Exclusive Interview

‘Every Year After’ Boss Reveals Alice Everly Almost Appeared in Season 1 Finale

Ahead of Season 1, Every Year After showrunner Amy B. Harris made it clear that she hopes to adapt Carley Fortune‘s Every Summer After sequel, One Golden Summer, as well. While the Season 1 finale does include one major nod to Fortune’s sophomore Barry’s Bay love story, Harris sat down with Swooon to reveal the One Golden Summer Easter egg that could have been. (Warning: Season 1 spoilers ahead!)

One Golden Summer follows Alice Everly, an introverted photographer, who crosses paths with Charlie Florek (Michael Bradway) years after snapping a candid photo of him, Sam (Matt Cornett), and Percy (Sadie Soverall) when they were teens. While the photo, aptly titled One Golden Summer, makes an appearance in the Season 1 finale, the showrunner revealed that it was almost Alice Everly herself making that cameo.

When asked how early in the process they knew the season would end with Charlie seeing Alice’s photograph and saying, “I wonder who took this,” before having a major health scare (another One Golden Summer plot point), the showrunner explained, “I would like to say, ‘Oh, we knew from Day 1 when we were in the writers’ room.'”

Instead, Harris revealed that they had many versions of the ending, which brought Alice into the narrative. One of which specifically featured Alice. “We had a version where she walks through the airport, and he sees her when he’s going to pick up his family,” Harris revealed to Swooon.

“Yeah, we had talked all about different versions of how to bring her into the finale. We knew we were bringing her in. We just didn’t know how.” So, why doesn’t Alice make a physical appearance? Harris told Swooon, “What we finally realized is we didn’t [have to bring her in yet]. She still has to be a notion, but one that, if you are a lover of Carley Fortune, is just a perfect little Easter egg… We knew we needed Alice in some way to come in to launch us to Season 2.”

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In One Golden Summer, Fortune describes the photograph through Alice’s eyes, writing, “I’ve been at the cottage since the end of June, watching them swim and flirt and fly around the lake in their yellow speedboat. Each one of them is beautiful. So sun-kissed and free. They climb into the boar. The oldest drives. His brother and the girl sit in the front… I hear the boat. Their laughter over the engine. I look up to see them heading toward me. I bury myself behind the lens. They enter the frame. Click.”

After deciding that Alice’s photograph would appear at the end of Season 1, capturing the perfect picture became their “obsession.” Harris told Swooon, “I had that paragraph on my phone as we were shooting that photograph because I knew it had to be exactly what was written.”

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While production assumed they would spend more of the day capturing the perfect picture, this One Golden Summer nod came to life in a matter of 10 minutes. Harris recalled, “We were on the boat, she was on a different boat, and she sent us the photo on text, and we were like, ‘Huh, okay, we’re done.’ It was like 10 minutes out on the water, and they had told us this could be hours of the day to even get something that slightly works.” As she put it, “It was phenomenal.”

While Alice’s Season 1 cameo never came to be, “I wonder who took this,” is one earth-shattering cliffhanger we can get behind. Let the yearning for Season 2 begin and cue us screaming Alice Everly took that photo! She’s the love of your life! at the screen until then.

Every Year After, Season 1, Streaming Now, Prime Video