Spoilers for the series finale. Belly ends The Summer I Turned Pretty with Conrad in Paris and back in Cousins. That can feel like the romantic destination the series promised—and like the ending most likely to shrink her story back to the love triangle. The question is not whether Conrad or Jeremiah was the better match. It is whether the finale makes Belly’s choice feel like the result of her own growth.
Who does Belly end up with in the finale?
The third season is the series’ final season, as Amazon announced when it set the finale for September 17, 2025. The finale brings Belly and Conrad together in Paris, then returns Belly to Cousins. The ending is a substantial change from the resolution viewers might expect from Jenny Han’s book trilogy, and Han has announced a feature film to continue the story. Amazon’s season-three announcement identifies the season as the series’ third and final chapter and Prime Video as its streaming home; TheWrap’s September 18, 2025 interview with Han discusses the finale and film.
Why the ending can feel like a setback for Belly
Agency: is this Belly’s choice, or the prize at the end of a contest?
The triangle has long given Conrad and Jeremiah’s feelings much of the dramatic weight. A reunion with Conrad can therefore risk making Belly seem like the prize awarded after the brothers’ rivalry, rather than the person whose decisions shape the outcome. The issue is not that she chooses Conrad; it is whether the story gives enough space to understand why this is the choice she makes now, after everything she has lived through.
A satisfying ending need not make Belly independent of romance. It does need to show that she is more than the object of someone else’s longing. If the decisive meaning of her journey is simply that she was always meant to return to Conrad, her changing priorities and hard-won perspective can feel secondary.
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Emotional causality: does the reunion follow from what she has learned?
A Paris reunion can carry real emotional force, but geography and longing are not the same as development. The critical test is whether Belly’s experiences abroad change how she sees herself, her relationships, and home—or whether distance mainly gives the story a dramatic route back to its expected couple. The finale’s romantic payoff is clearest; the case that the payoff grows from a transformed Belly is less secure.
Closure: what does the finale settle, and what does it leave open?
Han told TheWrap that “The series was all building towards Belly and Conrad’s reunion, and I just didn’t want to take away from that.” She said she did not want to compress what followed into a few minutes. That explains why the finale prioritizes the reunion, but it also makes the film consequential: some of the emotional aftermath is deferred rather than shown in the series ending.
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In that same interview, published September 18, 2025, Han said the film had a draft script, had not been filmed, and had no specific release timeline. That is the status she reported then, not a current production update. The finale can be judged on its own terms even as a continuation is planned: a promise that Belly’s life will keep unfolding is not the same as seeing that life take shape on screen.
Why Belly’s return to Cousins can also make sense
There is a credible counterreading. Han said she wanted Belly to return to her favorite place, and that seeing more of the world made Cousins dearer to her. On that account, going home is not surrendering growth; it is an informed choice to value a place after gaining perspective. Returning to a familiar setting does not automatically mean returning to an earlier self.
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Before the finale aired, Han told the Los Angeles Times she wanted viewers to feel uncertain about what would happen next. That describes the anticipation she hoped to create, not what the ending ultimately resolves.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How the show’s ending differs from the book
The trilogy’s final novel, We’ll Always Have Summer, centers on Belly’s choice between Conrad and Jeremiah. The series instead gives her a Paris reunion with Conrad and a return to Cousins, a resolution shaped by the show’s own pacing and continuation plans. That adaptation change matters because it affects what Belly’s final choice means: the show’s ending places the reunion at the center, while the source novel’s premise foregrounds the choice itself.
Comparing the two does not make fidelity the only measure of success. A television adaptation can reach a different destination and still honor a character’s development. The question is whether this version gives Belly’s changed perspective enough weight alongside the romantic resolution.
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So, does the finale ruin Belly’s character development?
“Ruin” is too absolute: the finale does not undo every earlier step in Belly’s story, and a return to Cousins can represent chosen belonging rather than regression. But the criticism has force. By making the Conrad reunion its defining payoff and sending Belly home, the ending risks making romance—not Belly’s independent growth—the clearest meaning of her arc. Whether that risk becomes a lasting failure depends on what the continuation does with the life beyond the triangle that the finale leaves mostly unseen.
For the book-to-screen comparison, see We’ll Always Have Summer, the trilogy’s final book. The novel and series do not have identical endings.
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