After Everything: 10 Questions Fans Want Answered in the New After Movie
Given the meteoric rise of author Anna Todd and her After novel series, it’s no surprise that the franchise has burgeoned in so many ways. With the initial success of the first three films in the After movie universe, some of its most ardent fans have since grown disappointed with the direction the movies took after them.
Fanfare is still high ever since the latest trailer for the surprise fifth film, After Everything which is due for release in September 2023 was released, but the departure of the story from the books has left many fans either fuming or confused as to what direction it’s all going to take in the movies.
Based on Todd’s existing novels which began life as Harry Styles fan fiction on Wattpad, the first three films largely followed them. We last saw the troubled lovers, Tessa Young (Josephine Langford) and Hardin Scott (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), in After Ever Happy. However, since the first three films, the last one’s ambiguous ending, leaving many fans with questions they hope After Everything will finally address. Here’s a look at the most popular ones.
10. Was Tessa Jealous About the Look?
Langford in final scene of After Ever HappyVoltage Pictures
At the end of After Ever Happy after Tessa discovers that Hardin has been writing a book based on their relationship, she ends their relationship, seemingly for good. We see later that Hardin pressed ahead with publishing the book which became a bestseller.
In the final scene, we see Tessa sneak into his book signing. She catches a look that Hardin exchanges with a woman who stands up front with him, possibly misinterpreting it. She leaves after this, but Hardin either senses her presence or glimpses her as she does, and he seems ponderous.
Since we don’t know exactly what happened in the time between her ending the relationship, and him becoming a published author, this left many fans wondering how Tessa interpreted the look. It did seem to strike a negative note of some sort with her and precipitated her walking out. Naturally, fans want to know if she was jealous of Harding and the other woman, or just angry that their story has been published against her express wishes.
9. Is There Something Between Hardin and the Woman?
The ending of After Ever Happy was deliberately ambiguous as this just set up an agonizing cliffhanger for fans. Not only does it leave open the question of what Tessa thinks about the look Hardin shares with the other woman, but worse yet, it never answers what the look between them actually means.
The fact that she was an attractive woman only adds fuel to this fire of doubt for fans. Trailers for After Everything seems to indicate that Hardin is definitely not over Tessa yet, nor that their story is over by any means over. However, how it will all play out in light of the last film’s ending is still anyone’s guess.
8. Did Something Happen With Tessa and Robert?
Before we get that final moment in After Ever Happy, when Tessa breaks things off with Hardin, she’s working as a waitress at a restaurant in NYC while attending school. After the break-up, we see that she’s left without many people around her who she can turn to for comfort.
Unfortunately, she chooses to reach out to Robert, a friend of Nora, who’s Landon’s girlfriend. Since we don’t know all the details that transpire in the time they’re apart, the fact that she turned to another man leaves open the question of whether anything may have happened between them. After all, she was vulnerable at the time, and Robert was someone she previously shared a drink with, famously drawing Hardin’s jealousy through it in After We Fell.
7. Will Tessa Ever Be Able to Become Pregnant?
One of the most difficult scenes in the series comes when Tessa visits her OB-GYN and discovers that she may never be able to carry a baby to full term because of a medical condition. Adding to her woes about this is how Hardin reacts when she tells him the news. Rather than just comforting her like she wanted, he somehow makes it about himself. Unfortunately, the news also brings up the question of whether she will ever be able to bear her own child.
This is one way in which the films depart from the novels since the fourth novel effectively ended the series and provided flashbacks of Tessa and Hardin one day having children together. Since the fifth film chooses to continue their story, it’s uncertain how that will even play out now. Of course, there are other options to have a baby, so the possibility of them having kids in the movies isn’t necessarily closed forever.
6. Who Is Natalie?
Now that the trailer for After Everything has provided some tantalizing insights into what the film will be about, unfortunately for expectant fans, it’s also brought about a bunch of new questions. One of the most burning questions from the trailer came as a result of snippets that show Hardin’s mother telling him about a mysterious woman from his past named Natalie.
