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

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.