Every Year After’s Abigail Cowen Wants To Bring Back Yearning

We can’t get enough of men yearning, and Abigail Cowen knows it. In her latest TV show Every Year After, there’s no shortage. For over a decade, Sam Florek (Matt Cornett) yearns for Persephone ‘Percy’ Fraser (Sadie Soverall) while Jordie Lin (Joseph Chiu) pines for Delilah Mason (Abigail Cowen). It’s a crushing story about what happens when your first love is your soulmate, but mistakes made as a teenager cause everything to crumble. Cue angst, heartbreak, fights and tears. What more could you ask for when it comes to a classic YA Prime Video adaptation?

I sat down with Cowen to dissect what makes Every Year After so intriguing (hint: the strong female gaze plays a big part), why we love seeing men yearn, and whether we will be blessed with Every Year After Season 2. Oh, and I also asked her if Charlie owns a shirt (IYKYK).

Refinery29: I inhaled this series, I binged it all. We’re in an era of book-to-screen adaptations, why do you think people are so obsessed with them right now?

Abigail Cowen: I remember growing up and being a fan of book series. I think that there’s this creativity behind it when you read, you create your own character. Everyone pictures the character differently. Making an adaptation is just so fun to have something that people can see. Plus, the community, like BookTok!I think that it’s so fun to see everyone’s reactions.

Did you read Every Summer After before you auditioned?

AC: I had heard about it. So many people I knew were reading it, but the funny thing is that when I got the audition, it was under a code name, so I had no idea what I was auditioning for. When I found out what the project was, and that I was gonna go in and read with everyone for the role, I started reading the book.

There’s this moment near the end (spoiler alert), where Delilah is making out with a woman. Were you excited to add queer representation to the series?

AC: Of course, yeah! I think that would be a really cool path for Delilah. I think she’s in this place of just finding herself and taking care of herself for the first time, probably in her life and putting herself first. I think she’s on this route of self discovery. I am so down for that storyline. I think that would be great, but I also just really want to see who she is. If there is a second season, I want to see who she is after putting herself first and truly confronting the things that she’s been running from for a really long time.

Will there be a second season?

AC: I hope. I hope you know it really just depends on the fans. I think if we get viewership and people love it as much as we do, then hopefully. I don’t have any information on that, but I’m manifesting.

And there might be some comparisons to The Summer I Turned Pretty because there’s a lake, two brothers and a dead mum called Sue. What do you think of those comparisons?

AC: I love that it’s compared to it, because it brings in the theme of nostalgia and young love, and rekindling and forgiveness, things that we don’t always get in life. I think that it should be compared in a way. But you know, we do have differences in the show. I love that we go kind of deeper into younger storylines, and we get to see these characters throughout their years grow, and you get to really find out why they’re making the decisions that they’re making.

The other show that Prime Video just released is Off Campus. Do you think Every Year After will reach the same levels of success?

AC: I love seeing their success. I think they were filming the same time we were filming, and I actually read that script, and immediately, I was like, people are gonna love this. But yeah, one can only hope. I hope that people, you know, love it as much as we do.

I also have to ask about the ice cream scene. What was that like to film?

AC: Bizarre! We couldn’t not laugh, because we had to kind of walk the line of not making it too weird. But it was cute. I love how they ended up portraying it, and you feel that sense of, will they, won’t they? But while we were filming it, we were dying laughing. Also, we had to keep eating the ice cream too, so we all had like a sugar high, and then crashed later on, because you do the scene over and over.

And obviously, it’s full of yearning. Do we need to see more men yearn for women?

AC: Yes, of course! Bring yearning back! That’s what I’ve been saying. Sometimes we focus on the woman yearning for the man. I love seeing the opposite. I think it’s great to see the vulnerability, and the tension, and I think it’s a really beautiful aspect to it.

Also, Carley Fortune was an executive producer on the show, what was it like working with her?

AC: I don’t know how she did it. I have so much respect for her. This is her baby, it was inspired by her teenage diaries, which I relate to. I opened up mine the other day, and I was like, it’s crazy. If I were in her position, I would be a helicopter mum, making sure that everything is perfect, but she entrusted Amy, our showrunner, to put her spin on it. She was just so supportive and amazing. She would come to set and just be encouraging, which is like all you can ask for, especially when doing an adaptation. Getting her thumbs up was the best day of our lives. I adore her. I feel really lucky to be in a female-centred arena.

It’s so important to have love stories told by women, don’t you think?

AC: The female gaze!

It’s a different perspective, isn’t it?

AC: Yeah, it is. And you can tell. I watching it and I said, I can tell that there were women behind this, and I think that’s it’s such a cool thing to be a part of, and to see.

Just a silly question to finish off with. Does Charlie not own a shirt?

AC: Does he not own a shirt? Honestly, I asked the same question! There were moments, although, I think fans aren’t gonna complain, you know. But yeah, I asked the same question. I was like, why did he need to be shirtless for this? I think if we get a Season 2, we’re gonna raise that question of does Charlie own a shirt?

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Every Year After Season 1 is now streaming on Prime Video.

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