Prime’s new romance series Every Year After, starring Sadie Soverall as Percy and Matt Cornett as Sam, is told over the course of six years in Barry’s Bay – the quintessential lake town.
The show is adapted from Canadian Carley Fortune’s best-selling novel Every Summer After, which was inspired by Fortune’s teenage diaries of summers spent at the family home in Barry’s Bay in Ontario’s cottage country.
Early versions of the show set the story In Barry’s Bend, Wisconsin which was an “absolute no from me”, Fortune told The New York Times. She insisted that the show be “explicitly set in Canada”.
The new creative team agreed to preserve the Canadianness of the story but t it turned out the show couldn’t shoot in the actual Barry’s Bay in Ontario.
So it was decided to move filming to Bowen Island, British Columbia. a 20-minute ferry ride from West Vancouver.
The locations we found were so stunning and really met what we hoped for in terms of the look of the dock and the water, and the mountains added this majestic element . . .,we didn’t want to lie and say it was Ontario — showrunner Amy B. Harris told TeenVogue.
The show’s Barry’s Bay welcome sign says “British Columbia” not “Ontario”.
What’s Every Year After about?
Percy (Sadie Soverall) and Sam (Matt Cornett) fall in love over six childhood summers together at Barry’s Bay,: spending afternoons on the water and nights working in the family restaurant and curling up together with books — stories for her and medical textbooks for him.
Once inseparable, their romance falls spectacularly apart. A decade later Percy returns to the lake for Sam’s mother’s funeral. Their connection is undeniable but is their love bigger than the mistakes of their past?
Other characters: Aurora Perrineau is Chantal; Abigail Cowen is Delilah, Michael Bradway is Charlie and Joseph Chiu is Jordie.
And Elisha Cuthbert as Sam’s Mom, Sue Florek.
Prime Video, which already has a new hit series in hot hockey romance Off Campus (also filmed in Vancouver) is leaning into the YA romance genre.
Related: Off Campus Drama About College Hockey Love Lives Shooting in Vancouver
Every Year After – Season One:
Working title: Meet Cute.
Vancouver filming dates: June 04 2025 – September 18 2025
Showrunner: Amy B. Harris.
Cast: Sadie Soverall, Matt Cornett, Aurora Perrineau, Abigail Cowen, Michael Bradway, Joseph Chiu., Elisha Cuthbert
Soundstages: North Shore Studios.
Producers: Reunion Pacific, Amazon MGM Studios.
Bowen Island Filming Locations:
Every Year After filmed in Snug Cove on the boardwalk, at the Union Steamship buildings and on the Dorman Point Trail.
Related: Prime’s YA Romance Every Year After on BC’s Bowen Island as “Barry’s Bay”
On the grass with the BC ferry Queen of Capilano in the background.
Sam’s mother’s funeral? In Snug Cove.
On the patio at Doc Morgan’s Pub & Restaurant.
Disclosure: Lived in the float home in Snug Cove for two summers.