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Team Steven (and Team Sean Kaufman), we ride at dawn. The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 is winding down with its final few episodes of the series, and episode 9, aired on September 3, was especially heart wrenching and moving for Kaufman's Steven Conklin.
Belly's older brother Steven has had a helluva season. After surviving a near-fatal car crash that is the catalyst for many crucial events — Conrad losing his job, Belly and Jeremiah's engagement, Taylor and Steven breaking things off, just to name a few — Steven has been trying to make the most of his new lease on life, exploring new creative opportunities and a potential new relationship.
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But in episode 9, Steven finally gets to have a long overdue conversation with Taylor (played by Rain Spencer) that sets new intentions and expectations while resetting the bricks of their foundation: a deeply caring and compassionate friendship that has kept fans rooting for them all series long.
In contrast to his on-screen character, Sean Kaufman hasn't been having a tumultuous, sweeping, melodramatic summer. He actually spent Labor Day weekend taking care of his parents' two cats while they were on vacation.
“They decided to take a trip to Lisbon without me,” Kaufman jokes drily as we chat over Zoom the morning episode 9 drops. “I'm not really good with animals. Now I am! One of them cuddled with me when I went to sleep last night, that's changed my whole perspective of life.”
But Kaufman is ready to dive into all the drama his character has been at the center of and been witness to this season, and boy… is there a lot to unpack. Below, Teen Vogue caught up with Sean Kaufman to get his real feelings about that Denise situation, Steven's anticlimactic reaction to what Jere did in Cabo, his season 3 glow-up, Steven's strained friendship with Conrad, and so much more.
Sean Kaufman: Well, in seasons past we watched them together as a cast. Season 1, we watched the first couple ones together, that was really sweet, I remember that. And we did the same thing in season 2… I think that always was a big reason of why I liked watching the show. I don't normally [or] necessarily like watching myself a lot, but it was only made tolerable because I'm surrounded by my best friends and we're watching this thing that we made together.
SK: Honestly, it was a lot of fun. A lot of the day was spent — before Rain even showed up — working stunts and just whipping a car, this 2024 BMW, in a parking lot. I was having so much fun and it was incredible. For the most part it really wasn't anything crazy. I do remember that it was a lot of listening that day.
Obviously, Steven's whole mindset coming into that scene is like, he has just broken up with his girlfriend and he's ready to commit to [Taylor], in his eyes, forever. He's ready to commit to her. Everything that she says to him and everything that ensues is just a complete shock. I remember just coming in with a mindset of, “Let's make this happen.” But it was a fun night and Rain is always the best to shoot with.
SK: [Smiling] I did.
SK: I love to get the whole arc of a character the season beforehand. One of the beautiful things [is] that we got this episode pretty early on, if I can recall. I remember enough that I knew where Steven's arc was going, and especially Steven and Taylor together. It was interesting, I think that it's obviously the direct parallel of episode 2 to episode 9 for Steven, where it just hammers home the point: he could have died, his life could have been over. And everything that he had done up to that point — trying to be with somebody who doesn't want him, being in a job that he doesn't get fulfillment from — everything just bubbles up inside of him to a point where he realizes, "What would I have if I died tomorrow?"
And there comes a point in episode 9 where he finally realizes, yes, the relationship with Taylor, especially at the time of the crash, was unfulfilling because neither one of them wanted to commit. But now there is this level of “let's do this” and “let's finally [try it with] all walls, all barriers down.”
SK: Honestly, I think yes, but I think that it would've taken a lot more time and they would've hurt a lot more people. I think at the end of the day, he was willing to make changes. He had broken up with his girlfriend before the crash, and I do think that his work-relationship with Denise would've eventually developed into something where they could see how great they are for each other when it comes to their minds... I think that it would've gotten there, I just think that it would've taken a lot longer and [Taylor and Steven would've] probably hurt even more people than they already have. So I think, unfortunately, the crash was great for him, you know? [Laughs]
SK: Oh yeah?! Oh wow…
SK: Well, I gotta say, first off, it makes me happy that fans have any feeling about it. I think that's just a credit to Bella who plays Denise. She's incredible. She's amazing, and working with her was so much fun, so shout out to her.
