To All the Boys' Anna Cathcart and Madeleine Arthur share favourite Vancouver filming locations

To All the Boys: Always and Forever, the third installment of Netflix’s hit teenage rom-com series, released on the streaming platform on Friday.

The films are based on a trio of novels written by American author Jenny Han. Since the release of the first movie, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, the series has been one of Netflix’s most popular film series to date.

Always and Forever takes place during the senior year of high school for Laura Jean Covey (Lana Condor), Peter Kravinsky (Noah Centineo), and their closest friends.

Cast members and Vancouver-based actresses Anna Cathcart and Madeleine Arthur sat down with Daily Hive to talk about the film, the characters graduating, and their favourite filming locations.

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Cathcart, who plays Lara Jean’s younger sister Kitty Covey, shares the same graduation year as the fictional characters — the class of 2021.

“It’s pretty wild because of that parallel that’s happening,” she told Daily Hive in an interview. “We shot this and I was in Grade 10, so at the time I wasn’t going through it as much. Now watching it and my friends getting ready to watch it, it’s so weird.”

“We’re all going through those life moments right now and I’m thinking about my future and high school relationships and how this is gonna change. It hits home at another level.”

Arthur, who’s 23 years old, added that the third film was an exciting chance for her to revisit high school.

“Getting to come back to high school and explore it in this different way was really exciting for me as an actor,” she said. “It’s very much what everyone goes through in high school — figuring out their future, deciding if they’re going to university, taking a gap year, working, or whatever that may be.”

“In the movie, I feel like it develops into more of these mature conversations about navigating the end of high school and taking off into the next chapter of your life.”

Much of the To All the Boys trilogy was filmed and produced in Metro Vancouver. Adler High School, locally known as Kerrisdale’s Point Grey Secondary School, was actually Arthur’s favourite local filming spot and one that she visited throughout all three films.

“I really liked filming at the high school,” she said. “A lot of my scenes took place there and it started to feel like I got to know the high school as if I was actually going there.”

Other local film spots included North Vancouver and Langley, which hosted the Corner Cafe and the Covey house, respectively.

“Filming at the Covey house is so fun,” Cathcart told Daily Hive. “It has so many memories — it’s in Langley. It’s so fun getting to shoot locally and be in our home province, which is the best. A lot of Kitty scenes are obviously based out of the Covey house.”

To All the Boys: Always and Forever gave the chance for many of the cast members to travel and film internationally.

Cathcart travelled to Seoul, South Korea, to film the movie’s opening scenes, which she described as far from acting.

“I’ve never gotten to experience anything like that. Being on the trip with the cast and exploring all the touristy things and eating the food is unlike anything I’ve ever done. I was always like, ‘I’m not even acting, I get to wander around and be a tourist.’ But on the off days as well, we’d go on day trips and have adventures.”

Similarly, Arthur travelled to New York with a number of other cast members to film the movie’s senior grad trip. During a rooftop scene, the Empire State Building can even be seen lit up in the To All the Boys colour scheme.

Arthur, Condor and crew film a scene on a New York subway train (Netflix)

“In New York, I loved every location,” she said. “I think it’s so difficult to choose since we were in Grand Central Station and the Flat Iron. I was freaking out the whole time it was happening.”

Arthur also hinted that while it’s hard to tell, some of the scenes in New York include footage from Vancouver.

“The lobby of the hotel [the characters stay at] wasn’t actually in New York,” she noted. “It was actually a building in downtown Vancouver that was transformed.”

To All the Boys: Always and Forever can be streamed on Netflix.