After Bridgerton and Can This Love Be Translated?, Netflix is betting the Carley Fortune novel This Summer Will Be Different may be its next popular romance TV series adaptation to be stretched for lingering looks and steamy passion between lovers over many seasons.
Netlflix in Canada has given a 10-episode series order to Sphere Media, which earlier worked with the streaming giant on the popular limited series thriller, Wayward. The Canadian mystery thriller from Mae Martin made it to Netflix’s global top 10 table and reached number one in 35 countries.
The novel adaptation is billed as a “simmering, sun-soaked romance set across multiple summers on Prince Edward Island about Lucy, a young woman navigating her 20s and her first real love with her best friend’s brother, the one person she was never supposed to fall for,” according to a logline from the producers.
The novel itself has Lucy each summer vacationing at a beach house on Prince Edward Island, on Canada’s east coast, only to fall for Felix each visit. There’s no word on casting, but This Summer Will Be Different will be shot on Prince Edward Island – which provided the tranquil backdrop for the classic Anne of Green Gables novels by Lucy Maud Montgomery adapted by Disney — and in Toronto.
“I fell in love with Prince Edward Island first in the pages of L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables and again when I visited with my best friend in my early twenties. That vacation, the beauty of the island, the warmth of its people, and the friendships that sustain us—are the foundation of This Summer Will Be Different. I’m thrilled to bring this sweeping love story to the screen with Netflix and to transport audiences to the glittering shores and windswept beaches of PEI,” novelist Fortune said in a statement.
The creator and showrunner credits on the series are shared by Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart, who will also executive produce alongside Fortune, Jennifer Kawaja and Elise Cousineau.
“When Carley first entrusted us with her captivating book, we knew we had to find the right team to deliver to her passionate fanbase. Developing this project with Dane, Linsey and Sphere has been a dream and we couldn’t have found better partners to bring this love letter to both Toronto and Prince Edward Island to the screen,” Danielle Woodrow and Tara Woodbury, directors of content – Canada at Netflix, said in their own statement.
This Summer Will Be Different joins a Canadian slate at Netflix that includes North of North, now in its second season, Wayward, Who Killed the Montreal Expos?, an untitled Newfoundland Project and The Granville Girls.
The series will stream globally. Dates for production and the series release have yet to be announced.
