"The Summer I Turned Pretty": Sean Kaufman on That Almost Kiss and Steven's 'Stressful' Love Triangle (Exclusive) Julia MooreAugust 21, 2025 at 12:24 AM amazon studios Rain Spencer, Sean Kaufman, Isabella Briggs in 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' season 3 Sean Kaufman breaks down the latest episode of ...
- - "The Summer I Turned Pretty": Sean Kaufman on That Almost Kiss and Steven's 'Stressful' Love Triangle (Exclusive)
Julia MooreAugust 21, 2025 at 12:24 AM
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Rain Spencer, Sean Kaufman, Isabella Briggs in 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' season 3 -
Sean Kaufman breaks down the latest episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3, as Steven finds himself entrenched in a complicated love triangle with Taylor (Rain Spencer) and newcomer Denise (Isabella Briggs) from work
Kaufman, 25, says that Denise is the "opposite" of Taylor and there's "not a lot of drama" between her and Steven
But at the same time, he says of Steven and Taylor: "I feel like you can't deny chemistry and first love — it's hard to break away from that"
Warning: This post contains spoilers for episode 7 of The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3.
Sean Kaufman did not know what to expect from The Summer I Turned Pretty's third and final season, but it's safe to say that a love triangle was not on his agenda.
Kaufman's Steven finds himself torn between his first love, Taylor (Rain Spencer), and his new work crush, Denise (Isabella Briggs), in season 3, and the actor tells PEOPLE he had "no idea" that was coming.
"I had no idea what to expect," he says of his season 3 arc as a whole. "When we started season 3, we weren't given all the scripts, so to go episode by episode and see how it plays out, and see the love triangle start to form, was very interesting and fun."
Below, Kaufman, 25, breaks down the latest episode, which premiered Aug. 20, weighs in on why he can see Steven being with both Denise and Taylor, and how his story wraps up in this final season.
Eddy Chen/AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC
Steven (Sean Kaufman) in 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' season 3
PEOPLE: This was a good episode...We're getting into the meat of it now, with all the storylines. Talk to me about having Taylor and Denise in the same space.
Sean Kaufman: Yeah, it's a big one. It's the first time you see the dynamic between the three of them, as opposed to just separately. It was a lot of fun to shoot. I love Rain and I love Bella so much. They're amazing and getting to work with them was fantastic. But yeah, the three of us together finally happening was overdue — and very fun.
PEOPLE: Were you expecting to be in a love triangle? In a way, there was a smaller season 1 love triangle, but that Taylor-Steven kiss was not developed in the way that it is now. Now, it feels like more of a full-fledged love triangle that Steven has on his hands.
Kaufman: I feel like for so long, Conrad and Belly and Jeremiah — I didn't understand what that world was, and now I get a little bit more of a better insight into it. And you know something? It's pretty dang stressful. It's a lot to deal with, man.
I remember shooting episode seven and I was like, "Oh my God, there's so many feelings [involved] for so many people." And to try to balance them and also figure out where Steven is at with all this — and not judging him for it — is definitely an interesting one. I don't envy Lola at all when it comes to that.
Erika Doss/AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC
Taylor (Rain Spencer), Steven (Sean Kaufman) in 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' season 3
PEOPLE: Fans are shipping Steven with both Denise and Taylor. What is your take on both of those relationships?
Kaufman: I think that there's a case to be made for either one. One of the things that I really, really enjoyed this season with Steven and Denise is, I feel like we haven't gotten to see somebody challenge and push Steven up. Denise supports him and wants to go into this business with him and sees him for who he is — as a brain. And I think that is really wonderful and beautiful thing to see. And for him, that's something very new and it's exciting and it's like, "Whoa, this person is seeing a side of me that not many people see."
It's the opposite of Steven and Taylor, where it's not as problematic. There's not a lot of drama. It's just two people uplifting each other for their best goals creatively and personally.
But with Steven and Taylor, I feel like you can't deny chemistry and first love and all that — and it's hard to break away from that. I think it's always hard to see Steven and Taylor on screen and not think of season 2 [when they got together]. I think that always is part of it.
PEOPLE: Taylor told Denise in this episode that she is exactly the kind of girl she always thought that Steven would end up with. Does that align with how you think of who Steven would potentially end up with?
Kaufman: One of the things about Denise that I think Steven really likes is that he wasn't looking for her. It wasn't like he was looking for love. He just found this person who he meshed with creatively and got along with banter-wise, bickering in the office and stuff. And I think he started to realize for himself, not that, "Oh, this is who I always knew I'm meant to be with," but that, "Oh, this person just gets me in a way that I think other people don't."
Erika Doss/AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC
Steven (Sean Kaufman) and Adam (Tom Everett Scott) in 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' season 3
PEOPLE: Lucinda's role in this has been interesting to see. Obviously, it provides a lot of understanding of why Taylor is the way she is, and seeing Steven as this caretaker for her is so sweet. How do you understand her role in terms of how it helps us understand who Steven is? I feel like it brings out a different side of him.
Kaufman: It does. I definitely think it does. I mean, it's so interesting because a lot of the Lucinda and Taylor scenes, obviously, Steven doesn't know what's going on.
They've grown up together, and he knows her extremely well. He loves Lucinda, and Lucinda's always looking out for Steven, and I think he knows that, while at the same time also having to recognize the fact that she's not the most parenty-parent, so he does have to step in sometimes.
I think that Steven, no matter what, loves Taylor so much as a friend. And I think that he knows that Lucinda's prone to effing up, and when she does, he doesn't even hesitate to offer to give her money and all that. I think it just blends into the idea that Steven knows that Taylor could use a little help sometimes, and he's more than happy to give it, because he loves her and he loves Lucinda.
PEOPLE: Without Lucinda's perfectly timed interruption, do you think that that would've been the first kiss for Denise and Steven?
Kaufman: I don't know if I can say it... I'm just going to say it: I think so, yeah. I think that would've been a kiss if it wasn't for Lucinda. I don't know what would've happened after, but I think that moment would've been a kiss.
Erika Doss/AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC
Steven (Sean Kaufman), Denise (Isabella Briggs) in 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' season 3
PEOPLE: It's fun that Steven's story is so new. What have you loved about getting this fresh story? Is it cool to be one of the spoiler-free storylines where nobody knows what's going to happen?
Kaufman: I absolutely love it. Sometimes I think when it comes to the specific book scenes, I think there's a lot of expectation with those. And I think, obviously, people love the books, and I'm glad they have expectations. [But] that's the thing, is that people do want it a certain way.
One of the things that I love about Steven and his storyline is that, on set, when we were doing these scenes that had never been written before, I was given so much freedom from Jenny [Han] to just make it my own and make it what I see as Steven, because we were kind of writing it together in the moment. And I think that was beautiful, and I appreciate Jenny for letting me kind of play with it and allow that to grow in the space.
PEOPLE: How do you feel about how his story ends?
Kaufman: When it happened, I felt a big sigh of relief. I remember reading it — and I think this whole season is so interesting, because it starts at such a high point [and] immediately everything is flipped on its head, and then the car crash, and just immediate drama.
And for however many remaining episodes, it's just that tension. And every scene that I do with Denise, and Taylor's just looks and tension and all this stuff. And I think by the end, it was kind of a big relief just to be like, "Okay, I'm at the end of my arc. I can breathe." And I was very happy with how things turned out. I was very pleased with it, and I really hope that the fans are as well.
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New episodes of The Summer I Turned Pretty premiere Wednesdays at 12 a.m. PT/3 a.m. ET on Prime Video.
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