There’s nothing quite like a fanbase of a book series coming together to support its move to Hollywood, and readers of Anna Todd’s After series have definitely shown up in a big way to see these films come out. Josephine Langford and Hero Fiennes Tiffin have been at the center of the embrace of these adaptations as the franchise continues to tell Tessa and Hardin’s love story. Following the stars reaching a major milestone on set, they are already reflecting on saying goodbye.
Josephine Langford and Hero Fiennes Tiffin just wrapped their five-month shoot concluding the After movies with a back-to-back production of After We Fell and After Ever Happy. Langford commented on concluding Tessa’s story with the final two films with these words:
I would say bittersweet. It is sad, because it feels like the end of an era. All these people that you've worked with and this character that you're now so familiar with, it's coming to an end. But it has to end, because you need that ending. Otherwise, there's gonna be a lot of people feeling very unsatisfied. It's such a really nice and a privilege to be able to bring a character's arc and that story to completion, because you don't always get that opportunity.
After and After We Collided have both done well commercially, with the first film exceeding expectations with a nearly $70 million worldwide gross and its 2020 sequel nabbing nearly $48 million at the box office during the COVID-19 pandemic; and they're both made on small budgets of under $20 million. As Langford told Seventeen, not every series of its kind gets the pleasure of being seen through all the way to the end, and she’s really proud Tessa and Hardin’s story will get that chance.
The couple’s love story is a complicated one that cannot fully be appreciated until the entire saga plays out. We can’t wait to see After We Fell and After Ever Happy deepen the storylines that After We Collided recently set up. Hero Fiennes Tiffin shared his own feelings about finishing up the films to the magazine:
It does have to come to an end and we're so lucky to have been able to do like what we've done so far. You always have to be grateful for what you've been able to do. The books live forever, the movies will live forever. I'm not gonna dwell on it and be sad as much as it is to have to eventually say goodbye to anything. But, if you get sad [about it ending], watch it again.
As Tiffin says, just because it'll soon be over, it doesn’t mean the series will cease to exist and the fandom will definitely be here to stay to orchestrate re-readings and re-watches together. But there is something special about the time when the movies are coming out, because it gives fans a chance to come together and celebrate the series together. After fans lost out on some of this with After We Collided hitting select theaters during the pandemic, but hopefully the fans can assimilate two-fold once it's safe to do so.
After We Fell does not yet have an official release date, but is expected to come out sometime this year. Castille Landon took the reigns from Cruel Intentions director Roger Kumble for the last two films, which were recently shot in Bulgaria under COVID-19 restrictions.
After We Collided recently dropped on Netflix among other streaming options. Check out what else is newly available on Netflix in January here on CinemaBlend.
