Wattpad found a phenomenon in Anna Todd’s After series, which spun from being a Harry Styles-inspired romance into bestselling books and a movie franchise starring Josephine Langford and Hero Fiennes Tiffin and a global online fandom. Following the success above, Todd is delivering a graphic novel series to fans, but will sit out the announced prequel and sequel After films previously announced one year ago.
During CinemaBlend’s interview with Anna Todd about After: The Graphic Novel, we also spoke about the state of the After film franchise, which she has been heavily involved with in the past. When I asked the author if she was involved in Castille Landon’s planned spinoffs, she said this:
To be really honest, I'm not [involved] and as a creator it's just something that I'm not interested in being pulled into. I have my own version of what I know has kind of happened, so I think when you're adapting novels and making movies it's different than [writing novels]. And, you know Castile is great. She's such a powerhouse, she's gonna have an amazing career. But, for me it feels a little strange to have someone writing like the history of my characters that's not accurate. So for me, I'm like, okay, this is where I get off the train, with the last [After] film.
Castille Landon, who took the helm for the final two After films, After We Fell and this fall’s After Ever Happy, shared in April 2021 that she is developing a prequel about Hardin in his teen years and a sequel about Hardin and Tessa at least 15 years following the events of the After films. Landon said she was “inspired” to continue to expand the universe when putting together the final two After films.
Per Anna Todd’s words, she will not be involved in these projects and is stepping away from the After-verse’s place on the big screen from now on. While she got honest about feeling a bit “strange” about how Tessa and Hardin’s stories are continuing otherwise, she shared some positive feelings about the experience of being part of the core movie franchise as it soon comes to an end:
I'm just really proud. Especially Hero and Jo, I'm really proud of them and the way that they've portrayed the characters and I'm really happy for the fans to get kind of the closing chapter for Hardin and Tessa. It's been such a wild ride, to say the least. I feel like now we're like at the payoff where it's like, okay, now we're here. This all happens for a reason.
Anna Todd has been a producer on the After films, was present at the casting auditions of the main cast and was part of making the decision for Josephine Langford and Hero Fiennes Tiffin becoming the movie version of Tessa and Hardin. She co-wrote the screenplay for the 2020 sequel After We Collided and has been present on the set of the films. When asked about perhaps being part of the final day of shooting the After films, here’s what Todd said:
COVID threw a wrench in all of our plans and they were filming in Bulgaria, so there were just a lot of like 'Oof' but I got lots of videos and lots of pictures and lots of messages and wrap gifts and all the things. Physically I was not there, but I felt like I was.
It sounds like Anna Todd has fully been part of the After films and is really “proud” of how it was adapted, but going forward it will be in Castille Landon’s hands instead. Josephine Langford and Hero Fiennes Tiffin are similarly saying goodbye to the romance franchise once the upcoming 2022 movie After We Happy is released. Langford and Fiennes Tiffin previously told CinemaBlend their fun ideas about who should play the older versions of their characters.
The latest release in the After series is After: The Graphic Novel, which you can buy on Amazon now. The movie adaptation to Anna Todd’s fourth After book, After We Happy will be released this September 7.
