Welcome Back To Lara Jean’s World — This Time, On Audio

In 2014, readers first fell in love with Lara Jean Covey and Peter Kavinsky: the introverted dreamer with stars in her eyes and love letters tucked away in a hatbox and the self-confident jock with a soft side whose fake dating scheme melted a generation of teen hearts.

Now, more than a decade since the first installment in the trilogy was published, author Jenny Han and Spotify are bringing audiences back into Lara Jean’s world with the first-ever full-cast audio drama adaptation of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, out Aug. 25. With fresh voices and original music, the audiobook creates an immersive, almost cinematic, experience.

“I think there is a certain kind of intimacy to audio. I mean, you’re whispering the story in someone’s ear,” Han says.

Han chose voice actor Reese Grey to maintain Lara Jean’s essence. “[Grey] has a certain kind of dreaminess to her. She’s a romantic, and there’s also a kind of innocence,” she says.

The audiobook is the latest in the ever-growing To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before universe spanning the three-part movie trilogy that launched Lana Condor and Noah Centineo into stardom, a spinoff show set in Korea, and a graphic novel released in May.

For Han, who based Lara Jean on her own teenage habit of writing love letters, the character’s endurance is especially meaningful. “When I was going on book tour and doing book signings for the release, it was always really special when readers would come and they would be dressed up as Lara Jean and have a bow in their hair,” the author says. “It’s an honor for people to still connect with and feel seen by that character.”

Below, Han opens up about audiobooks, Lana Condor, and the next spinoff she wants to see.

What excites you about this project?

It’s a cast of 10 different narrators who are performing the story, which is really cool. In The Summer I Turned Pretty books, we had the guys’ perspectives and their inner monologues, but I don’t have that in To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. So this is special, to get to cast a set of actors to bring those perspectives to life.

Lara Jean’s younger sister Kitty has a spinoff show in XO Kitty. Is there any other story from the Jenny Han Universe you’d want to see told?

After seeing Lara Jean again all these years later and also seeing Peter pop up in XO Kitty, I would say never say never.

Lana Condor recently reprised the role of Lara Jean in XO Kitty. How did it feel to see her come to life again?

It was wonderful for Lana to come back and get to see her step into those shoes again. I was really delighted that she was able to do it because I knew the fans would be really happy to see her again because there is so much fondness for the character. People were all so happy to see her thriving and living her life.

It’s been said that you “speak the language of youth.” You speak to your first generation of readers, but now, also to younger ones who have come to your work more recently through XO Kitty. How do you keep up with the evolution of culture and language?

I don’t think of it in terms of age because I started writing my first book when I was in college, and it just made sense for me to write what was very genuine to my experience. But as I’ve gotten older, I still approach writing characters in the same way, which is with empathy.

Writing for the shows, not only are there young people, but there are older characters as well, and then the young people grow over time. So I think really to me, the key is to see my characters as human beings.

Between the audiobook, XO Kitty, and The Summer I Turned Pretty movie, you’ve ben busy! Would you ever return to novel writing?

I haven’t been able to schedulingwise because it’s pretty nonstop. If you’re not writing the show, then you’re making it, then editing it, and then promoting it. So I haven’t had a moment to, but I hope I will.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.