Netflix's 'To All The Boys 3' Movie Made MAJOR Changes To The Book's Story
Before To All The Boys I've Loved Before and its sequels were beloved Netflix rom-coms, they were beloved YA novels. Author Jenny Han released the first book in her romance trilogy in 2014, with the others following in 2015 and 2017, respectively. But adapting a book to the screen ultimately results in some changes, and the final To All The Boys installment was no exception. These To All The Boys: Always and Forever book-to-movie differences show how the end of Lara Jean's story could've looked *very* different.
Warning: Spoilers for To All The Boys: Always and Forever follow. The final To All The Boys movie hit Netflix on Friday, Feb. 12, just in time for Valentine's Day weekend. The movie catches up with Lara Jean and Peter during their final days of high school. The couple originally planned to attend Stanford together for college, but their future together was thrown into question when Lara Jean decided NYU was a better fit for her.
They ultimately stayed together and followed their own dreams through a long-distance relationship, acknowledging that sometimes living happily ever after looks differently than you initially imagined. Although the movie and the book (titled Always and Forever, Lara Jean) essentially end the same way, the new Netflix installment differs from its source material in some pretty significant ways:
1. The Korea trip happens way later in the book.
To All The Boys: Always and Forever opened during spring break of Lara Jean's senior year, as she and her family went on vacation in Seoul, South Korea. In the original book, this trip was planned for after graduation and the Covey sisters were meant to spend a month with their maternal grandmother.
2. Lara and Peter. were planning to go to the University of Virginia together.
In the third movie, viewers found out Lara Jean and Peter initially planned to attend Stanford University together, where Peter has been accepted early on a lacrosse scholarship. He still got the offer in the novel, but it came from the University of Virginia instead. Since Lara Jean is a homebody and the original series takes place in Virginia instead of Portland, it makes sense that she intended to attend a school closer to home.
3. Lara Jean’s backup school was the College of William & Mary.
After Lara Jean found out she was rejected from Stanford in the movie, she initially decided to go to Berkeley instead, since it was only an hour away from Stanford. She originally decided on attending a college close to her boyfriend in the book, too, but that school was the College of William & Mary.
4. Lara Jean ultimately decides to go to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill instead.
As Lara Jean mentioned early in To All The Boys: Always and Forever, she applied and got accepted to NYU only because her older sister Margot encouraged her to have an East Coast college option. But during a school trip to New York City, Lara Jean went to an NYU party and fell in love with the school, ultimately deciding to go there. In the book, her best friend Chris encouraged her to go on a road trip to check out the UNC campus, where she later chose to attend.
5. Margot has a new boyfriend.
Lara Jean's crush on Margot's high school boyfriend Josh resulted in a lot of drama in To All The Boys I've Loved Before. In the third book, though, Margot returns home from Scotland with a new boyfriend named Ravi. He was ultimately cut from the movies entirely.
6. Beach Week was a thing.
In addition to the New York City trip, the book also saw Lara Jean and her friends celebrating the end of their senior year with Beach Week, in which they rented out a beach house. She and Peter almost had sex for the first time during Beach Week, instead of after their senior prom like the movie depicts.
7. Lara Jean and Peter break up at Trina’s bachelorette party.
Peter and Lara Jean broke up after prom in To All The Boys: Always and Forever because he was afraid she only wanted to have sex as a way of permanently telling him goodbye. In the book, though, they broke up at Trina's bachelorette party, when he accused her of trying to get rid of him after Lara Jean got drunk for the first time.
Now that the To All The Boys movies are officially over, what better way to relive the magic of the series than by revisiting the books that started them all? All three are available on bookshop.org.
To All The Boys: Always and Forever is now streaming on Netflix.
