The Summer I Turned Pretty star Gavin Casalegno talks Jeremiah taking over as narrator in episode 5

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Summer I Turned Pretty, season 2, episode 5, "Love Fool."

Move over, Belly — The Summer I Turned Pretty has a new narrator this week.

While Belly (Lola Tung) will always be the star of the show (and the Fisher brothers' hearts), Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) takes the spotlight in episode 5, "Love Fool," as the narrator, giving viewers an inside look into his thoughts, emotions, and perspective. It couldn't have come at a better time, since Jeremiah and Belly share an intense moment while the crew breaks into the fancy country club to spend the night camping on the golf course, making it clear that these two have a lot of unfinished business together.

Author/showrunner Jenny Han tells EW that she always planned on having Casalegno take over as narrator for an episode this season, because it's something she thought about a lot while writing the books. "It actually comes honestly from the books because the second book, It's Not Summer Without You, is told halfway from Jeremiah's perspective," she says. "So I always knew that I wanted to do an episode from his point of view."

Prime Video Gavin Casalegno in 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' season 2

When Casalegno got the script for episode 5, he was thrilled to see that not only would he get to narrate, he would also get a much deeper look into his character. "Man, it was a blast," he tells EW. "What's so cool about Belly and Lola's performance is the inner monologue and everything that's in her head is on paper, since it helps with our jobs of how to get to those places. To be able to see what was intended behind Jeremiah's actions and mind and reactions and emotions was really cool because that's not a very common occurrence. I feel like we'll probably never have another job in our lives that is going to be similar to that, where it basically tells us what we're thinking."

Seeing the episode through Jeremiah's eyes was "fun" for the 23-year-old actor, as well as being a "good opportunity and a learning experience." But actually recording the narration? "That was a different story," Casalegno says with a laugh. "It was an interesting experience. As I'm saying things and seeing things, I can remember what I was saying in my head with what was written on the paper. It was fun translating, basically, dialogue through my eyes with my voice from a studio booth hundreds of miles away. It was really weird."

Casalegno is excited for fans to see the moment in the episode where it feels like Belly and Jeremiah might rekindle their romantic feelings for each other.

"I feel like it's a seed of something new," he says. "I don't think that we've fully seen them commit in that way to each other. Just being vulnerable and sharing that with each other, I think it led to a lot of growth and a lot of really interesting plot changes."

That growth is something that Han wanted to focus on this season in a big way for Jeremiah specifically. She and Casalegno had a lot of conversations about the character's mindset and how much he's changed before filming began to make sure they got it right.

"Jeremiah has had to grow up the most because he was the one who was with Susannah every single day — Conrad was at college and he wasn't having to live in the house and seeing his mom slip away and being in that reality every day," Han says. "I think he was able to have a little bit of distance from that. In some ways, Jeremiah, who's our sunshine boy, lost a little bit of that piece of himself by having to face that reality, and he had to grow up. He had to step up in ways. We really get to see that and we'll continue to see that growth in him."

These interviews were conducted prior to the start of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2 debuts new episodes Fridays on Prime Video.

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