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The John Ambrose McClaren who almost was.
By Nicole Pomarico — Written on Feb 27, 2020
Fans are thrilled to find out what happened to Lara Jean Covey after To All The Boys I've Loved Before now that the sequel, P.S. I Still Love You, has hit Netflix ... but the movie was almost completely different.
Now, it's hard to imagine anyone else playing John Ambrose McClaren than Jordan Fisher, but he almost didn't end up with the role. In fact, Jordan Burtchett had the gig originally, but eventually, he was (obviously) recast.
So who is Jordan Burtchett and why didn't he end up playing John Ambrose? This is what we already know about the situation.
1. Jordan Burtchett originally appeared as John Ambrose in To All The Boys I've Loved Before.
Burtchett only appeared in the first movie for a minute — during the end credits, when he shows up as John Ambrose on Lara Jean's doorstep, holding the letter she wrote him. At the time, it seemed like this was leading into the events of PS I Still Love You (especially for fans who have read the books) and Burtchett would continue where he left off in the next movie, but that never happened.
2. Then, in March 2019 it was announced that Fisher would be playing John Ambrose in the sequel.
With less than a year to go until the movie hit Netflix, the streaming service announced that Jordan Fisher would actually be the one playing John Ambrose — and at the time, they made no mention of why the role had been recast. In fact, a statement from producer Matt Kaplan on the casting left out Burtchett entirely.
“We couldn’t be more excited to have Jordan Fisher join the To All the Boys family as John Ambrose McClaren," Kaplan said at the time. "Jordan’s charisma practically leaps off the screen with anything he does, whether it’s acting, singing, or dancing. There isn’t a more perfect guy who could believably shake things up in Lara Jean and Peter’s world.”
3. But who is Jordan Burtchett? Fans may recognize him from his other work.
Aside from his quick cameo at the end of TATBILB, Burtchett has also starred in TV shows like The Killing and Supernatural. Most recently, he played Quinn McGregor in the series Heartland, and has an upcoming project this year called 2 Hearts. Not being cast in the sequel definitely hasn't seemed to hurt his career one bit!.
4. Burtchett has addressed the recast.
In a video he shared on YouTube, Burtchett acknowledged that some fans might be "disappointed" that he wouldn't be back for the sequel, but he wished the best for the movie as it moved ahead, without sharing any details about why he wouldn't be returning.
“From the recast for To All the Boys, I know a lot of people were disappointed,” Burtchett said. “It's too bad, but great things will happen to them and great things will happen to me."
5. Fans have also been talking about the change on Twitter.
In fact, some of them have even pointed out that John Ambrose didn't just change races in the recast — he also looked a lot different in the scene from the first movie when, in a flashback to young John Ambrose, the character was still white (and looked a bit more like Burtchett, which would have made sense at the time). For the record, Young John was actually played by an actor named Pavel Piddocke ... and no one directly connected to the movie has ever addressed why John Ambrose looks so different after the recast. Hmm.
6. In the end, it seems like Fisher was the right choice for the role.
After seeing PS I Still Love You, it's hard to argue that anyone else would have made a better John Ambrose, and we didn't get to see enough of Burtchett to know for sure if he stacked up well enough against Fisher's talents. But now that the movie is out, it looks like Fisher's gained a whole new league of friends who are so glad he got the gig, and Burtchett doesn't seem to have any hard feelings about the situation. Maybe all's well that ends well? But as far as what truly happened behind the scenes to cause the recast... we may never know.
Nicole Pomarico is an entertainment and lifestyle writer whose work has appeared in Cosmo, Us Weekly, Refinery29, and more.