Your First Look at Sofia Carson and Corey Mylchreest in Netflix’s <i>My Oxford Year</i>
School’s almost out for summer, but My Oxford Year will have you yearning to get back to campus. The Netflix romance, based on Julia Whelan’s bestselling 2018 novel of the same name, follows the ambitious Anna De La Vega, who pursues her dream of studying at Oxford University for a graduate program before returning to the States, where a high-paying job at Goldman Sachs is waiting for her. But, when sparks fly between her and her charming poetry professor, Jamie Davenport, their relationship threatens the post-grad life she’s meticulously planned for herself.
Netflix audiences might recognize the faces at the center of this love story: Sofia Carson, of Purple Hearts and The Life List, stars as Anna and serves as executive producer, while Corey Mylchreest, of Queen Charlotte and The Sandman, stars as Jamie. Viewers might be familiar with the director, too: BAFTA nominee Iain Morris, who also helmed The Inbetweeners. The screenplay is by Allison Burnett and Melissa Osborne, who penned the script based on Whelan’s book, which itself was adapted from Burnett’s original screenplay. Seven years after My Oxford Year first hit shelves, the film adaptation will begin streaming globally on Netflix on August 1.
When Carson first read the script, “I felt like I was reading a classic,” she tells ELLE. “Like I was reading a timeless love story that also felt so fresh, and so modern, and so real, and so true for this generation of viewers. I was really excited to be able to bring it to life. But I knew it was a big responsibility because Anna and Jamie’s love story is so profound, and so beautiful, and so sweeping.”
Indeed, a myriad of readers already hold this story dear. While shooting My Oxford Year in the U.K., “There were fans of the book that would see us filming, and they would bring copies of the book for me to sign,” Carson recalls. “And I was like, Wow, this book really is so beloved.”
Still, there were some slight updates in the story’s screen version. For example, Anna is named Ella in the book and is set to work on a political campaign in Washington, D.C., instead of a finance job. And in the film, Anna’s personal background and family were tailored to reflect Carson’s. “It was important to have Hispanic representation in the film as I am also Hispanic-American,” she explains. But the team still “tried to remain as true to the [book] as possible.”
Sofia Carson as Anna in My Oxford Year.
In 2023, as Carson was preparing to perform at the Oscars, months after the massive success of Purple Hearts, she took a meeting with Temple Hill, the production company behind famous coming-of-age romances like The Twilight Saga, The Fault in Our Stars, and Love, Simon. She clicked with producers Marty Bowen and Laura Quicksilver, who wanted to work with her not only as an actress but also as a producer. Of the scripts they sent her way, My Oxford Year “captured my heart immediately,” she says.
It’s easy to see why. Set against the romantic and historic backdrop of Oxford, Anna and Jamie’s journey begins on sort of an enemies-to-lovers path until a night out at the pub changes how they see each other. One thing leads to another, and their flirtation turns into a fling, but Jamie wants to keep it from getting more serious—and he’s clearly hiding the reason why.
“Anna and Jamie fall in love through poetry and through their mutual love of poetry,” Carson says. To sum up their romance, the actress mentions a “timeless” quote from Alfred Tennyson (whom Jamie often cites in the film): “‘It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.’ That, to me, is the definition of their love story.” Their dynamic is “exciting,” “fiery,” and “academic in a really kind of sexy way,” she says, “because they do fall in love through poetry in Oxford University, which is the most extraordinarily majestic backdrop to frame a love story in.”
Corey Mylchreest as Jamie in My Oxford Year.
Production took place on-location around Oxford, including at Magdalen College, which is “a nice metaphor for England: beautiful, ancient, a bit weird, and tricky to get the hang of,” director Iain Morris tells ELLE over email. Other notable spots included the Bodleian Library (one of the oldest libraries in Europe), Duke Humfrey’s Library, (“wherever we pointed the camera it looked amazing,” Morris adds), The Sheldonian Theatre, Lancaster House, and more. Oscar-nominated director of photography Remi Adefarasin (Elisabeth) helped make the scenery so picturesque.
Even with the cinematic elements, Morris saw how the story could be relatable and grounded. “I loved the idea of Oxford having this reputation as a stately institution, but the truth being that, from the time of its inception, it’s been intended for students,” he explains. “So for over 900 years, as well as studying, young people have been doing what young people do—getting drunk, falling in and out of love, etcetera—with this incredible backdrop that was designed for them to do exactly that (and a bit of study).” Look out for karaoke nights, kebab trucks, and other familiar on-campus shenanigans.
When it came to finding Jamie, Carson already had Mylchreest in mind after watching him in Queen Charlotte. “I always wanted it to be Corey,” she says. “And I was very vocal about that even before I had met or even worked with him.” When she flew to London for chemistry reads, her time with Mylchreest only confirmed her hunch. “As soon as he walked into the room, it just felt like Jamie had arrived.”
Morris says of the co-stars’ chemistry, “They were fantastic together, and they were great with the rest of the cast.” The ensemble also includes Dougray Scott (Crime, Enigma) as William Davenport, Catherine McCormack (Braveheart, Spy Game) as Antonia Davenport, Harry Trevaldwyn (How to Train Your Dragon) as Charlie Butler, Esmé Kingdom (Fallen) as Maggie Timbs, Nikhil Parmar (Gran Turismo) as Tom Sethi, Poppy Gilbert (Stay Close, The Catch) as Cecelia Knowles, Romina Cocca (The Penguin Lessons) as Mrs. De La Vega, Yadier Fernández (The Gold, The Mother) as Mr. De La Vega, Nia Anisah (Magpie Murders, The Doll Factory) as Laura, and Hugh Coles (Baby Reindeer) as Ridley.
Getting Jamie right was important, as his character has a big impact on Anna’s life, and not just romantically. Mylchreest likens his character’s outlook on life to that of Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now. Jamie prioritizes “sitting in the present moment and enjoying and sucking up every last morsel of life that lies in front of you.” The actor adds, “He is incredibly spontaneous, brave, funny, witty, self-deprecating, romantic, cynical. He’s an eclectic motherfricker.”
Anna, on the other hand, “is a dreamer who has dreamt without limits and has planned every moment” of her life, Carson says. But after her time at Oxford with Jamie, she learns to “be present in every moment, to live and love within the messiness of life, because those are the best parts. And it changes her forever and for the better.”
To prepare for their academic roles, both Mylchreest and Carson did some supplemental reading and homework. Mylchreest says he spoke to some people who work at Oxford to get a sense of their jobs; he read author biographies and watched YouTube summaries; he even read Sylvia Plath, for example, so that he could discuss the author like someone who had studied her. And as for Jamie’s secret, the actor spoke to—without giving too much away—people who shared some of his character’s real-life experiences.
My Oxford Year might leave viewers more emotional than they’d thought by the time credits roll, but the cast and crew also hope that it can be uplifting. “I tried to make a film that reflects the wonderful, chaotic, funny, uncertain, heartbreaking experience that is falling in love, so I think they should expect a film that feels a bit like a classic romance, but hopefully that will make them laugh a bit too,” Morris says.
Carson hopes that the film “reaffirms that life is too short to not live it in love, and to not live it joy, and to not live it in fulfillment.” It reminds me of a line Anna says in one of her classes: “Poetry should not be read. It should be lived. Let it change your life.”
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