I don't know. I think that in a show where there's a girl pining after two brothers, and we're talking car accidents and beach houses and all this stuff, I honestly think that maybe [Steven and Denise's] ending was probably the most realistic thing to come out of [the show]. This show dabbles with a lot of really sometimes unbelievable elements. [Laughs] I love it, but I grew up in the city of New York. I do not know what it's like to have a beach house and be with two brothers, and I don't know that whole world.
But I do know what it's like to have a thing with somebody and there's an undeniable string between you two, but you don't know what it is. You don't know what the relationship is yet. And I think that Steven and Denise just had to figure it out. I think, obviously, the two of them getting into business together, they respect each other and respect each other's minds. That was the first thing they noticed about each other before anything sexual or anything [romantic]. I think it was a conclusion that I personally saw coming before reading it.
SK: I was rooting for Steven, period. It's so tough because Denise did bring out the best in Steven work-wise and to watch them flourish together in this new business… I'm excited for you guys to see where that goes. I think that was awesome. It's very easy to be Team Steven. But yeah, I definitely love Denise's character, though. I love their relationship.
SK: I think it happens all the time! Look, I can understand from an outside perspective not getting it, but I think that there is a kind of love and yearning and that you just have with somebody, and it is undeniable. It is like indistinguishable from every other feeling towards another person that you have. When you get that kind of feeling, there [are] only two options in my opinion. You gotta be with them or you gotta cut them off. I know a lot of people in my life who have had those kind of feelings towards another person, and they've had to do a really hard thing in choosing to cut them off.
And I think that that was something that Steven and Taylor just couldn't force themselves to do. They tried to do this friends thing, and it worked to a certain extent, but it's that whole feeling of when you walk into a room… I don't even want to call it a crush because that feels too small. But when you walk into a room and you just know where [your person] is at all times and you just feel this invisible something always pulling you to them throughout the entire day… that's just how they feel towards each other. It took them separating to finally see that and then be with each other in a healthy enough way [that] they could commit to actually being together.
SK: I think for so long, all Steven sees in Taylor is them cheating on their significant others with each other and all this stuff that he's not proud of, but he does. Then throughout the rest of the season, but especially in episode 9, he really starts to see Taylor as this outright, upstanding woman who takes charge for the people that she loves and is invested in people's lives and is willing to let Steven just be happy. Denise tells him that: "Oh, she just wants you to be happy."
And it's kind of a switch for him where he goes from talking about things like “Hurricane Taylor” and all these little jabs where he's like, "Well, I know how she is." And to see her change and to see her grow into somebody who just wants the best for him, he starts to think like, “Oh wow, this has become possible all of a sudden.”
SK: Yes! That was sick!
SK: I think it's a little bit of everything. I'm so grateful for it, it's incredible. But yeah, it could feel overwhelming sometimes [or] troublesome… I feel like I walk the street sometimes and people are like, “Steven!” All these people, they're asking for pictures and they're so nice about it. But I think I'm so used to my anonymity, that it's such a shift [and] it can be a little overwhelming, which is something I have to get through myself. But it's been amazing. I've been so grateful for the fact that people stop me in the street and the fact that the Yankees were like, “Yo, Team Steven!” It's just unbelievable to see an impact that I've been able to have.
I was doing this film a couple months ago and one of the actresses who was a lovely, very lovely woman, we were talking in the green room and she was like, “By the way, I'm a very big fan of the show.” I was like, "Oh, thank you. That's awesome." And she was like, "You're actually one of the reasons I got into acting." And I was like, "Excuse me? What?" She was like, "Yeah, I've just never really seen an Asian male and female lead in a show. You and Lola are the two reasons I got into acting.”
