After Everything is the fifth installment in the After franchise, but it breaks away from the rest of the franchise as there is no After Everything book it is based on. The franchise originally launched with the film After, which stars Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Hardin Scott and Josephine Langford as Tessa Young, and the story follows the young couple’s tumultuous love story. After Everything was advertised as the final chapter, but it is actually an original story and not based on any of author Anna Todd’s novels.

The rest of the After franchise is based on a series of novels by writer Anna Todd, who began publishing the stories on Wattpad in the 2010s, with Hardin famously based on singer and former One Direction member Harry Styles. While Todd’s books and the After film franchise have been largely panned by critics, all the After movies are immensely popular at the box office and through streaming on Netflix. This success has led to the series continuing with After Everything even though its source material differs from the franchise’s previous movies.

After Everything Is Not Based On A Book

Unlike other After movies, After Everything is not based on an original novel by Todd. Instead, director Castille Landon wrote an original screenplay for the movie. Todd only wrote a total of four After novels, After, After We Collided, After We Fell, and After Ever Happy, along with a prequel novella called Before. The 2022 film After Ever Happy is the most recent After film to be based on a novel by Todd, and like After Everything, it was also directed by Landon.

Because Landon directed the franchise’s third film After We Fell along with After Ever Happy and After Everything, the filmmaker clearly has an understanding of Hardin and Tessa’s characters and journeys. While After Everything is currently the last film of the franchise, the movie not being based on one of Todd’s novels leaves the door open for future installments. Not having to rely on the source material means the franchise can grow into new territory.

After Everything Is The Last After Movie (But There’s A Planned Prequel & Sequel Spinoff)

Even though After Everything is thought to be the last movie of the After franchise, there are multiple spinoffs planned. Todd’s novella Before is from Hardin’s point of view, and it shows the character before he met Tessa, how he feels about Tessa at certain points during After, and where the characters end up. Going forward, there are tentative plans to adapt Before to screen, but because the character will be aged down, Fiennes Tiffin will not return to play Hardin.

Landon is also expected to make a sequel focused on Hardin and Tessa’s future children, though Fiennes Tiffin and Langford are not signed to appear as the parent versions of their beloved characters. With the young actors moving on to other projects while Landon makes more movies related to the After franchise, After Everything could be the bridge connecting what fans know and love about the series to the new direction of the spinoffs.

After Everything Movie Poster showing Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Hardin Scott and Josephgine Langford as Tessa Young Holding hands and looking into each others eyes.