A Very Special Beach Read Update
Why is the internet breaking down over rom com casting?
Hi friends! This week, we’re deviating from my content calendar to talk about some breaking news that is breaking the internet: the casting of Patrick Schwarzenegger in the adaptation of Emily Henry’s beloved rom com, Beach Read. I’m going to dig into fan reactions, as well as the reasons I think emotions are so high surrounding these kinds of decisions. But Alyssa, you ask, how can you write an entire newsletter about this one thing? Well, I cannot overstate just how many people are incredibly upset about this online. Let’s dive in.
On Tuesday, the news that Patrick Schwarzenegger had been cast in the long awaited adaptation of Beach Read. Notably, since Netflix acquired the rights to most (all?) of the other EmHen novels, Beach Read is the most likely to get a theatrical release (but will it? That will be a whole other meltdown).
Savvy fans had already feared this news was coming when they noticed that Patrick Schwarzenegger had started following people related to the production on Instagram. But when the news was confirmed via Deadline, all hell broke loose.
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Writer/director Yulin Kuang (who also wrote the screenplay for Netflix’s People We Meet on Vacation adaptation) had to limit her Instagram comments when fan reaction to the news was so vitriolic. In Patrick Schwarzenegger’s Instagram comments, his mother (Maria Shriver) was responding to the few positive reactions. More of the reactions looked like the below:
But let’s back up. Phoebe Dynevor (of season 1 of Bridgerton fame) was announced as starring as January Andrews in the movie on February 19. I would say the reaction was maybe a bit muted but not notably hostile. See this Reddit thread, for instance. Dynevor has a track record of doing well in a romance adaptation that helped lend her credibility with fans.
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I think it’s kind of funny that we keep casting British people to do American accents in these very American romances (Beach Read is set in Michigan) but that’s really neither here nor there.
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But even in the Reddit thread, most of people’s speculation had already turned toward who would be playing Gus.
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Was there a casting choice that could have made everyone happy? No, not for a project that has been a favorite to fan cast for the last 5 years. Names that had risen to the top over the years included Dev Patel, Dylan O’Brien, Logan Lerman, and, recently, Fabien Frankel (I had to Google who this man is, am I old? Apparently he’s in the Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon).
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There was also a brief but fervent push for Ayo Edebiri and Paul Mescal that was blessed by Emily Henry herself:
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After all, Gus Everett is a near universally beloved book boyfriend:
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And the things that make him beloved are some of the things that fans feel contradict with the casting of a nepo baby with ties to Republican politics (notably, he was following a member of the Trump family up until a few hours after the casting was announced).
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And then there are the fans who think Dynevor and Schwarzenegger look too much alike to be playing love interests:
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Fans can’t know who the role was offered to and who turned it down. But there is a pattern of rom com casting that neglects actors of color like Dev Patel, who has stated on the record that he would like to star in a rom com:
But of course fans are mad. Despite the proven box office potential of movies based on novels with a primarily female audience (It Ends With Us, The Housemaid, Reminders of Him) and rom coms (Anyone But You), there have been so few adaptations of romance novels intended for theatrical release or with starry casts. And if an Emily Henry adaptation can’t get that, what romance can? And why is it an uphill battle to get movies based on IP with a predominantly female audience made, when every popular video game from the ‘90s has an adaptation coming out in summer 2026?
Have we learned nothing from the success of Hudson Williams and Conor Storrie?
And now for a tangent: I saw The Drama last week, starring Robert Pattinson and Zendaya with fantastic chemistry. It is decidedly not a rom com, despite the fact that, like The Materialists before it, the marketing of the movie leaned into its more rom com-like elements. And my first thought after the movie ended was: why couldn’t this just be a rom com?
I’m not totally sure how to land this plane here, but I do think the scope of the outrage around this one decision is interesting as a signal regarding the size and passion of the audiences for this type of adaptation. Romance readers are legion and they will make themselves heard, if anyone is willing to listen.
Next week, back to our regularly scheduled programming, unless they do something like announce an ACOTAR adaptation. xoxo
Ok for the political of it all I'm with the people, I would cry to have Dev Patel as a romance lead but... honestly... Patrick Schwarzenegger is kind of exactly what I picture for every Emily Henry lead? [ducks] I'm sorry! But bland marketable etc is exactly her vibe.
Ah, Dev Patel <3 <3