It's been almost three years without updates on the After movie prequel and new sequel

After Everything was released on Netflix on Jan. 11, and after only a day, it rose to the No. 1 spot on the streamer's top 10 movie list. This comes as no surprise since it's the last movie in the hit After film series. Fans finally get to see how Tessa and Hardin's love story wraps up.

But is this really the end? Well, not really. It is the end of Tessa and Hardin's love story, but other films set in the After universe are reportedly in the works. We first learned of this information back in April 2021. It was reported that Castille Landon, who's known for directing the last three After movies, had signed on to write and direct a new prequel and sequel to the After franchise.

The prequel is said to be loosely based on Anna Todd's Before book which is part of the After book series. It centers around a teenage Hardin before he met Tessa and focuses on him experiencing and navigating his first love. It's basically Hardin's origin story.

Landon told Teen Vogue in an April 2021 interview that although the prequel will be based on the Before book, it will have an expanded plot. She continued on and said this about the prequel, "He’s [Hardin] gone through a lot of trauma in his family life and in his relationships, and [we’ll] see more of that messiness before he meets Tessa, and how that experience changes him." Since the film will be focusing on a younger Hardin, Hero Fiennes Tiffin will not be reprising the role.

When it comes to the sequel, which is also being called the next-gen sequel, it is said to be centered around Tessa and Hardin’s children, Emery and Auden, and their cousin Addy. If you read the epilogue of the After Ever Happy book, you'd already be familiar with these characters. The movie will focus on these kids as they navigate growing up while trying not to make the same mistakes their parents did. Tessa and Hardin will also appear in the sequel, but as supporting characters. Unfortunately, Hero and Josephine Langford will not be returning in the roles.

The only other piece of information that was given at the time (April 2021) was that both the prequel and sequel were being shot back to back starting in the fall of 2021. We haven't learned anything else since then.

Could this mean these films have been shelved? It's certainly possible, but nothing has been announced. So, for now, we can still expect these films to come out sometime in the future. It's just really weird that Landon nor anyone else from the creative team has revealed any more details about these films. We haven't even heard any casting news. I mean, did production even start in fall 2021 like it was supposed to?

Throughout 2023, Landon was working on the upcoming movie Summer Camp, so she probably had no time to focus on the prequel and sequel. But now that Summer Camp is in post-production, maybe she'll shift her focus back to these movies. We're keeping our fingers crossed that we'll hear some updates soon, so stay tuned to Netflix Life.