We also know from the trailer that Hardin travels to Lisbon, possibly for Tessa, but also tracks down Natalie. His intentions are unknown, and it seems like he may even be pursuing her romantically. All we get is a cryptic hint that he’s there to “make amends.” What amends and why he needs to make them remains a mystery.
5. Will After Everything Be a Hessa Story?
Another key feature of the way the last film ends, and the details we know from the trailer for After Everything, is that Tessa doesn’t appear to play a very big role in it. If the events depicted in the trailer are chronological in the film, it seems that most of the film will be about Hardin’s personal struggles and his journey of trying to change himself.
While we know for sure that she does show up, there’s also a text message from her telling him to move on, which enrages him, and causes doubt over whether this will be a typical Hessa story, or mainly a tale of Hardin’s journey as he tries to accept their fate and move on. Fans will know that the snippets of them possibly hooking up again means nothing since they’ve done that so many times in other films, yet still broke up in the end.
4. Will Hardin Maintain His Sobriety?
Hardin’s many calamitous traits over the course of the franchise often cast him as one toxic character. Between his temper, jealousy, obsessive personality, and his alcohol problem, stability has never been his forte, and he’s been known to cause drunken scenes and go on tirades. However, by the end of the last film, we do see him at least trying to put in some effort to change this.
He begins attending AA meetings and sees a therapist to try and work through his issues. However, the trailer also gives us glimpses of some of his typically unstable sides such as getting into fights, and becoming angry when Tessa pushes him away. His ability to win Tessa back will likely hang on his ability to stay sober even when his emotions are out of control, so it will be interesting to see if and how he manages this.
3. Who’s Wedding Is It?
Just as the last film ended on an ambiguous note, the trailer for After Everything has also been deliberately cryptic with some tantalizing teasers. One of these sees Hardin in a dark suit, while another shows him carrying two rings in his palm that he puts into the breast pocket of his coat.
From there, the unknown fate of him and Tessa ultimately builds to him seeming to smile as he glances at her at a wedding.
We see the arch, him standing at its edge, and smirking as he sees someone approaching, with a final glimpse of the pair dancing together at the wedding. What we don’t know is, whose wedding is it? Surely, it’s not theirs?
2. Will They End Up Together?
Now that the films have surpassed the original novels, how they will play out is in doubt. Fans of the books know that in After Ever Happy, the turbulent couple ultimately ends up together. However, this happy ending seemed to have become something of a pipe dream at the end of the film adaptation of that story, and the fact that it ruined the ending fans of the novels knew it should have had.
All this has caused a lot of anger among fans, and according to Teen Vogue, has even led to harassment and cyberbullying of fan accounts as a result.
“…portions of its devoted fan base have become increasingly uncomfortable with how Hardin and Tessa’s love story is playing out on screen. In case you haven’t been following along, the popular franchise, produced by Voltage Pictures, has faced backlash as fans have expressed their growing disappointments because they believe that the storyline was “ruined.” The boiling point came in the wake of its surprise fifth movie announcement…”
Whether the fifth film will do anything to remedy all this isn’t clear as yet, nor is the ultimate question of whether Tessa and Hardin will finally end up together permanently in the movies as they did in the books.
1. Should They End Up Together?
Given how far the tumultuous love story between Tessa and Hardin has strayed in the films, the pair have often been branded as a toxic couple. Given the fact that Hardin often displays traits that make him the kind of partner who would find it difficult to stay within reality, a more logical conclusion to their tale seems to be them actually walking away from each other.
Given all that’s occurred in the past, sadly, it’s difficult to imagine a real relationship like that where anyone would advise Tessa to ever take him back. Of course, this would be sacrilegious for fans, so there still is hope that Hardin will still turn himself around, prove to Tessa that he deserves her, and win her back.
With the fifth film set to debut soon, time will tell how many of these pressing questions it will answer for fans, and whether it will be able to redeem the movie franchise for fans of the books.
