“Every Year After” Showrunner Breaks Down the Biggest Changes from Carley Fortune's Book (Exclusive)

Showrunner Amy B. Harris explains some of the TV show's biggest deviations from 'Every Summer After'

Warning: this post contains spoilers for both Every Year After (now streaming on Prime Video) and Carley Fortune's novel, Every Summer After.

NEED TO KNOW

• Every Year After showrunner Amy B. Harris tells PEOPLE about the thought process behind some of the biggest changes she made for the TV show compared to Carley Fortune’s novel, Every Summer After
• Fortune tells PEOPLE that in her eyes, the show “does exactly what an adaptation of a book that has a fan base should do”
• All episodes of Every Year After are now streaming on Prime Video

It's no easy feat to adapt a best-selling, beloved book into a TV show.

That was the task that Amy B. Harris faced as showrunner on Every Year After, the new eight-episode Prime Video series that adapted Carley Fortune's debut novel, 2022's Every Summer After.

Harris tells PEOPLE she "devoured the book in 24 hours," and she "felt a huge amount of responsibility to honor this beautiful book and author and her fans" as she took the helm of the TV show.

"I've done adaptations before, and I think there are times where you're like, I have to change this, or this doesn't work for storytelling purposes for TV, or it's told in the wrong time period for what we can make… But what I really felt was so important with this book was to honor Barry's Bay. It had to be a main character in its own right," she reveals of her approach.

Equally important was to "honor the love story" between childhood best friends-turned-first loves, Sam (Matt Cornett) and Percy (Sadie Soverall), and to "make sure we [included] lots of fun little Easter eggs" for book fans. There were some "non-negotiables," like the anatomy textbook scene, and Sam telling Percy, "You came home," but not everything in Every Year After unfolds like it does in Every Summer After.

From Fortune's point of view, the series "does exactly what an adaptation of a book that has a fan base should do, which is that it honors the story. It has the heart and soul of the book. It feels like the book," she tells PEOPLE. "But it also expands the world."

Below, Harris explains her thought process behind some of the biggest changes made for the TV show from Fortune's book.

Why does Sue leave the Tavern to Percy in her will in Every Year After?

There's no discussion about Sue's will in Every Summer After, nor is Percy ever in the running to become the owner of the family restaurant. Instead, Sam and Charlie (Michael Bradway) choose to sell it to longtime employee and friend, Julien.

For the TV show, Harris says she "debated" whether to introduce something new for the Tavern. "When I pitched out [Percy inheriting] the Tavern, it was like, 'Does she get 50%? All of it? What am I thinking? Is this crazy?' " Harris admits. "And the scene with Sue in [episode] eight, where they're wearing the tiara, and she's saying, 'This tiara will be yours. I don't think my boys are going to want it,' to me, that was really her talking about the Tavern and this life, in general."

Sue (Elisha Cuthbert) "knew" that Charlie and Sam were "off to do different things," but Percy felt like she could be "the one person that could continue to honor the Tavern and Barry's Bay."

"To me, that scene with the tiara and the tutu was really about [Sue saying], 'My boys aren't going to want — not just this silly little outfit, but this life — and I think you could hold that responsibility and treasure it.' So, that felt like enough [explanation of Sue's choice] for me."

Why introduce even more love interests for both Percy and Sam in their teen years?

Things are never simple when it comes to Percy and Sam — in both the book and the TV show. However, Every Year After introduces more love interests for both of the characters compared to Every Summer After.

"I just liked the idea of — summer loving is so different for kids than their real lives," Harris says. "And Sam knew that, in a sort of mature way, that I think in some ways, you can argue with Sam not trusting her enough to make their relationship work."

"Summer is one thing," she says, but "going back to school" is another, and Harris wanted to reflect that in the show. Sitting at the bonfire in episode 3, they both realize, "Oh, I kiss boys. You take girls to dances. We do have these lives that are outside of this precious, perfect place."

"And that is life. Life gets in the way of these perfect summer romances. And I think that was important, for me, for [Percy and Sam] to be realizing that, also."

Why is Percy the one to tell Sam about sleeping with Charlie?

In Every Summer After, Sam has known for years that Percy slept with his older brother. As Harris says, it's been several years since he found out, so by the time Percy returns to Barry's Bay, Sam is "pretty resolved" about his feelings about it.

That is not the case in Every Year After. Instead, Percy is the one to tell Sam about her night with Charlie. "For me, it was twofold," Harris explains of the change. "I think, in a television series, you want to see the drama happening on screen and understand what someone's reaction is, and to feel that visceral pain and betrayal, and what that felt like for him."

"I wanted to see that on screen, and I didn't really know how we would flash back to that," she says, so she knew "very early on" that Percy and Charlie's hookup "was going to be a reveal within the show."

Percy confessing to Sam also opens the door for even more upheaval to come in a potential season 2. "I feel like with that so fresh in his mind, the betrayal, that there's a lot to be played, in terms of how you behave and what you're experiencing in a relationship when you're still trying to let go of something that's pretty raw," Harris teases.

Why is Sam's relationship with Taylor more serious in Every Year After than in Every Summer After?

Taylor is more of a serious contender for Sam's heart in the TV show than she is in the book. In Every Summer After, Taylor appears early on, but readers find out that things between her and Sam aren't very serious — or even all that official. Marriage is certainly not a topic that ever comes up in the context of Taylor.

In the show, Harris wanted to "put as many obstacles in front of [Percy and Sam], so that the will-they-won't-they takes as long as it needs to take."

"Percy has spent the last decade having meaningless hookups, and getting a little lost in her career, and not knowing who she is anymore, and can't find her voice. Sam has really drilled down. He's like, I'm going to be a doctor. This is what I've always wanted. I'm going to marry a beautiful doctor, just like me," she explains. "I imagined him as a serial monogamist after Percy — that he never could ever fully get to the wedding with anybody, but he was always in more serious relationships."

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His relationship with Taylor, and his almost-proposal to her, was a way of “showing how two people manage heartbreak in such different ways,” Harris says. 

"I like that Taylor was somebody who — she's not a villain or a cartoon character, she's a great girl and could have been a wonderful person for Sam, if the love of his life wasn't always in the rearview mirror," Harris adds.

Why don't Percy and Sam end up together in the Every Year After finale?

Every Year After leaves things very open-ended between Percy and Sam in the final episode, which is a big deviation from how Fortune's book leaves them: officially rekindled and living together, with Percy planning to propose to Sam.

The finale is somewhat murky on purpose. "We left them standing this far apart. We did not have them come into a hug intentionally, because this is just the beginning of their possibility," Harris explains.

Percy's "betrayal" is still "so fresh in [Sam's] mind," which leaves a lot to play around with, "if we're lucky enough to have a season 2."

"I mean, I didn't see this as one season," Harris says. "I see this as many seasons, and this is just the beginning of something as opposed to just… It's like, yes, this is a happy ending, hopefully, for the fans who are rooting for them, but it's also the beginning of something for Percy and Sam, as they move forward."

All episodes of Every Year After are now streaming on Prime Video.

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