Top 5 Must-Watch TV Shows for Fans of ‘Every Year After

During her return, Percy encounters her former friend — and ex-boyfriend — Sam Florek, played by Matt Cornett. The two haven’t exchanged words in a decade, and now they must face the emotional rift and betrayal that once tore them apart. As they navigate their complicated history, they attempt to reconcile their past, questioning whether friendship or perhaps rekindled romance is possible. However, the presence of Sam’s new girlfriend, Taylor, played by Roan Curtis, adds another layer of complexity to their reunion.

Even if the names of the cast aren’t instantly recognizable, viewers might find the actors in “Every Year After” familiar. Their previous roles in similar series might explain this sense of déjà vu. For those captivated by “Every Year After,” diving into the Prime Video romantic drama “Off Campus” presents an obvious next viewing choice, along with other recommended series that share its essence.

However, if your interest leans more towards narratives focused on friends teetering on the edge of romance, only to be brought back together by life’s twists and turns, you’ll find satisfaction in exploring these five alternatives. Each show delves into the complexities of relationships rekindled under challenging circumstances.

Consider the Netflix limited series adaptation of “One Day,” originally a novel from 2009 and later a film in 2011. It tells the story of two individuals who finally connect at their graduation ball after spending years at the same school. Despite their divergent backgrounds—Emma Morley, played by Ambika Mod, hails from a modest, working-class family, while Dexter Mayhew, portrayed by Leo Woodall, enjoys a life of affluence—their bond is immediate. Yet, their post-graduation paths diverge drastically, leaving them to maintain their connection as pen pals across distances.

Originally a 2009 novel, then a 2011 film, the Netflix limited series version of “One Day” follows two people who meet for the first time during their school’s graduation ball despite having attended the school together. While their differing backgrounds and social circles — Emma Morley (Ambika Mod) comes from a hardscrabble blue collar background, while Dexter Mayhew (Leo Woodall) has lived a life of wealth and privilege — are the likely reasons why they didn’t encounter each other previously, they connect very quickly. Unfortunately, their post-college paths are already set and going in different directions, so the two are left with no choice but to be long-distance pen pals for awhile.

Dexter and Emma spend quite a bit of time trying to maintain various levels of friendship — in varying degrees of physical proximity to one another — before circumstances even allow them an actual attempt at a romance. And by the time that happens, there is a lot of baggage to unpack, to say the least. The show starts in 1988 and has moved all the way to 2004 by the last episode, so quite a long timeline is covered across the show’s 14 episodes. It’s no wonder the series was so well received, while the 2011 movie was critically panned for being unable to even scratch the surface of such an ambitious story in under two hours.

“Normal People,” Hulu’s 2020 limited series based on the novel of the same name, goes to some very dark places. If sexual assault, suicide, and other heavy topics like that are not your speed or too triggering for you, you should definitely skip this one. The show also has sex scenes and nudity, which is also important to note. But if you’re still here, then you might be surprised to learn that despite all the aforementioned warnings, “Normal People” does share a few crucial baseline themes with “Every Year After”: a seemingly mismatched couple, a relationship with several starts and stops, and some extremely sweet moments even among all the sadness and despair.

Marianne Sheridan (Daisy Edgar-Jones) meets Connell Waldron (Paul Mescal) when his mother works for her mother’s cleaning company. Because of that fact, Marianne wants to keep her quickly budding relationship with Connell a secret for fear of what her affluent friends and family might think. Interestingly, this dynamic is later reversed, making the social power imbalance between the two a frequent source of contention. It’s just one of several reasons why Marianne and Connell are on again/off again over the course of the many years “Normal People” follows them for. 

In addition to strong reviews, “Normal People” was nominated for several Emmy awards, including outstanding lead actor for Mescal in what would be his breakthrough role — in fact, it led to him being cast as Russell Crowe’s successor in “Gladiator 2.” 

If you’re a Prime Video subscriber who is all about shows like “Every Year After,” you’ve probably already binged all three seasons of “The Summer I Turned Pretty.” If you somehow haven’t yet, you should rectify that immediately. Many have called “Every Year After” the streamer’s attempt to launch its next “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” and they’re not far off the mark.

Isabel Conklin (Lola Tung), or Belly for short, has been going with her family to the same summer home since she was a little kid. She spent many of those summers playing with brothers Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher (Christopher Briney and Gavin Casalegno, respectively). But this summer, things are different. There is no longer a strictly platonic innocence between Belly and the Conrad brothers, with puberty kicking in and — as the show’s title suggests — the boys and Belly suddenly seeing each other in a whole new light. 

Not only does Belly essentially have to choose between the two siblings, but various other complications arise, not just between the three of them, but with other friends and relatives. Even if you already know who Belly ends up with in the books upon which “The Summer I Turned Pretty” is based, the show is still worth watching because it goes in some very different and unexpected directions on its way to an otherwise similar conclusion. And unlike “Every Year After” and some of the other entries on this list, “The Summer I Turned Pretty” never gets too raunchy and is great for teens and their parents to watch together. 

While it didn’t make our list of the best K-dramas ever, Netflix’s “Love Next Door” is a great entry in the genre and perfect for fans of “Every Year After.” A lot of people are either skeptical of or intimidated by K-dramas, so the best thing to do is start with one that is similar to a non-Korean show that you already know and love. So if you’ve been curious about K-dramas and reading a list of recommendations similar to “Every Year After,” you’ve found your gateway series right here.

“Love Next Door” is another story about childhood friends who are separated until circumstances bring them crashing back into each other’s lives as adults. In this case, Choi Seung-hyo (Jung Hae-in) and Bae Seok-ryu (Jung So-min) didn’t have any sort of falling out like the pair from “Every Year After,” life just took them in different directions as they got older. Well, Seok-ryu has come back to Korea after living abroad to pick up the pieces of a faltering life, and a chance meeting has her bumping into Seung-hyo, who is now a successful architect.

The two are combative at first, teasing and picking at each other — which was how they often treated each other as children in a sometimes frenemy-type situation. But Seung-hyo had a crush on Seok-ryu when they were kids, one that felt unrequited, and it isn’t long before he is unable to hide the fact that those old feelings are still there. The question is — did she ever feel the same about him? And if she didn’t then, could she develop those feelings now? 

Based on one of Judy Blume’s most controversial novels — one that continued to face backlash, and even school library bans, for decades after its 1975 publication due to frank discussions about teen pregnancy and other such topics — “Forever” hit Netflix as a series in 2025 and impressed critics with how well it both modernized and also captured the original spirit of Blume’s story. Much of that credit belongs to creator and showrunner Mara Brock Akil, best known as the creator of “Girlfriends,” the classic Tracee Ellis Ross comedy you should also binge on Netflix.

Moving the action to 2018 Los Angeles, “Forever” begins with high schoolers Keisha Clark (Lovie Simone) and Justin Edwards (Michael Cooper Jr.), who bond over the shared experience of being pushed into basketball success by their demanding families. Sparks quickly fly and all the signs of a storybook first love are there, but it’s a bumpy road as high school rolls into college and different paths open up before them.

Like “Every Year After,” “Forever” is still an ongoing show and has only aired its first season so far, so it’s too soon to know if Keisha and Justin will be high school sweethearts who rekindle a detoured romance as adults or if their entire relationship is already behind them. Season 2 just began filming in May 2026 so it’ll unfortunately be a long wait — but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still watch Season 1 of “Forever” and fall in love with it in the meantime.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, or is struggling or in crisis, contact the relevant resources below: