The After series is best known as a One Direction fan fiction that gained enough traction on Wattpad to turn into a New York Times-bestselling series, complete with film adaptations. The series follows the story of Tessa Young (Josephine Langford) and Hardin Scott (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin), two college students that are in what can be described as an unhealthy relationship at best. After is not the first Wattpad story to receive film adaptations, but it is one of the largest franchises to come from the platform today.
In After We Fell, we left off with Hardin finding out that Christian Vance, a long-time family friend and substitute parental figure, is actually his biological father. He reunites with Tessa in the street before the camera lets us know this story will be continued. With the final installment After Ever Happy expected to be released later this year, here is everything you need to know about the film.
Plot: What We Know
The official teaser released on December 24, 2021, gave us a small look into what we could expect. From Tessa's voiceover, this may be the true breaking point of the couple, with Tessa apologizing for being unable to "fix" Hardin. The film synopsis tells us "a shocking truth about a couple's families emerges." While it is expected that the truth revealed about Hardin's family is his relation to Vance (Stephen Moyer), Tessa's truth could be more pressing.
Readers of the book may know what happens with Tessa's father, but it is unclear if that storyline will be kept in the film adaptation. After We Fell stayed faithful to the source material, so it is expected to happen with After Ever Happy. If that is the case, we will see Tessa and Hardin go through their biggest struggles yet, with an ending to their relationship that takes years to see through.
Cast: What We Know
Josephine Langford and Hero Fiennes-Tiffin are reprising their roles of Tessa Young and Hardin Scott, respectively. They have portrayed the on-again-off-again pair since the first film in the franchise was released in 2019. Also reprising their roles as Hardin's parents are Rob Estes (Ken Scott) and Louise Lombard (Trish Daniels). Both began their roles in the franchise with the second film, After We Collided. Chance Perdomo, who replaced Shane Paul McGhie as Landon in After We Fell, is also reprising the role in After Ever Happy.
To fans' dismay, Dylan Sprouse is not expected to make an appearance in After Ever Happy as Trevor, one of Tessa's coworkers at Vance Publishing who created a temporary love triangle in After We Collided. While this is not surprising because Trevor was not featured in After We Fell, there was hope he would appear in the franchise again. However, two other love interests introduced in After We Fell are expected to return for After Ever Happy.
Carter Jenkins plays Robert, a waiter from a restaurant Hardin and Tessa went to that seems to be interested in Tessa, and Kiana Madeira plays Nora, a lover from Hardin's past. Both appeared in After We Fell but may have more prominent roles in the new film.
Release Date
On Valentine's Day, the After franchise social media accounts released a new promotional poster confirming the film will be released in the United States on September 7, 2022. This release date was initially given at the end of the official teaser. Like After We Fell, Amazon has picked up the rights to debut After Ever Happy exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in the United Kingdom and France. That leaves questions as to the release date in other markets.
After We Collided and After We Fell debuted in foreign markets before the United States release date, and After Ever Happy seems to be following that pattern. At the end of the official teaser, additional release dates were announced. Most European markets can expect the film to be released between August 24 and August 26, with Canada and South Africa releasing the movie on August 26. Australian and New Zealand fans can expect the film on September 8, a day after the United States release.
Everything Else We Know
After Ever Happy filmed back to back with After We Fell in Bulgaria in the fall of 2020. The After Instagram account confirmed production for the films wrapped on December 18, 2020. In an exclusive interview with Teen Vogue, director Castille Landon confirmed that an After sequel and prequel are in development, with her planning to both write and direct them. Landon states the prequel will be loosely based on the book Before, the fifth book of the After series that is from Hardin's point of view. Before lets readers learn more about Hardin's life before Tessa and gives new insight into the happenings of the After series.
The planned sequel is meant to follow the next generation of Scotts, specifically Hardin and Tessa's children and a cousin. This means that while fans expected After Ever Happy to be the franchise's last film, they can get excited about future installments.