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Spoilers for Every Year After and the book Every Summer After are ahead! Read with caution, and stream the series with an Amazon Prime subscription.
Arguably, one of the biggest changes made to Every Year After (the book-to-screen adaptation of Carley Fortune’s Every Summer After) is the reveal that Sam didn’t know about Percy and Charlie hooking up. In the book, Charlie tells him years before Percy does. Meanwhile, in the show, Sam learns about it in the present. Understandably, the younger Florek brother has an angry reaction to all this, and he’s especially upset with Charlie. With that in mind, Matt Cornett, who plays Sam, told me why he really meant it when he said his brother was dead to him.
When I watched Every Year After, I was shocked by how visceral Sam’s reaction was toward Charlie when he learned what happened between him and Percy. I was extra stunned when he told his brother, “We’re done, understood? You’re dead to me,” in Episode 6. Those are some extreme words, especially toward your only sibling. So, I asked Matt Cornett if Sam really believed what he was saying. In response, he said:
A hundred and ten percent, I think he believes it. I think he is so beyond hurt by Charlie, more than any of the hurt that has ever happened with Percy, at least in that given moment.
It makes sense why Sam would be more hurt by Charlie during this moment. In the 2026 TV schedule entry, Percy and Sam haven’t seen each other in years, so there wasn’t a chance for her to tell him. Meanwhile, Charlie saw his brother all the time and didn’t say a single word. That hurts. Then you mix it with the fact that Charlie is Sam’s only family left it becomes extra painful, as Cornett pointed out:
And he says so in the show at one point, like Charlie is his only family he has left, and to be so deeply betrayed by that sole family member that you have left now that both of his parents are gone, he doesn't have other siblings, like this is his only blood relative.
While I do believe the brothers will come back together, I do get why Sam had such a loud and passionate crashout at his sibling. What happened feels almost unforgivable. Not only did Charlie sleep with Sam’s first love, but he also didn’t tell him about it for years.
That’s a pretty big change to the book too, seeing as Charlie tells Sam about what he did with Percy not that long after it happened. Speaking to that update for this 2026 romance adaptation, the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series star told me:
I love that we get to see that moment happen, and I love that Sam doesn't know in our show. I know that that's a slight difference from the book, but I think Sam not knowing just creates an environment for us to see his spiral. Rather than in the book, you know, we hear about it, and it's talked about, but we don't get to actually actively see it happen.
He’s truly heartbroken and distraught, and during the final episodes of Season 1, it’s clear that Sam doesn’t see a way he can repair his relationship with Charlie. Speaking about the heartbreak that comes with that kind of revelation, Matt Cornett told me:
And I think for me it was really fun to get to play that, but also seeing the changes in the relationships with Percy and with Charlie, and watching Sam completely close Charlie off is heartbreaking. And for me, I have a brother that I'm very close to, and so, trying to tap into that and the thought of closing out my brother like that is heartbreaking. And I think it's such a great addition to the show.
I also agree that it’s a valuable addition. It makes the conflict surrounding Sam, Charlie and Percy significantly more dramatic, it lets us see Sam’s reaction to their secret, and I think it sets the show up in a very interesting way.
So, looking into the future, Sam and Charlie’s fraught relationship will certainly propel the drama forward. If we get Season 2, it will hopefully cover Charlie’s book One Golden Summer, and I’d hope it dives further into the heartbreak Sam felt when he learned about what Percy and his brother did.
