After The Summer I Turned Pretty was released on June 17, fans of the show noticed a few changes from the original book series, such as Jeremiah’s sexuality. So, is Jeremiah bisexual? Here’s what you need to know.
Is Jeremiah Bisexual in ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’?
The premise of the series focuses on Belly (Lola Tung), who spends summers with her family friends at their beach house in Massachusetts. She’s been crushing on older brother Conrad (Christopher Briney) since she was little and became best friends with younger brother Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno). As time has passed, the brothers have developed romantic feelings for Belly, leaving her to choose which brother she wants to be with.
It’s pretty clear from episode 2 of the Amazon Prime series that Jeremiah likes both women and men. In the second episode, he shows Steven, played by Sean Kaufman, all of his hookups while at the pool where he lifeguards — pointing at both men and women. He also describes himself as an “equal opportunity flirt.”
What the Cast and Writers Have Said About Jeremiah’s Sexuality
TSITP author and showrunner Jenny Han spoke to TvLine in June 2022 about her decision to change Jeremiah’s sexuality on the show. “I was looking at this adaptation and thinking, if I was to write this book today, how would I write these characters?” Jenny explained.
She continued, “They’re all the same characters, but I think culture has moved in many ways and I think this younger generation is a lot more free about labels and more open-minded and less on a binary. So I felt like for Jeremiah, it really made sense for him because I think he’s a character that’s very comfortable in his own skin and at ease with himself. I think it was it was a really natural choice to make.”
Because Jeremiah is still young, he’s still exploring his sexuality, and Jenny adds that he wouldn’t necessarily identify himself as bisexual. “I would say [he’s] sexually fluid. He is a young person who’s figuring out where he falls in all that and hasn’t experienced a lot of love yet. It’s still kind of early on in that journey.”
Gavin exclusively spoke to J-14 about his thoughts on playing Jeremiah and the update in the script. “I think it’s so important to do Jeremiah justice, and I feel like the way Jenny updated the script — as far as Jeremiah goes — I think it really just brought it up to date with where the world is,” Gavin told J-14.
“I think that’s so special, and I feel so honored to be able to represent that in a way. I think it represents Jeremiah exploring himself and, you know, that’s exploring his relationship with Belly, Conrad, himself, his mom, his dad, and I think that his sexuality is also a part of that. It was fun for that to be a part of the script.”
Love J-14? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for fun, exclusive videos with your favorite stars.
