The Big Picture

• Season 2 of "The Summer I Turned Pretty" focuses on Belly as she returns to Cousins Beach to save the Fisher house and introduces new characters.
• The complex relationship dynamic and push and pull between Laurel and Julia in the wake of Susannah's death is discussed.
• The actors discuss who Belly should end up with between Conrad and Jeremiah and express their desire for more scenes together.

When The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2 returned, the series kicked off with the devastating reveal that Susannah (Rachel Blanchard) had died, and now the people she left behind are struggling to cope with the grief of her loss. Season 2 focuses on Belly (Lola Tung) as she returns to Cousins Beach with her brother in order to help save the Fisher house before it can be sold off by Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah's (Gavin Casalegno) aunt, Julia (Kyra Sedgewick). The season brings in new characters while also linking the old characters back together at the beach house for another unforgettable summer.

We spoke with Rachel Blanchard, Kyra Sedgewick, and Jackie Chung about how their characters have handled such a momentous shift. Although Susannah is dead, she still has a strong presence within the show and her relationship with her best friend Laurel (Chung) and her sister Julia couldn't be more different. We discussed this complex relationship dynamic and the push and pull between the two women in the wake of Susannah's death. We also discussed if there was ever a world where the women could have mended bridges with each other, and who the actors think Belly should end up with between the two Fisher boys.

Check it all out in the video interview at the top of this article or read the conversation in transcript form below.

This interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

COLLIDER: I did not expect this season to kick off with Susannah’s death already having happened. Rachel, when did you find out about that news and were you worried for a minute, like, “Did I just lose my job?”

RACHEL BLANCHARD: [Laughs] I found out close to when we started shooting. I had read the books, so I knew I wasn’t long for the world.

After Susannah’s death, we see Julia come back into the world, into the story, and I liked the dynamics she had with all of these different characters. What do you think, for you, was the defining aspect of Julia’s life that helped you grab ahold of this character, and how do you think that life changes after she reconciles with her family?

KYRA SEDGWICK: I think that, on some level, Julia really wishes that she did have the view of the world that Susannah had and that she could be more joyful. But Julia didn’t have that experience, you know? They had the same father, but they had different mothers, and my experience of being in that house was that I really wasn’t welcome there, whereas, for her, it was always just the most welcoming place in the world. It was as if I had changed, but really, I didn’t change, just the circumstances changed. He broke up with my mother, and so it was never a home for me, it was always just a house. And for her, it was nothing but a home.

Yeah, definitely. Jackie, I think out of everyone, Laurel is probably by Susannah’s side the most on those final days, but she also seems to be the person coping the best out of everyone. How do you think she holds it together, or is it more about the fact that she recognizes she has to be the most responsible one?

JACKIE CHUNG: I don’t know if she’s actually coping the best, but it probably appears that way from the outside. I think she realizes that they are each other’s closest person, and she is the one that’s gonna help take care of her. So she needs to remain strong, also take care of her kids, also be a single mother. I think for most of the season, she’s just containing it until she kind of has to let it out.

I think there’s a fascinating dynamic between these three women because, in a way, I feel like for Susannah, after her sister left, there’s this replacement with Laurel. There’s somewhat of a tension there. Do you guys feel that there was a universe where, perhaps, Susannah survived, and she overcame her illness, and the three of them became friends, and their kids could have grown up together, or is there too much baggage there? Do you think it never would have become as congruent as it could have been?

BLANCHARD: It’d be nice to think that could happen. Sometimes I feel it takes tragedy to bring people together in that way, and that tragedy was Susannah’s death. So I don’t know if there would have been an event that would have brought them together, but I think of Skye (Elsie Fisher) and the kids all really missing out on that. We kind of robbed them of that experience, the cousins together. So, hopefully, there would have been something that brought them together because I think they would have had a good time.

Yeah, I think that connection with the kids is good. Obviously, this is a show with a large cast, and everyone sort of is in their own corners a little bit. Is there a character that you guys wish your characters had more screen time with or somebody you have more of a connection developing with?

BLANCHARD: My scenes were quite contained this season, but I would have liked to have more scenes this season with both of you. That would have been fun.

SEDGWICK: Same.

CHUNG: Yeah, same.

It would have been nice to see the girls together, you know?

SEDGWICK: Yeah!

CHUNG: It would have been nice!

BLANCHARD: That would have been kind of fun, a flashback scene, the tension…

SEDGWICK: Yeah, right. Exactly.

For you guys personally, who do you think Belly (Lola Tung) should end up? Is it Conrad (Christopher Briney) or is it Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno)?

SEDGWICK: I’m gonna say Conrad just to mix it up!

CHUNG: [Laughs] I think she’s young. She doesn’t need to choose. She should have many lovers.

BLANCHARD: It could be someone entirely different.

That’s a different answer than I was getting from some of the other cast members. [Laughs]

CHUNG: What did they say?

BLANCHARD: What were they saying?

Elsie and David [Iacono] both said Conrad and Rain [Spencer] said Jeremiah, which I would agree with because I think Conrad was a little bit— There was too much this season going on with him! [Laughs] He was a little bit too wishy-washy, I think I’m too old for that type of energy. But is there an aspect of your guys’ character that you want to explore more, maybe a part that might not even be filmed but is something that you want to dig into?

BLANCHARD: I want to do a road trip! I think it would be fun to see us on a road trip.

CHUNG: It would be, all three.

I think that would be kind of a chaotic road trip. [Laughs] A dramatic moment that you guys can bond over.

CHUNG: That’s the fun.

The Summer I Turned Pretty is now streaming on Prime Video.