People We Meet on Vacation is finally giving fans a peek into Alex and Poppy’s globe-trotting love story.
Netflix released its first teaser trailer for the upcoming adaptation of Emily Henry’s 2021 novel on Tuesday, September 30, revealing the first moment the famous book duo step off the plane and into each other’s hearts.
The romantic comedy, directed by Brett Haley, stars Emily Bader and Tom Blyth in the lead roles of free-spirited Poppy and routine-loving Alex, respectively. The two longtime besties live in different cities but spend every summer vacationing together. While the pair swear their totally “platonic,” their delicate relationship is put into flux when they start to question what’s been obvious to everyone else around them: they could just be each other’s perfect romantic match.
Tuesday’s teaser opens with Poppy at the airport in baggage claim blasting Robyn’s “Hang With Me” while she waits for her luggage. As she breaks into (offkey) song, she spots her bag on the conveyor belt first, dancing in celebration until she turns around — and bumps right into Alex.
“Hi. Alex, I was not expecting to see you,” she says, blushing. “My bag came out first. And that never happens!”
The two then head off on one of their vacations in the rain-soaked woods, where Alex wants to “follow the itinerary” to “best enjoy” their trip, and Poppy wants to just “wing it.”
The BFF duo then jet-set across multiple other locations, eating delicious food, laying out on the beach and getting cozy while camping.
“Are you guys, like, a thing?” someone asks them during one getaway, to which they both reply — a little too quickly — “Oh no, we’re just friends.”
“Platonic travel companions,” Poppy claims before the teaser cuts to her entering a room in a dress and locking eyes with a mesmerized Alex.
People We Meet on Vacation debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list and spent more than one year on the list before it was announced in October 2022 that the novel would be adapted into a film. Blyth, 30, and Bader, 28, were revealed as the leads two years later, with Sarah Catherine Hook, Lucien Laviscount, Miles Heizer, Jameela Jamil, Tommy Do, Lukas Gage, Alice Lee, Molly Shannon and Alan Ruck making up the supporting cast.
When speaking to Collider earlier this month, Blyth confessed that he hopes to please fans of the novel, but ultimately had to “forget” about the book-version of Alex in order to “focus” on bringing the script to life.
“Obviously, the book was helpful. I enjoyed reading it and pulling little character things from it,” he explained. “But if I start getting too bogged down in honoring the book or fulfilling the dream of the book fans, then I can’t focus on being present. My main job as an actor is to be present and try to be as human as possible. If you’re thinking about the book and the book fan as well, then you’re not being present. So, I read it, I pulled from it, and then I tried to put it to the side to just be present.”
As for being cast opposite Bader, Blyth called her the “modern-day Meg Ryan.”
“When Harry Met Sally is one of my favorite films, and definitely my favorite rom-com. I always find myself saying that, other than Meg Ryan, who’s still acting, we don’t have that bubbly, comedic, girl-next-door with a sharp wit. And then, I met Emily and I said, ‘Oh, there she is,’” he recalled. “That was really cool.”
People We Meet on Vacation hits Netflix on January 9, 2026.
