‘Every Year After’ Filmed in a Hidden BC Gem, and the Location Choice Was Completely Intentional

When Prime Video announced it had ordered a series adaptation of Carley Fortune’s beloved Canadian novel ‘Every Summer After‘, fans of the book had one burning question beyond casting: where would Barry’s Bay actually be? The answer turned out to be a creative decision as carefully considered as any casting choice, and it has given the show one of the most visually distinctive settings in recent streaming romance.

‘Every Year After’ lands on Prime Video on June 10, and for viewers who find themselves enchanted by its lakeside landscapes, those aren’t computer-generated backdrops or a Hollywood soundstage dressed up to look quaint. The production put in the real work, and the results are all over the screen.

Where the ‘Every Year After’ Filming Locations Come to Life

The series was filmed across three primary locations, including Vancouver, North Shore Studios at 555 Brooksbank Avenue in North Vancouver, and Bowen Island in British Columbia. Principal photography began on June 4, 2025, and concluded on September 18, 2025.

The production shifted the fictional location of Barry’s Bay from Ontario’s Cottage Country, where it sits in Fortune’s original novel, to British Columbia. It was a geographical transplant that required both practical logistics and a genuine creative argument for why Bowen Island could stand in so convincingly for an Ontario lakeside town.

Producer Grace Gilroy, a Bowen Island resident of over two decades, read the script and immediately thought of Bowen. She concluded that the island held the right small-town feel and natural beauty to bring Barry’s Bay to life. Her deep familiarity with the island, combined with her long history working on productions filmed in British Columbia, made her a natural advocate for the location from the very start of the project.

Bowen Island’s Snug Cove and the On-Screen Transformation

Filming on Bowen Island took place in Snug Cove on the boardwalk, at the Union Steamship buildings, and along the Dorman Point Trail. Each of these spots carried its own distinct character, and together they created the textured, lived-in atmosphere that a story rooted in summer nostalgia demands.

Specific Bowen Island spots including Doc Morgan’s, Tippy’s Cookhouse, and the Causeway all made their way into the series, with some undergoing significant transformations for the camera. A sign on the Causeway welcoming visitors to Barry’s Bay confused some real-life tourists during production. Clever editing was also used to transform the ocean into a lake.

Gilroy noted of the production, “I think we showed Bowen off to its best advantages. We made it feel special, and it is, you know, it’s a special place.” That sentiment from someone who has called the island home for decades carries particular weight, and it speaks to the unusual depth of local investment that went into making the fictional Barry’s Bay feel genuinely rooted in a real place.

The Cast That Brought Percy and Sam to Barry’s Bay

The romantic drama follows Persephone, known as Percy, played by Sadie Soverall, and Sam Florek, played by Matt Cornett, told across a six-year timeline of summers spent together, exploring their transition from inseparable childhood friends to lovers and the secret that eventually ended it all.

Soverall is known for her roles in ‘Saltburn’ and ‘Fate: The Winx Saga’, while Cornett previously appeared in ‘High School Musical: The Musical: The Series’. The supporting cast includes Aurora Perrineau as Chantal, Abigail Cowen as Delilah, Michael Bradway as Charlie, and Joseph Chiu as Jordie. Elisha Cuthbert also joins the ensemble as Sue Florek.

Both Soverall and Cornett carried copies of Fortune’s original novel on set throughout production, treating the source material with what Soverall described as near-religious reverence. She told ELLE that she would read it moments before filming to reconnect with where Percy was emotionally at each point in the story.

From Ontario Cottage Country to a BC Island: What the Title Change Means

Fortune herself explained the reasoning behind the title shift from ‘Every Summer After’ to ‘Every Year After’ in an interview with Swooon, saying the original title felt too confining as a season for a series, and the new one allowed the creative team to open the story up to a broader narrative.

Showrunner Amy B. Harris told ELLE that keeping the production authentically Canadian was a non-negotiable priority, explaining that Fortune’s stories are always grounded in her Canadian life and the worlds she loves and knows, and that it was very important the setting not feel generic or interchangeable with any unnamed American town.

The series official logline describes it as a romantic, nostalgic story of first loves and the people and choices that mark us forever, told over the course of six years and one week in Barry’s Bay. That framing captures precisely why the production’s commitment to a specific, real, and visually rich location matters so much. Romance lives or dies by its sense of place.

Why Bowen Island Was the Right Choice All Along

Bowen Island sits just a 20-minute ferry ride off the coast of Vancouver, and its combination of sparkling waters and wooden boardwalks gave the production exactly the lakeside intimacy the story required. It is the kind of place that feels genuinely removed from the pace of the city without being inaccessible, which mirrors the emotional logic of the story itself.

The series is produced by Reunion Pacific and Amazon MGM Studios, with North Shore Studios serving as the main soundstage base for interior and controlled shoots. The blend of real exterior locations and controlled studio work gave the production flexibility without sacrificing the authentic atmosphere that a summer romance adaptation lives on.

Amazon MGM Studios gave the series order on July 31, 2024, following Fortune’s novel having already built a devoted readership in anticipation of an adaptation. The speed from order to screen, with filming wrapped by autumn and a summer premiere secured, suggests a team that knew exactly what it wanted to make and how to make it.

Whether you grew up reading Carley Fortune or are discovering Barry’s Bay for the very first time through the show, it would be fascinating to hear which Bowen Island location made the biggest impression on you once you’ve made it through all eight episodes.