Newcomer Lola Tung to Lead Jenny Han’s ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ at Amazon

Amazon’s forthcoming series based on Jenny Han‘s The Summer I Turned Pretty is taking shape as the streamer unveils its first round of casting.

The multigenerational drama that hinges on a love triangle between a girl and two brothers also explores the ever-changing relationship between mothers and their children as well as the enduring power of female friendships. At the center of this coming-of-age story about first love, heartbreak, and a magical summer is Belly.

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Newcomer Lola Tung has been cast in the leading role as the 16-year-old girl who was once gawky and awkward but is now coming into her own. But newfound attention due to her looks is taking some time to get used to. When she begins to turn the head of Conrad Fisher, a boy Belly’s loved forever, the attention is both exciting and scary for her.

Joining Tung are costars Jackie Chung, Rachel Blanchard, and Christopher Briney, who will all appear as series regulars in the eight-episode Amazon Studios and wiip co-production. Chung will play Belly’s mom Laurel, a novelist with an aversion to technology. Since getting a divorce a year prior to the show’s storyline, Laurel has been stressed and unfocused.

Jackie Chung, Rachel Blanchard, and Chris Briney (Chris Chapman; Wes Klain; Mark Veltman)

Blanchard portrays Susannah, Laurel’s best friend who hosts both families at her beach town home every summer. And Briney has been cast as Conrad, the straight-A student and star athlete who is serious and responsible, but has become distant and moody. Can Belly change that? Viewers will have to wait and find out.

Author Jenny Han, who is behind Netflix’s beloved To All the Boys film franchise, wrote the pilot episode and serves as showrunner with Gabrielle Stanton. Both Han and Stanton serve as executive producers with Karen Rosenfelt, Paul Lee, Nne Ebong, and Hope Hartman.