Jenny Han answered MAJOR questions from The Summer I Turned Pretty finale (and revealed secret Easter Eggs)

After 11 episodes of yearning, peaches, and heartfelt confessions, The Summer I Turned Pretty came to an end yesterday with fans everywhere finally able to celebrate Belly and Conrad getting together in Paris. But was this always the plan?

Well, according to series writer, executive producer and director Jenny Han, there was never anyone but Conrad for Belly. The writer, 45, who wrote the novel series the show is based on, confessed while speaking to Cosmopolitan UK following the finale, that while she went into the show with an open mind, it was ultimately always going to be Conrad whom Belly ended up with.

And that's not all she revealed. Following the finale we were left with a number of burning questions, such as how did they film that steamy staircase scene? And what Easter Eggs did we miss? And why was Conrad and Belly's reunion set in Paris and not Cousins Beach?

Thankfully, Jenny Han has put our minds at rest and answered all those questions and more. Here's what she had to say about The Summer I Turned Pretty season three finale. Oh, and the movie too. Don't think we forgot about the movie.

Cosmopolitan UK: Was it always going to Conrad who Belly ended up with?

Jenny Han: I mean, yeah. But I did go into the show with an open mind.

We see Conrad speak about his love for Belly and why he doesn't love her just because Susannah told him to. What is it he loves about her?

He loves her optimism and the way she throws herself into things, and she just has that sort of innocence to her. I think he admires it, and he's protective of it. When his bubble was burst, when he heard about his dad cheating on his mum, and he'd really looked up to his dad. And then his mum getting sick, I think he was hoping that Belly wasn't going to have those kind of experiences, and so in some ways, he felt protective over that, to his own detriment, and not being honest with her about hard things.

I think he likes her free spiritedness. He's really controlled, and he's a kind of person who thinks things through in his head before he says them. And we don't really see Belly in that same way, she often blurts things out. It's not really until she's in Paris where she's having to really practice in her mind what she's gonna say that we see that experience for her.

As the end of the season was approaching it felt like there could be a possibility for Belly to end up on her own, without either of the Fisher boys. Was that something you considered?

I think that she was [on her own] and we got to see that year of her on her own. The Benito romance was an important part of being on her own, because she wasn't in love with him. [The romance] was more for her to just experience other people before coming back together with Conrad. I think she needed that. I would say the year she has is important to that growth.

It was really nice to watch Belly's transformation and to celebrate that it's not always about the men...

It's about her, and she needed to take that time. For so many people, doing a study abroad or living in a different country, if you ever have the opportunity to do it, it really does make you test yourself in ways that you didn't think possible. And so I think it's cool to see her struggle to find her way when she's always been pretty in pretty safe places.

Belly and Benito breakup before Conrad arrives, why was it important for you to include this?

She's getting these letters from Conrad, and she's not really over him. And as Benito was starting to really fall for belly, I think she wanted to be honest and not potentially hurt him if her heart wasn't there.

Even as a Team Conrad fan, part of me could really see Belly ending up with Benito during the previous episode...

I think Fernando [Cattori], who plays him is great. And they have a really natural lovely chemistry. I mean, one never knows. But I think she met him coming out of a really big relationship with Jeremiah, so in that way, it wasn't like completely pure. I think maybe if she had met him at a different moment, perhaps.

Recently you said there were was an Easter Egg we missed, what was it?

I think the one I was referring to was in the first episode of the season with a SZA song, and there's a lyric about going to Paris. It's when she and Jeremiah are lying in bed, and the song is 'Open Arms', and it's talking about a double meaning of someone holding you down, and like you're the only one that's holding me down. And then the meaning changes over the course of the song. So I think if you listen to the lyrics there's a lot to be gained.

Speaking of the music, it's such an important part of the show and beloved by fans. When writing the show do you know which songs you're going to include before the scenes are written, or is it something that's added in later?

It really depends. Sometimes it could be during the writing of it, and sometimes it could be during filming, and sometimes it's during post [production]. I like knowing what I'm going to use before we film it, just so I have it in my head, how I want it to be edited. But there's been plenty of times, too, where we've already shot it, and then we kind of figure it out later.

Going back to the Easter Eggs, do you enjoy watching fans figure them out every week?

I don't really think of the Easter eggs as clues. They're just ways to have a wink at the audience, or a little callback, or some type of narrative foreshadowing like with the SZA song.

But it's not really, I don't really use it as with numbers and that kind of thing, where it's a clue. It's more just anything that can, I think, help tell the story you don't necessarily have to know about it, but then, if you do, then maybe it elevates your experience.

There was a big fan theory going around last week that the number 14 meant we were going to be getting 14 episodes...

No, and then people were disappointed. I'm like 'no, that wasn't really a thing.'

Lots of fans thought Belly's dad John was going to have a heart attack, was that on the cards?

I don't know why people thought that. Because I think it's very normal to have heartburn when you're, you know that age. So if you're like in your 40s or 50s, people get heartburn. I like to have the characters live in what feels like the real world. In the real world, you know, you're like, 'pass me a band aid, or pass me Kleenex or Pepcid.'

Did you work with an intimacy co-ordinator for the scenes in the taxi and on the stairs?

We worked with a really lovely intimacy coordinator from France, and I think the scenes turned out really beautiful and passionate. And think it was a big sort of culmination of what people have been waiting for to see this reunion. And I think they really delivered.

In the books Belly ends up studying in Spain, why did you move this to Paris?

I switched it because there was Sabrina [the movie] and Sabrina going to Paris, and I just thought that would be really lovely to have Belly do the same. Also, I speak French, not Spanish.

And, I wanted to shoot in Paris, so there's that. Paris is the most romantic city in the world. So what better place to send Belly and to have her reunion with Conrad?

Cousins is such a big part of Conrad and Belly's story, were you tempted to have their reunion there?

The reunion itself? No. I think she wasn't ready to go home yet at that moment. I really liked seeing him go to her and and make that stand, because I think it was meaningful to her. She, who had been in many ways unsure of his feelings for her and the depth of his feelings. I know people were frustrated with her over the season for maybe not seeing how deeply he felt for her.

But we as the audience are privy to all of that and hearing from him, but she doesn't really know. I don't think she felt secure in that way, because she had been heartbroken by him before in the past, so she was afraid.

Is it hard watching fans get frustrated at Belly, knowing how much you love her and what's next for her?

I mean, I love her so much. To me, her story is about having love for yourself. That's something that hopefully people see by the end of the story is her having some forgiveness, because I think a lot of the sort of back end of the story is about her grappling with her feelings of guilt and shame around choices that she's made and and mistakes that she's made.

We're getting a movie! How hard was it to keep a secret, and what can you tell us about it?

I can't tell you much because it's really early, but I'm just relieved that we were able to make the announcement. I didn't want it to come out before the end of the show. I really wanted it to be the show comes out and then you you get the big surprise. So I'm really happy it worked out that way.

The Summer I Turned Pretty seasons one to three are available on Prime Video now