Second season of 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' is filled with Wilmington-area locations
"Nothing's more beautiful than this."
So says Belly, played by the actress Lola Tung, as she strolls along the beach during a scene in the second season of "The Summer I Turned Pretty," which dropped its first three episodes Friday on Amazon's Prime Video.
It's a sentiment many of us who live in the Wilmington area can relate to, and there's plenty of the Port City and Southeastern North Carolina looking its best — even downright aspirational — in the new season of the hit teen drama, which filmed here during the summer and fall of 2022.
Five new episodes will air on Fridays through Aug. 18. The series is recommended for ages 16 and up due to language, some drinking and a little bit of sexual tomfoolery.
"The Summer I Turned Pretty" is based on a best-selling series of young adult novels by Jenny Han, whose YA credentials also include her mega-popular book series of "To All the Boys I've Loved Before," which were turned into a series of movies. Han is an executive producer of "The Summer I Turned Pretty" and its showrunner.
The show stars Tung as Belly, a teenage girl torn between a trio of hunks on "Cousins Beach," which is in Massachusetts in the show. Christopher Briney, Gavin Casalegno and David Iacono plays Belly's love interests, and the cast also includes Sean Kaufman as Belly's brother, Jackie Chung (of "Grey's Anatomy") as her mom and Rachel Blanchard ("Fargo") as her mom's best friend, Susannah.
The show has an A-list soundtrack that includes Tyler the Creator, Latto, Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Nas X, The Weeknd and more. Zoe Cassavetes, daughter of filmmaker John Cassavetes and actress Gena Rowlands, directs the first two episodes.
Read on, but please know this story may contain spoilers from here on out.
The first three episodes of season three jump back and forth in time, from Belly's happy days on Cousins Beach with the brooding Conrad (Briney) and playful Jeremiah (Casalegno) to her present-day struggles to move on from a falling out with the two brothers after the death of their mother, with whom Belly was close.
In addition to a number of scenes on area beaches, Belly and Conrad walk the Basin Trail, aka The Hermit Trail, near Fort Fisher. When Belly's brother, Steven (Kaufman), graduates high school, he and his fellow grads assemble outside New Hanover High School on Market Street. Some interior scenes are shot at John T. Hoggard High School.
An after-graduation lunch takes place at the Double Happiness Chinese restaurant on Wrightsville Avenue, and another restaurant scene takes place at Cast Iron Kitchen near Ogden. While Conrad is off at college, attending Brown University in Rhode Island, it looks a lot like the good ol' University of North Carolina Wilmington. UNCW's Alderman Hall pops up in a couple of scenes, portraying Conrad's dorm.
Kaufman and Chung stroll through the Mayfaire shopping center in one scene, with Williams-Sonoma getting some good placement in the background, and Kaufman dips into the Mayfaire Barnes & Noble, where he runs into Belly's best friend, Taylor (Rain Spencer).
Taylor's house in the show is at 1309 Princess St. and Belly's is at 2311 Chestnut St.
Downtown Southport and the waterfront there show up in one scene, and Kaufman and Spencer stop at the Masonboro Country Store on Masonboro Loop Road during a road trip on the way to Cousins Beach.
The SeaWitch Inn in Carolina Beach, most recently seen as a location in Netflix series "Florida Man, " is the motel where the brother's visiting aunt, played by Kyra Sedgwick, stays.
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Several shots show the Love Grove Bridge on One Tree Hill Way, and a house in the Glen Meade neighborhood at 2018 Lynnwood Drive plays the exterior of the Cousins Beach house.
A flashback to Susannah's funeral is at St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Market Street, and the pastor in that scene is longtime Wilmington actor Zach Hanner.
They don't show up in the first three episodes, but Wilmington actors Holli Saperstein and Brent Schraff get credits as well, as a motel clerk and a bartender, respectively.
The list of "Summer I Turned Pretty" locations that haven't appeared yet but which may show up in future episodes include the Rooster & Crow on Water Street; St. Andrews Covenant-Presbyterian Church on Market Street; Fifth Avenue United Methodist Church; the Azalea Inn on Market Street; Hell’s Kitchen on Princess Street; Russell’s Quick Stop on Wrightsville Avenue; the Basilica Shrine of St. Mary on Ann Street; Party City on New Centre Drive; and Jungle Rapids on Oleander Drive.
As for "The Summer I Turned Pretty's" anticipated third season, it hasn't been approved yet, and even if it is there's no guarantee the show would continue to shoot in Wilmington. But since the show is based on a series of three books, and since season one essentially follows book one, and season two is book two, it's generally assumed the show will run for three seasons.
Given the current writers' and actors' strikes, however, when the next season of "Summer" might shoot is anyone's guess.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2 with Wilmington NC locations
