*Possible spoilers for The Summer I Turned Pretty below.
Summer is coming, which means another season of Amazon Prime’s The Summer I Turned Pretty is near. Jenny Han’s popular late 2000’s book series turned Gen Z television show is known for its ensemble cast led by main character Belly (Lola Tung). Unfortunately, in a new promotional video released this past week, it was announced that fan favorite character Shayla (Minnie Mills) from season one will not be returning for the next set of episodes.
Shayla was not featured in the books, but she quickly became an iconic part of Belly’s life in Cousins Beach in the show adaptation. Not only was Shayla one of Belly’s fellow debutantes for the debutante ball in the finale, she was also Belly’s brother Steven’s girlfriend and simply a great addition to the cast. Her confident personality and character-defining outfits were refreshing and fun to watch on screen. The last episode ended on a positive note for Shayla and Steven, so it is especially a shock to learn they will not be together anymore and Shayla’s presence will be completely cut.
This news comes just days after it was confirmed Belly’s first season love interest Cam (David Iacono) will surprisingly return. In the first book, Cam has a much smaller role and does not appear in the rest of the trilogy. As nice as it is we will be seeing him again, it is sad to see more room could not be made to continue incorporating a series regular cast member like Shayla. She, aside from Belly and her family, was one of the only other Asian characters on the show that has been well regarded for its Asian representation.
Actress Minnie Mills discussed her exit from the show on her Instagram, where she wrote, “To everyone who loved Shayla, who felt empowered or inspired by her, she will always be in the first season for you to come back to whenever you need her, and if I ever get the chance, I would love to continue her story.” Hopefully this means that Shayla might appear in season three, because it is obvious her story on the show has not been properly concluded and she will be incredibly missed.