scenes with Percy, where he also had to show his intense love for her through silliness.”

While Sam isn’t one to break out into song, if his Every Year After character took after East High’s music-forward mentality, Cornett argued that he would sing during “any scene where he’s racing Percy in the lake… either a scene where they’re swimming in the lake or running together.” He shared, “I think [during] either of those, I could see Sam breaking out into song and dance.” Every Year After musical episode, anyone?

As for Charlie, Bradway confirmed, “Charlie likes to sing. He likes to have a good time. I’d say when he’s working behind the bar at the tavern, you know, and the song will be called ‘Bar at the Tavern.'”

Every Year After, Season 1, June 10, Prime Video