Is Jeremiah Bisexual in ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’?

The Summer I Turned Pretty is finally back for Season 2. With complicated love triangles, funeral fights, and ambiguous flashbacks, the first three episodes of the new season left us itching for answers from Belly, Jeremiah, Conrad, and the rest of the Cousins Beach fam. 

Based on the book series by Jenny Han, the main focus of the Prime Video teen drama is Belly Conklin (Lola Tung) and her romantic relationships with brothers Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah Fisher (Gavin Casalegno). This season takes a more serious turn, as we watch how the two families are mourning the loss of mother Susannah Fisher and their Cousins Beach summer home. 

With constant voiceovers and flashbacks from Belly’s POV, we can’t help but inquire more about the isolated personal lives of characters aside from her. For instance, Jeremiah has made his romantic feelings toward Belly crystal clear; but we’ve also seen him show interest in boys. So is Jeremiah bisexual? Here’s what we know:

In Season 1, episode 2, Jeremiah reveals that he’s explored both male and female romantic interests. While lifeguarding at the pool with Steven (Sean Kaufman), he points out all of his previous hookups — pointing at both men and women. He continues to describe himself as an “equal opportunity flirt.” 

In the following episode, the teens attend a house party together. As they disperse to enjoy the night, a guy accuses Jeremiah of queer-baiting. The confident character then makes out with him as a means of proving him wrong. 

Many fans have noted that Jeremiah was straight in Han’s books, and in an interview with TV Line, the author addressed the change. “My approach to this adaptation was: How would I tell the story in 2022? What would that look like? And how would that change things? … I think that he’s always been a character, to me, that is really at ease with himself, really comfortable in his own skin, and open-minded and open to exploration. I do think that’s more reflective of today and young people today and the way they view sexuality being much more of a spectrum.”

As a mere high school student, Jeremiah is still exploring his sexuality and leaving out any labels just yet. As Han puts it, “I would say [he’s] sexually fluid. He is a young person who’s figuring out where he falls in all that and hasn’t experienced a lot of love yet. It’s still kind of early on in that journey.”

Gavin Casalegno also shared his thoughts on playing the updated, queer character in an exclusive interview with J-14 last year. “I think it’s so important to do Jeremiah justice, and I feel like the way Jenny updated the script — as far as Jeremiah goes — I think it really just brought it up to date with where the world is,” he said. 

So is Jeremiah bisexual on The Summer I Turned Pretty? That’s up to the character to decide and announce — or not. If you’re looking for a temporary label, though, “sexually fluid” works, as Han noted. Or not! The whole point of the show is we’re more than we seem on the surface, right? Right.