In recent years, audiences have been won over by a slew of contemporary romances on the big screen. The story of Hardin (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) and Tessa (Josephine Langford) in the wildly successful After series is an example of one such whirlwind romance. After Ever Happy, the fourth and final film in the series based on the novels by Anna Todd was scheduled for release on September 7. On the other hand, it appears that the impending feature is not the series finale.
Tiffin has confirmed that filming has wrapped on the fifth instalment of the franchise, titled After Everything. Tiffin broke the news in a video that was posted on After’s official Instagram. Tiffin began the video by stating, “I’m so pleased to finally share some major news with you all,” and went on to explain, “We have just concluded filming on the fifth After movie.” I’m not at liberty to share many details at this time, but I can tell you that it will be titled “After Everything,” and that its release is imminent.
It’s wonderful to hear that the narrative of Hessa (Hardin and Tessa) isn’t ended, even if we don’t know much else about it. Despite After Ever Happy’s promotion as the series finale, this announcement shouldn’t come as much of a shock to the romance genre as a whole. Over $69 million were produced from the first After’s $14 million budget when it was released in theatres in 2019. After We Collided and After We Fell, respectively, grossed $47 million and $21 million globally on extremely limited theatre runs, proving that not even the epidemic could stop this power couple. You can’t dispute that this franchise has a big fan base, despite the fact that the film series to this far has been divisive in terms of its quality and that Hessa’s romance arguably celebrates an emotionally abusive/toxic relationship.
Since September is often a slow month for new releases, it seems likely that After Ever Happy will only be a moderate success at the box office. Fans of the genre already know where this is headed, what with After We Fell having put Hessa’s romance on the rocks once again and the teasers for After Ever Happy showing that things will only get worse before they get better for the pair. Like many complicated love tales, Hardin and Tessa’s path toward each other is unending. And the confirmation of a fifth film only strengthens that belief. In a recent tale shared on After’s Instagram page, Tiffin was quoted as saying, “this one I am pretty confident is going to be the last one.” This statement strongly suggests that After Everything will serve as the series’ concluding instalment.
But if the franchise does well at the box office again, those strategies might shift. Due to the fact that the final picture, After Everything, has already been shot, its release date is likely to be announced in the near future. After Ever Happy, which opens in theatres on September 7th while we wait for the official release date of the fifth feature, will keep fans occupied in the meantime.