Netflix has green-lit a new 10-episode romance, This Summer Will Be Different, based on the bestselling novel by Canadian author Carley Fortune.
2026 is all set up to be a big year for best-selling Canadian author Carley Fortune. Her novel Every Year After is being adapted into a TV series at Prime Video, titled Every Summer After. And now Netflix has green-lit another of her best-selling titles for television. Titled This Summer Will Be Different, the novel is being adapted to television by husband-and-wife duo Dane Clark (Suze, One More Time) and Linsey Stewart (Workin’ Moms, North of North). Carley Fortune will serve as an executive producer alongside Clark, Stewart, Jennifer Kawaja (Sort Of, Wayward) and Elise Cousineau (Cardinal, Small Achievable Goals) for Sphere Media.
This Summer Will Be Different is a simmering romance taking place across several summers. We follow Lucy, a young woman navigating her 20s, who finds herself attracted to her best friend’s brother. The 10-episode series will film on Prince Edward Island — the primary location where the novel is set — and also in Toronto.
The official logline for This Summer Will be Different reads:
This Summer Will Be Different, based on the beloved novel by Carley Fortune, is a simmering, sun-soaked romance set across multiple summers on Prince Edward Island about Lucy, a young woman navigating her 20s and her first real love with her best friend’s brother, the one person she was never supposed to fall for.
“I fell in love with Prince Edward Island first in the pages of L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables and again when I visited with my best friend in my early twenties,” Carley Fortune said in a statement. “That vacation, the beauty of the island, the warmth of its people, and the friendships that sustain us—are the foundation of This Summer Will Be Different. I’m thrilled to bring this sweeping love story to the screen with Netflix and to transport audiences to the glittering shores and windswept beaches of PEI.”
“When Carley first entrusted us with her captivating book, we knew we had to find the right team to deliver to her passionate fanbase,” added Danielle Woodrow and Tara Woodbury, Directors, Content – Canada. “Developing this project with Dane, Linsey and Sphere has been a dream and we couldn’t have found better partners to bring this love letter to both Toronto and Prince Edward Island to the screen.”
No casting has taken place for This Summer Will Be Different.
This project marks the second collaboration between Netflix and Sphere Media. Their previous collaboration was a major success with Wayward, a mind-bending psychological series that spent five weeks on the streamer’s global top 10.
Carley Fortune’s Meet Me at the Lake could also be making its way to Netflix
This Summer Will Be Different is not the only Carley Fortune novel with an adaptation in the works. Of course, there’s also Every Summer After, coming to Prime Video. But also, her novel Meet Me at the Lake has been optioned by Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, with her production company Archewell. Megan and Harry’s company acquired the rights to the novel in 2023.
The news surrounding an adaptation of Meet Me at the Lake was initially reported by Deadline in 2023, but the adaptation has since gone quiet. The most recent update came from Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria, who said that projects with Archewell are still being worked on — but ‘deals come and go’.
“We still have a relationship with them,” she said during the Next on Netflix press event. “We have movies in development with them. We have an amazing doc with them. They have things in development on the TV and film side. Deals come and go all the time, and we don’t renew so many deals, those just don’t get as much press for obvious reasons.”
Currently, Carley Fortune’s novel Meet Me at the Lake has not been green-lit by Netflix.
We will keep you posted on all the latest updates. Be sure to keep checking back!
