'Every Year After' Stars Break Down That Cliffhanger Ending in Prime Video's Newest Series

2 hours ago 9

Published Jun 14, 2026, 11:54 AM EDT

Therese Lacson is a Senior TV Editor who has been with Collider since 2021. She got started in this business over ten years ago working primarily as an interviewer and critic. At Collider, she works closely with the features team to support the writers and also ideates and develops content daily. She has covered major industry events including Cannes Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, Toronto International Film Festival, and San Diego Comic-Con. Although she reviews and covers both film and television, her focus is in television and her expertise is in fantasy and sci-fi genre shows. Her favorite shows to cover include House of the Dragon, Bridgerton, Fallout, 9-1-1, and Rivals.

Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for the finale of Every Year After.Prime Video has dropped its latest romance novel TV adaptation, and it takes us to the idyllic little town of Barry's Bay in Canada. In Every Year After, after spending every one of her summers as a child in the little town, Percy (Sadie Soverall) is drawn back after over a decade away by a tragedy that strikes. Returning to Barry's Bay means confronting her past, which not only includes the complicated relationship she has with her childhood sweetheart, Sam Florek (Matt Cornett), but also unearthing a scandalous secret she shares with Sam's brother, Charlie (Michael Bradway). Based on the novel Every Summer After by Carley Fortune, Season 1 primarily follows Sam and Percy as they rebuild a shattered relationship and find their way back to each other. However, the show ends on a plot twist that leaves Charlie's fate uncertain.

We spoke with Soverall and Cornett about their work on Every Year After, including how they were cast and what it was like going through the process of working together. Both actors talked about the faith that they have in the pairing of staying together, even after it was revealed that Percy slept with Charlie one summer. With The Tavern now in Percy's hands, the two also discuss where a potential Season 2 might go now that Percy is back in Barry's Bay for good, it seems. Finally, Soverall reveals what truly brought Percy back to Barry's Bay, and Cornett discusses how he thinks Sam will react to Charlie's heart attack.

Matt Cornett and Sadie Soverall Discuss How They Auditioned for 'Every Year After'

"I did one in the dressing room, and I had like Nina Hoss walking behind, like stage legend..."

COLLIDER: What was it like auditioning for this part, and then was there a chemistry read between the two of you? What was that process like?

MATT CORNETT: Yeah, I think I went through two different sessions after I originally sent in a tape for Sam, which, at the time, I didn't know was Sam. The project was under a code name, and then the characters were like fake names, and the scripts were fake. I had no clue that it was based on this book until right before I met Sadie, and yeah, I think I sent in an audition for it, and then had two sessions with Amy Harris and one of our directors, and then we did a chemistry read, Sadie and I, and then after that I did a chemistry read with Michael [Bradway], who plays Charlie, and the rest is history, I guess.

SADIE SOVERALL: Yeah, I feel like it was all kind of virtual. I had a similar amount, I think I had two or three initial Zooms, initial auditions, and things. I was doing a play in New York at the time, so mine were very much like right before beginners in the tech box, kind of in any quiet place I could do it. I did one in the dressing room, and I had like Nina Hoss walking behind, like stage legend, but yeah, it was very whirlwind but incredibly exciting and fun, and our chemistry read was really fun as well.

"I think they do have such a deep love for each other that will prevail over anything that they go through..."

Matt Cornett and Sadie Soverall in Every Year After

I think Sam and Percy have such a complicated history with each other, and even when they come together, I'm like, "What is waiting around that corner that could endanger this potential relationship?" What is it for you guys that makes you believe that they'll make it in the long run? What is it about them that endures past all of the drama that they have to deal with?

SOVERALL: They have this magnetism towards each other. I think their cause are the same, I think they're very similar people in their souls and in what they want out of life as well.

CORNETT: Yeah, I agree, I think to their core, they are so similar, and I think they do have such a deep love for each other that will prevail over anything that they go through, and I think they've had this trust with each other that might be slightly broken once once Sam finds out what happens, but I think, at the end of the day, the history that they've proven to have with each other will eventually [help them] even move past that, and they'll be able to talk through it and trust again and rebuild the bond that they've always had.

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Where do you guys see them if you guys do get a potential Season 2? Where do you guys see them moving forward, and what do you think is their biggest obstacle moving forward?

SOVERALL: Well, I think definitely, hopefully in Barry's Bay, spending more time there at the Tavern, and I think maybe just becoming friends and figuring out how they become friends again and get into each other's lives again, and then maybe from there, who knows?

CORNETT: Yeah, I agree. I think they have to start at the beginning again and rebuild that trust with each other. I think that there's some things that they just have to talk about and have some conversations about, because a lot happened, and yeah, I think I think they can get through it, but yeah, we'll see.

Cornett and Soverall Discuss the Final Moments of 'Every Year After'

"I don't know what the plan is, but I have ideas in my head of what I hope we get to see between Charlie and Sam."

What do you think makes Percy come back to him? Because at the end of the season, they have this moment in the truck together where they get to have sex with each other and they're coming back together, but it's sort of a broken moment for the two of them, because it's irreparable, but what do you think it is that makes Percy come back and be like, we can renew this romance between us?

SOVERALL: Yes, I think on top of all the stuff with Sam, I think her soul kind of lives in Barry's Bay. I think that's really where she's found so much of her happiness and so much of her fire in her life, and I think that is a huge draw, the Tavern, belonging, and yeah, I think she's always, always gonna be drawn to him, always, you know?

Matt, you know, I just have to ask about that twist at the end with Charlie and him having a heart attack. How do you think Sam is going to react to that news? And has that relationship been mended for the most part, or is there still a lot more work to be done?

CORNETT: I think there's a lot of work that needs to be done. I don't know necessarily if we finish the season with that relationship fully mended, I think that yes, they're brothers, but I think that that was like the ultimate betrayal in Sam's eyes, and so I think that there's a lot of work between the two of them that they're going to have to work on, and it's going to have to, in my opinion, be stemming from Charlie, but yeah, you know, it's a huge twist, and I don't know what the plan is, but I have ideas in my head of what I hope we get to see between Charlie and Sam. But I'm going to leave that up to the professionals and the people who are really good at writing to figure that out.