SK: We're acting together and she's saying she's doing it because of me. Whether she's lying or not, I don't know, but...
SK: That I don't know! [Laughs] But she's saying this stuff and I'm like, I remember being a kid — and even a couple years ago — and the first Asian [lead] I ever see on my screen is Steven Yeun and it's not even a stereotype, it's just him being a person who happens to be Asian. So to see the impact that I can have culturally on people's lives, that's the reason I do it. That's insane.
SK: Oh, man. Okay, I'm going to give you the cheesy answer and then get into it: He wants her to be happy, and he wants her to figure that out on her own. I think except for episode 8, in the entire series, he's totally pro-her. The only reason in episodes 8 and 9 that he's giving her a little bit of sh*t and giving Conrad a little bit of sh*t as well, is like, he has other things on his mind. To him, he's the main character and Taylor is his love interest, and that's his person. He couldn't care [less] about Jeremiah or Conrad or Belly in that moment, it's all about Taylor for him in that episode.
But I think he really wants her to find herself. I think every way that he's known her has been in relation to [other people]. She was his little sister and then all of a sudden she was Conrad's girlfriend, his best friend's girlfriend, and then his other best friend's girlfriend. It's this whole messy situation over the past four years that's been these four people not being able to get along and all this fighting, and he sees how much she cries, but… I think he's happy that she's in Paris. I think, obviously, he would've loved a little heads up, but—
SK: But I think he's really, really happy for her. I think that he also, maybe for the first time — this was a big thing that I wanted to give Steven mentally — after the wedding when she goes to Paris, he really sees her as an adult, finally. I think this is a real stepping point for Steven where he sees Belly and he's like, “You're an adult.” And part of being an adult is making your own mistakes and living your life and knowing that he can only help so much and he can only do so much, and she has to fumble and get back up on her own. I think he just hopes that she keeps getting back up.
SK: Don't stop talking to men, but don't ever define yourself by a man.
SK: Yeah… I remember reading the scripts and getting to this point, and as Sean, I was a thousand percent expecting a full crashout [too]. I was ready. I was so ready for fists to be thrown and a fight to ensue and all this stuff. I just think that it comes down to the timing of it all. There was this looming [conversation] with Taylor, and it was important for me to remember reading [the script] that these people are not the main characters in Steven's life. Taylor is, and that's everything to him.
So when this thing happens to his best friend and his sister, he's like, “This sounds so f*cking messy, and he hurt my sister, and I'm really upset and pissed, but the first thing on my mind is going to be the woman that I love and solving whatever the f*ck this is.” And I'm excited for you guys to see how it continues to play out in the next couple episodes. But yeah, oh man, I am sorry to fans that were expecting a little more, but I think he always has Taylor at the forefront [of his mind].
SK: That's what I'm saying! Yo, we've got to get you in the writer's room. Let's start throwing some fists! Gavin [Casalegno] got a good right hook in. I'm like, just gimme both of 'em lined up, just bam. [Punches the air] Just one time! They deserve it. Both of them, I don't care. [Laughs]
SK: I think it was important for him to say it because it's the first step towards building a positive relationship. And the only way to fix a messy situation is to break it completely. Just let everything out. He finally needed to do that after all these years. At the end of season 2, they were best friends. They were so close. He was the first person he called after everything. Steven was always there for Conrad.
SK: He was the one who knew, you know what I mean? They love each other in such a brotherly way that will last, I think, for a while. But [Conrad] ran away, and not only that, but he really chose to avoid contact because of his relationship with Belly. He couldn't — he didn't want to reach out. He wanted no contact from that entire side.
