‘People We Meet On Vacation’ Author Emily Henry Reveals That A “Titanic Level” Sex Scene Got Cut From The Movie After Test Audience Prudes Didn’t Approve

The highly anticipated adaptation of Emily Henry‘s bestselling romance People We Meet on Vacation has finally dropped on Netflix, but fans were disappointed to see that the climactic sex scene between slow burning lovebirds Poppy (Emily Bader) and Alex (Tom Blyth) was not included in the final cut.

Henry addressed the elephant in the room in a new interview with Variety, revealing that the sex scene was not only toned down for the movie, but it was initially so “very, very sexy and romantic,” she bragged about it to all of her friends. But test audiences were reportedly not as into the spicy scene as Henry’s readers.

“I saw the scene as [Brett Haley] shot it, and it was gorgeous and perfect,” the author revealed. “I mean, I feel a little bit guilty because I went and told all of my friends, ‘It’s one of the sexiest sex scenes I’ve ever seen in my life.’ Like, genuinely it was like Titanic level to me. It was so, so good and raw and tender.”

Henry explained that Haley asked her opinion on cutting the scene because it was not performing well during test screenings, particularly with “people who weren’t familiar with the books” who “felt kind of like it was a hard right turn in the movie.”

Haley also said the scene “didn’t gel with the film,” noting, “The level of spiciness does not fit this tone. … I think we found the balance in the steaminess and the sexiness versus just the wholesomeness and the earnestness of their love. And I think what’s there really works and is true to the spirit of the book without tonally breaking the film.”

In People We Meet on Vacation, Alex and Poppy are unlikely best friends who strike up a pact when they’re in college: No matter where they’re at in their lives, they take one week-long vacation together every summer. But when their feelings for each other begin to complicate their friendship, it takes a wedding to force the longtime friends to finally figure out what they truly want.

Haley, the filmmaker behind Hearts Beat Loud and All the Bright Places, directed the film, while Yulin Kuang wrote the screenplay. Kuang will also be adapting Henry’s other novel, Beach Read.

Henry hinted that this may not be the case for the upcoming adaptations fans have been waiting on.

“I do think we’ll have some sexier sex scenes, and I think we’ll have others that are more a traditional, classic rom-com fade-to-black situation. I think we’ll see the full gamut,” she said.

However, she wouldn’t be opposed to releasing a director’s cut to let the spicy scene shine in all of its glory.

“It is really so beautiful, like, they all just outdid themselves,” she said. “It feels so tender and real, but very, very sexy and romantic, and it just didn’t fit in the movie. And that’s what they say, kill your darlings. Like, if it doesn’t work in the larger project, it doesn’t really matter how good it is on its own.”

People We Meet On Vacation is streaming now on Netflix.