The Summer I Turned Pretty fans told to stop abuse of cast

Belly (played by Lola Tung) is torn between brothers Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno)

Fans of The Summer I Turned Pretty have been asked to start "acting normal online" after cast members received abuse amid the frenzied build-up to the show's dramatic climax.

Jenny Han, who wrote the original books, posted: "I know fans of the show are passionate and no one has bad intent. But even in jest, posting images of a woman being slapped or choked is not funny."

Lola Tung and her character Belly have been targeted - as has Gavin Casalegno, who plays fiancé Jeremiah, as many fans hope Belly ends up with Jeremiah's brother and love rival Conrad.

"The show isn't real but the people playing the characters are," read a message on the show's TikTok account, adding: "The summer we started acting normal online."

The warnings come after a message in July told fans to "keep the conversation kind this summer" and not to engage in "bullying and hate speech".

The third and final season of the hit Prime Video series has sparked high emotions and strong feelings among viewers as they follow the drama-filled build-up to Belly and Jeremiah's wedding.

Emotional negativity

Asked last week by the New York Times what it felt like to play "one of the internet's most hated boyfriends", Casalegno replied that he knew fans "tend to dislike him".

The actor said he does not check Instagram any more, "so I really haven't seen that much hate", and only sees funny memes sent by his sister.

But he added: "I think it's important to also understand and realise that this is a fictional story - and it's also not me.

"I don't think there's a single human being in the world who can carry the emotional negativity to the degree that stuff like this happens.

"And I think that's why Amazon did a good job of stepping in and being like, 'Hey, no bullying.' Though, not really going so well."

Team Conrad or Team Jeremiah?

In its story about Han's comments, Rolling Stone said the abuse had been "incredibly unhinged", with fan battles becoming "more intense, insane, and borderline psychotic with each weekly episode release".

One viewer wrote on social media: "I'm telling you this season has caused fans to go CRAZY."

Another posted: "I know some posts I seen on TikTok talking about how this character would die is sickening, its just a show."

Someone else said: "It's fictional. People need to stop taking it so seriously."

Episodes are released every Wednesday, with fans eagerly awaiting the final three instalments to find out whether Belly ends up with Jeremiah, Conrad - or neither.

Han has co-written the script for the finale and has said readers shouldn't necessarily expect the same ending as in her book, in which Belly ultimately chose Conrad.

"I always knew how I wanted to end the books," Han told Elite Daily in July. "But with the show, I went into it with an open mind. I wanted to approach it with fresh eyes and just see what sort of magic happened on screen."

The author told Entertainment Weekly: "There are going to be surprises. There are the things that they know and then there are things they think they know, and then there's going to be, hopefully, things that surprise them."

BBC News used AI to help write the summary at the top of this article. It was edited by BBC journalists. Find out more.