🤐 SPOILER ALERT 🤐

Dear To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before fans, 

Whoa whoa whoa… has it really been five whole years since the beloved teen romance swept us up in a modern epistolary love story? It has! But maybe a better way to think of that mind-boggling passage of time is to break it down into an anniversary for each of Lara Jean Covey’s five heartfelt letters. 

It feels like it was just yesterday that audiences all over the world first watched Lara Jean (Lana Condor) and Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo) sign a contract outlining the rules of their fake relationship. And yet, in that short time, their love story has taken its place in the exalted halls of the teen rom-com canon, right alongside Sixteen Candles’ Samantha Baker and Jake Ryan. (See Rule #2 of the aforementioned contract below.)

Based on Jenny Han’s bestselling YA novel of the same name, the 2018 rom-com sensation launched a trilogy that has made hearts swoon while introducing a new generation of talented up-and-coming stars. But what explains our whirlwind love affair with these characters? 

Michael Fimognari, who worked as the director of photography on To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and who directed its two sequels, P.S. I Still Love You and Always and Forever, has a theory. “I was drawn to the story because the characters were so earnest in their pursuit of family, love, and friendship,” he said. “The beating heart of it, of course, was Lara Jean, who’d lost her mother and was cautious about putting herself in close relationships because she was afraid to lose them, which is something many people who’ve suffered similar loss can relate to. But also, these stories endure because of how intense the high school experience feels for everyone, regardless of when or where it takes place.”  

Need a quick refresher? Let’s recap: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before follows high school junior Lara Jean Covey, whose fantasies of all-consuming love born out of years of devouring romance novels have yet to take flight off the page. Instead, she takes pleasure in her secret crushes, writing them eloquent love letters that never see the light of day — that is, until her little sister Kitty (Anna Cathcart) mails them all out in a good-hearted effort to get Lara Jean to come out of her shell. Suddenly, Lara Jean is confronted by two flesh-and-blood boys: Josh Sanderson (Israel Broussard), who, in addition to being the latest object of Lara Jean’s affections, is also her older sister Margot’s (Janel Parrish) ex-boyfriend; and Peter Kavinsky, Lara Jean’s middle school crush who’s still pining for his own ex-girlfriend, popular girl Gen (Emilija Baranac). Once the shock of receiving a surprise letter from a girl he once kissed playing spin the bottle wears off, Peter proposes a partnership: The two will pretend to date to make their real crushes jealous. And of course, you know how that turns out…

Five years later, you can relive their unforgettable chemistry by rewatching the original trilogy, but you can also go even deeper with XO, Kitty, the spin-off series following Lara Jean’s scene-stealing sister Kitty as she embarks on her own teenage adventures. Still, in true Lara Jean fashion, we’ve baked up an extra treat: Scroll down for a guided behind-the-scenes tour of the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before universe.

The Letters

First things first: Zoom in on the letters that started it all. 

Margaret Malandruccolo/Netflix

The Memories

Consider this your To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before yearbook. Look back on some of your favorite moments from all three movies, and discover new perspectives as we zoom out to reveal how the magic was made. “My favorite memory from the first film was while shooting the ending on the lacrosse field,” Fimognari said. “We wanted a warm, hopeful look so we shot it just before sunset.”

Though setting up the shot was a whirlwind of activity, inside the frame, all was calm. “During takes, Lana and Noah connected with each other and created a beautiful moment that was both the ending and the beginning,” he said. “At the time, we didn’t know whether the film would find an audience, and I remember walking away from the field with our team talking about how special Lana and Noah were, and it felt like we were part of a secret that may or may not ever be known.”

The Fashion

Vintage heeled combat boots, bows, pleated skirts, and cardigans — Lara Jean’s style is as whimsical and original as she is. These sketches by Rafaella Rabinovich show the care and attention to detail that went into crafting Lara Jean’s incredible looks. 

Rafaella Rabinovich/Netflix

The Colors 

Have you ever noticed that Lara Jean tends to match her backgrounds? It’s no accident. Fimognari told Tudum that he designed a “heightened aesthetic to highlight the possibilities and optimism of our story and themes.” The goal? “To connect with the part of LJ that wished to live in a fantasy world.”

“Our primary colors were magenta, cyan, and yellow, complemented with some red and blue,” he said. “Green was later embraced in the second film for Stormy (Holland Taylor), representing a bit of wisdom. Purple and orange were forbidden until the third film, when LJ chooses NYU, and purple becomes a color of growth, expanding beyond the comforts of her home. These were rules that guided us through every visual department; we chose, dressed, or altered locations to suit our palette, and had scene-by-scene discussions on how wardrobe would blend or play against each space.”

The Chemistry

There’s a reason why you can’t take your eyes off Noah Centineo and Lana Condor when they’re on-screen together. The actors’ original audition tape crackles with magical promise — an immediate sense that these two are a perfect on-screen match. “Their chemistry read shows what only got better for them: that Lana and Noah are focused listeners and trust their choices as well as their scene partners,” Fimognari said. 

Still, he cautioned, don’t be fooled into thinking it’s effortless. “Lana and Noah did have a natural flow, but it was that combined with the hard work they did in their daily preparation, their ability to listen, and willingness to collaborate that made them glow. And that connection got even better as they grew into their characters and continued to evolve as actors.”

The End

All letters must eventually end. Below, the cast looks back at the three movies that changed their lives —  and ours — always and forever.