I think it's also important to remember, because for a while I was like, “Well, okay, he left and he's not reaching out, but why can't Steven reach out?” Steven was really busy doing his sh*t. He graduated early with honors, got a job, made enough money to buy a pretty nice apartment and a BMW. You know what I mean? It made me realize, Steven has been working for years. He's been doing nothing but working, and he's been so set on that. I don't know, this is maybe going to sound messed up, but if I was him, I'd be like [to Conrad], “Dude, you're in college, brother. Reach out. I'm working.” [Laughs]
He feels hurt, though, and he needed to let that out. And I don't think he's necessarily in the whole right, by the way. I think that there is some stuff that Conrad probably needs to let out to him… I'm just excited for you guys to see their relationship form in the next two episodes because it's a fun one, and Chris [Briney] and I love each other so much, but the only way to heal is to let everything out sometimes.
I also think one thing about their relationship is that there's so much missing information and gaps between the two of them. Every time they've talked this season, the other one knows so much about one thing and the other doesn't. They're just having blank conversations where nobody really knows. Even that fight— Steven doesn't know what Jere did. The next couple episodes, truly everything's on the table. They're no more hiding anything.
SK: Yo, that's so true! That's so true.
SK: [Laughs] I've seen a little bit, yeah.
SK: No, it was a Jenny [Han] decision! She came up to me before we started shooting season 3, she showed me a picture. She's so funny. She took her phone and just put it in my face and she was like, "Look." It was just a picture of me with wet hair. She was like, "This is what we're going for." I was like, “Word. Let's do it.”
I'm glad that people say that. In season 2, I did not feel the most confident in myself. I was just a little upset with, personally, how I looked and how I felt, more importantly. In between season 2 and season 3 — I'm wearing it right now — but I got Invisalign and I got rubber bands that helped move my jaw a little bit. I had a big overbite, so my jaw shifted and my teeth straightened, and I went to the gym five days a week. And they permed my hair! All this stuff where it was just like, I was finally able to feel a little more confident in season 3, and I guess that's what fans are hopefully talking about.
SK: Thank you! That makes me feel really happy. I put a lot of work into it, so I'm glad that they're able to notice. Jenny went full Korean with the perm.
SK: One thousand percent. Yo, get me in Kpop Demon Hunters! [Laughs] Come on!
SK: [Shakes head] Too long. Too long. Too long. You know what's crazy? Kaitlyn, they got me dancing in this show. You'd think that after those other two dances, that this one would be the easy one to learn. But man, I don't know what happened. This one was troublesome. But it was really fun because I got to do it with everybody. Thankfully we learned it together. It probably didn't take Gavin too long, he's very good with it.
But one of my favorite parts of that was, season 1 I got to dance with Gavin, season 2 I get to dance with Rain, and then I finally got to dance with Chris. Watching him dance was so funny. I love him so much. We all put a lot — maybe too much — work into that.
I was low-key pissed off, because I was talking to Rain, and she was like, "Yeah, we danced that episode, too." I was like, "What?" And I went and I watched their dance and I watched the guys' dance and... I was pissed. Like, they just killed that. Yo, they did a really good job and they showed us up so hard, and I was pissed!
SK: I think the choreography was great! I think the dancing skills are just better on that side.
SK: Now that Steven and Taylor are trying, I think I can say finally, with full honesty, I want them together. That's how I want it. I love their bickering and their chemistry and the way that they know each other better than anybody, and the way that they're willing to tear down their walls for each other in a way that they are not willing to do for anybody else. I want them to be together and so on and so forth.
As for Steven, I want him to stop caring about money so much. I want to see him get out of his nice apartment and stop buying nice clothes and cars, I just want to see him do something that he's so passionate about and focus on his game and what he loves to do. Just stop with all the superficial stuff that he felt like he's needed to cling on to for so long.
SK: You know what? I'm happy that the world finally has it. That makes me extremely happy. And I'm so sad that I might not get the chance to work with these people again. How rare is it— to think that these are my best friends in the world now, and I might never get to work with them [again], I'm crazy sad. It's crazy sad. And especially the crew, I love everybody so much. You're going to get me a little emotional! I miss everybody, truly. I really do. So [it feels] very bittersweet.
