WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for To All the Boys I've Loved Before: Always and Forever, now streaming on Netflix.
To All the Boys I've Loved Before author Jenny Han's cameo in the first Netflix film adaptation of her beloved book series is pretty amazing. She appears as a teacher who's chaperoning the Homecoming dance where Lara Jean Song Covey (Lana Condor) dances with Lucas James (Trezzo Mahoro), one of the five boys to receive an old love letter from her. In the second movie, P.S. I Still Love You, Han again plays a teacher, this time consoling a young girl in the cafeteria on Valentine's Day.
However, Han's final cameo in the film series is the most perfect of all. To All the Boys I've Loved Before: Always and Forever features a love letter written from Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo) to Lara Jean, after a particularly tumultuous prom night ends with them breaking up -- possibly for good. Han appears in a flashback scene Peter describes in his letter, and it's absolutely flawless.
At the start of the film, Lara Jean tells Peter that her little sister, Kitty (Anna Cathcart), met a boy at the love locks in Seoul. She describes it as "such a good meet-cute," and he asks her what the term means. This prompts some flirtatious dialogue about what he's learned from watching rom-coms with Lara Jean, and she defines this iconic trope for him.
Much like the first two To All the Boys movies, Always and Forever features plenty of classic rom-com tropes -- and near the end of the film, it's revealed that Peter and Lara Jean have their very own meet-cute, which she's seemingly forgotten about.
In the first movie, it's established that LJ and Peter have known each other since middle school, which eliminates the meet-cute aspect of their story. However, in the love letter he writes to Lara Jean in her senior yearbook, Peter reveals that his first memory of LJ is when they met: At a school assembly where she received a special award for attendance.
The flashback shows Lara Jean sitting in front of Peter, with her name written on her backpack in glittery letters. When she tries to get up to receive her award, her long hair gets caught in her chair -- so Peter helps her untangle it. On stage, Principal Cho gives Lara Jean her award and beams with pride as they shake hands. Then Lara Jean returns to her seat.
Principal Cho is played by none other than Han. Certainly, Lara Jean and Peter's meet-cute would have to involve the author who created the characters in the first place, so this casting decision is absolutely perfect. Han also looks genuinely proud and happy on that stage, which most likely isn't an act. Always and Forever may conclude the To All the Boys I've Loved Before film trilogy, but Han's characters are widely beloved, as is the author herself. Her books and their adaptations have already become modern classics.
Based on the book by Jenny Han, adapted for screen by Katie Lovejoy and directed by Michael Fimognari, To All the Boys I've Loved Before: Always and Forever stars Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, Anna Cathcart, Janel Parrish, Madeleine Arthur, Emilija Baranac, Ross Butler, John Corbett, Sarayu Rao and Trezzo Mahoro. The film is streaming now on Netflix.