The Summer I Turned Pretty Author Jenny Han Revealed the Real Reason She Changed Belly’s Ethnicity in the Show
The Summer I Turned Pretty is back, and it’s time to return to Cousins one last time. But with renewed interest in the Amazon show, some people are finding a major change from book to screen.
The Summer I Turned Pretty focuses on the love triangle between Isabel “Belly” Conklin (Lola Tung) and brothers Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno). It’s based on author Jenny Han’s coming-of-age romantic drama book series of the same name. Han, who also wrote the To All the Boys book series, which inspired Netflix’s movies of the same title, is also the creator and an executive producer on The Summer I Turned Pretty series.
Related: Who Does Belly End Up With in The Summer I Turned Pretty? Season 3 Isn’t ‘Exactly the Same’
The Amazon series has garnered praise for the diverse casting, but many fans are wondering what the cast members’ ethnicities are in real life.
What is Lola Tung’s ethnicity?
Lola Tung is of Chinese and Swedish descent from her mom’s side and European from her father’s side. She’s frequently talked about Asian-American representation and how being mixed-race has affected her upbringing.
She’s praised shows like The Summer I Turned Pretty for uplifting Asian American stories and is proud to have a cast and crew that are proud to tell these narratives. “I think it’s really special to have stories about love and about family [and see] different families,” she told Teen Vogue in 2022. “It’s not just the same thing over and over again. To be working with other Asian-American actors — Sean Kaufman, who plays my brother, Jackie Chung, who plays my mom, and Minnie Mills who’s also in the show — and to have an Asian-American creator, writer, and showrunner who has that voice and that understanding is so incredible.”
She continued, “We had an Asian-American director, too, Jeff Chan, who was amazing. [I was] constantly being surrounded by incredible Asian-American artists. To have that also be my first experience on a set was really, really cool. It’s a story about love and family, and the family happens to be Asian-American, which is so cool, because it’s just family, it’s just love.”
What’s Belly’s Ethnicity in The Summer I Turned Pretty TV series?
Belly is half-Korean and half-white in The Summer I Turned Pretty TV Series. Series creator and author Jenny Han talked about the change from the books when she made the book into movies. “When I was approaching the adaptation, I wanted to really reflect the moment that we’re living in,” she told Cinemablend. “And I think the diversity of characters is a piece of that, so it felt like a really great opportunity to showcase different kinds of talent. We get to have like an Asian American family on the show.”
“These are all the same characters,” she later elaborated to KCRW. “And they have the same essence to them, but how would I see them as they are in 2020-2021? And so I thought it was just a really great opportunity to expand that out, and have this story in the show feel more modern and of this moment.”
Is Belly Asian in The Summer I Turned Pretty books?
Belly is white in The Summer I Turned Pretty book series. Han talked about how when she first pitched the books to publishers in the early 2000s, they were hesitant to release diverse books.
“I think it didn’t even really hurt my feelings because it was just kind of so matter of fact,” she told CBS. “I had tried to sell a book with an Asian main character before this one, and people weren’t really interested in it. The thing I would hear is, ‘We already have a book with them.'”
She stressed the importance of doing more for Asian representation back in those days. “Even my first book, it was important for me to have my picture on the back,” Han said. “It wasn’t really done at the time, and I thought, ‘I want other young Asian women to see that and think it’s possible.'”
