EXCLUSIVE: French Canadian actress Sophie Nélisse (Heated Rivalry, Yellowjackets) has booked the first major role in the upcoming book-to-TV adaptation of the Carley Fortune novel for Netflix, This Summer Will Be Different. Production will take place in Prince Edward Island and Toronto later this summer.
From creators and showrunner Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart, This Summer Will Be Different, the series, is 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.
Nélisse will portray Lucy, one third of the trio of main characters in the story alongside best friend Bridget, and the latter’s brother Felix. While Netflix did not provide a character description for Lucy, in the book, she sits in a complicated space between her best friend Bridget and Bridget’s brother Felix, as per the logline.
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It is uncertain how closely the TV adaptation will follow the novel, but the book opens on Lucy’s flashback to first meeting Felix, who catches her eye while shucking Malpeque oysters at a restaurant she visits. Bridget was supposed to be with Lucy for this visit to PEI, but the former missed her flight. Therefore, Lucy didn’t make the DNA connection until later. After a one-night stand with Felix, he and Lucy put together that Bridget is both Lucy’s best friend and Bridget’s brother. One of Bridget’s three rules for Lucy during her first trip to the island was that she not fall in love with her brother, whose nickname is Wolf.
For Fortune, This Summer Will Be Different became a NY Times bestselling novel after its 2024 release. It has sold more than four million copies and has been translated into thirty languages. Up next for the author is the upcoming second season of the TV adaptation of her debut novel, Every Summer After, Prime Video’s Every Year After. Season 2 will be based on the title’s sequel, One Golden Summer.
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This Summer Will Be Different joins Netflix’s growing Canadian slate including North of North, Wayward, Who Killed the Montreal Expos?, BELOW and The Granville Girls.
The series is executive produced by Dane Clark, Linsey Stewart, Fortune, and Jennifer Kawaja (Sort Of, Wayward) and Elise Cousineau (Cardinal, Small Achievable Goals) and Samantha Levine for Sphere Media.
Nélisse will soon reprise her breakout role as Young Shauna in the upcoming fourth and final season of Showtime’s Yellowjackets. She played the fan-favorite role of Rose Landry in the first season of Heated Rivalry. Nélisse is represented by Brillstein Entertainment Partners and CAA.
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