On vacation, you can be anyone, and Emily Henry’s Netflix adaptation of People We Meet on Vacation has proven that. Henry’s readers from around the world have been anxiously awaiting its release since it was announced in August 2024. Her other contemporary romance novels, such as “Happy Place”, “Funny Story”, “Book Lovers”, and “Beach Read” are to be adapted soon, but “People We Meet on Vacation” is the first of her books to make its shot on the big screen.
The film, which came out on January 9th, 2026, stars Tom Blyth from Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Emily Bader from My Lady Jane. Blyth and Bader take on the roles of Poppy Wright, a free spirit who travels the world for a living, and Alex Nilsen, a reserved English teacher who keeps up with Poppy’s antics. Alex and Poppy have been taking yearly platonic vacations together every summer for nine years, until one of their vacations leads them to a two-year friendship hiatus. Now, reunited at Alex’s brother’s wedding in Barcelona, the two navigate their true feelings for each other as they reminisce about their past vacations and what their friendship was before the fallout.
People We Meet on Vacation instantaneously took the #1 spot in the movies category on Netflix, and has overall received a positive response from Henry’s readers, despite a few changes from the book. Alyana Durrani, who read the novel and watched the movie, stated, “Even though there were a few things different from the book, I still loved how it portrayed Poppy and Alex’s relationship. Their bond felt really genuine, and the movie captured their chemistry so well. Watching their friendship turn into something more was just as emotional and sweet as it was in the book, which is why I enjoyed the movie so much.”
Bader and Blythe, in their interview for The New York Times, both gave insight into how they portrayed their characters going into the film. Bader, when asked about portraying Poppy, went into detail about how Poppy is: “this Energizer bunny of a person. I wanted to make sure not to shy away from that in fear of being insufferable. We put a lot of judgment on young women characters.” Blythe, when asked about interpreting Alex, commented: “I was just a little too fixated on, ‘How do I make him likable?’ Any character you play, you have to learn to love their downfalls, weaknesses, and the injuries in the past that have made them who they are now.”
As more books are to be adapted in the upcoming new year, People We Meet on Vacation has premiered the new year with high expectations. It has answered the question many have been asking for years: Are rom-coms back? The answer is unequivocally yes.
