The After franchise has taken fans on a whirlwind ride of love, heartbreak, redemption, and painful growth. With the release of After Ever Happy in 2022, the fourth installment in the steamy saga based on Anna Todd’s bestselling books, viewers were left reeling by an ending that felt both heartbreakingly final and cautiously hopeful. Now that the dust has settled, it’s time to break down what the ending truly means — and whether this is really the end for Tessa Young and Hardin Scott.
From the very first film, After has chronicled the intense and often toxic romance between Tessa (Josephine Langford) and Hardin (Hero Fiennes Tiffin). In After Ever Happy, their relationship faces its most serious test yet — not from another love interest, but from within. Hardin’s past is fully exposed, his trauma is no longer hidden, and his downward spiral threatens to consume not just him but everything he’s built with Tessa.
The movie picks up right after the shocking revelation at the end of After We Fell — that Christian Vance, not Ken Scott, is Hardin’s biological father. This bombshell throws Hardin into emotional chaos, leading him to lash out in familiar self-destructive patterns. Tessa tries to support him, but she’s also dealing with a devastating blow of her own: the sudden death of her father, who had only recently come back into her life.
The combined emotional weight becomes unbearable, and for the first time in the series, we see Tessa truly break. She has always been the stable one — the emotional anchor who pulled Hardin back from the brink time and again. But After Ever Happy makes it clear: Tessa has reached her limit. And she’s finally choosing herself.
As Hardin plunges deeper into his darkness — drinking, acting out, disappearing without explanation — Tessa quietly walks away. Not in anger. Not in vengeance. But in heartbreak. This is a pivotal moment in their story. Unlike previous breakups where anger or miscommunication reigned, this parting is heavy with resignation. Tessa isn’t punishing Hardin. She’s protecting herself.
But the most emotionally charged moment comes toward the end of the film when Hardin surprises readers and viewers alike by publishing a novel based on their tumultuous relationship — titled After. Tessa is blindsided. Though he claims it was cathartic and necessary, she feels betrayed and violated. Their love story, once private and messy, is now public and vulnerable. This act drives the final wedge between them.
