Is The Last Sunrise Based on a True Story? The Real Inspiration Behind Ry’s Illness

Prime Video’s The Last Sunrise surrounds Oriah “Ry” Pera’s romance with enough real-world weight that viewers may wonder whether her story actually happened. Ry lives with a serious genetic condition, faces the possibility of brain surgery, and travels to Mallorca with her mother before falling for local fisherman Julian Garcia. Despite those grounded elements, Ry and Julian’s love story is not based on a real couple.

The Last Sunrise is a fictional story adapted from Anna Todd’s 2025 novel of the same name. However, one of the most important parts of Ry’s character comes directly from Todd’s own life. Ry has tuberous sclerosis, the same rare genetic condition that Todd’s son Asher lives with, making the medical side of the story deeply personal for the author.

Ry and Julian Are Fictional Characters

There is no real Ry Pera or Julian Garcia whose Mallorca romance inspired The Last Sunrise. The wealthy Pera family, Julian’s fishing family, Isolde and Mateo’s complicated history, and the conflict surrounding the waterfront development are all part of Todd’s fictional story.

The novel follows 22-year-old Ry as she struggles for independence while living under the protection of her mother, Isolde. A summer trip to Mallorca gives her an opportunity to experience life differently, and meeting Julian gradually pushes her beyond the carefully controlled world she has known. The movie retains that central romance, with Maia Reficco playing Ry and Fernando Lindez portraying Julian.

That means the movie should not be considered a traditional “based on a true story” drama. Its romantic plot, family secrets and business conflict were created for the story, even though Todd drew on something very real when deciding what Ry would be living with.

Ry’s Tuberous Sclerosis Was Inspired by Anna Todd’s Son

The strongest real-life connection is Ry’s diagnosis of tuberous sclerosis complex, commonly known as TSC. Todd has explained that she specifically wanted to create a character who had the same condition as her son Asher, although Ry’s experience with the disorder is not identical to his.

Tuberous sclerosis is a rare genetic disorder that can cause noncancerous growths in different organs of the body. In Ry’s case, the movie focuses primarily on neurological complications, including seizures. Her health deteriorates enough that she is forced to consider whether to continue relying on medication or undergo surgery that carries frightening risks.

Todd has said that her son’s experience with the condition is more severe than Ry’s fictional case. Asher has experienced epilepsy and other complications connected to TSC, while Todd deliberately chose not to make Ry’s medical story an exact recreation of her son’s life.

That distinction is important. Ry is not a fictionalized version of Asher, but Todd’s experience as the mother of someone with tuberous sclerosis gave her an intimate understanding of the uncertainty, fear and medical decisions surrounding the condition.

Why Anna Todd Wanted to Write About Tuberous Sclerosis

Todd has spoken about how unfamiliar tuberous sclerosis was to her before her son’s diagnosis. She later realized that many people she encountered had also never heard of the condition, which influenced her decision to give it such an important place in The Last Sunrise.

Her goal was not to turn the novel into a purely medical story. Todd wanted to increase awareness of TSC while still writing a sweeping romance about first experiences, independence and falling in love. That is why Ry’s illness remains central to the stakes without completely defining who she is.

The Mallorca storyline gives Ry something beyond doctors, medications and restrictions. She swims, explores, makes her own decisions and begins a relationship with Julian, all while knowing that her health remains uncertain. The contrast between that freedom and her medical reality becomes one of the story’s major emotional tensions.

The Last Sunrise Actually Began as a Movie Idea

There is another unusual aspect to the story’s origins. Todd has explained that The Last Sunrise initially began as an idea for a film rather than a novel. She sold the concept as a movie idea and later began writing the book while development of the screenplay was progressing.

Writing Ry’s story was emotionally complicated because the medical subject was so close to Todd’s family. She has described the process as therapeutic as well as difficult, particularly because she initially imagined a different ending and questioned whether she could emotionally handle writing it.

The novel was eventually published in 2025, before the Prime Video adaptation arrived in August 2026. Although audiences are now encountering the story through Maia Reficco and Fernando Lindez, its connection to Todd’s experience with her son’s condition stretches back to the earliest conception of the project.

Is Ry’s Surgery Based on Something That Happened to Todd’s Son?

There is no indication that Ry’s complete medical storyline, including her specific surgery dilemma and fear of losing her memories, is a recreation of an event that happened to Todd’s son. Those elements belong to Ry’s fictional journey and serve the emotional structure of the romance.

Todd’s real-life inspiration is broader and more personal. She understands what it means for a family to live with tuberous sclerosis, seizures, medication and uncertainty, but she created a different character whose circumstances allowed her to explore those themes through a young adult romance.

Related: Will There Be The Last Sunrise 2? 

That also explains why viewers should be careful about treating Ry’s experience as representative of everyone with TSC. The condition can affect people very differently, and the movie dramatizes one fictional person’s experience rather than providing a universal picture of the disorder.

The True Story Behind The Last Sunrise Is Emotional, Not Literal

So, The Last Sunrise is not based on a true story in the conventional sense. Ry did not travel to Mallorca and meet a real Julian, and the Pera and Garcia family drama is not a recreation of events from Anna Todd’s life.

The truth behind the story is instead found in Ry’s illness. Todd took a condition that affects her own family and gave it to a fictional young woman who desperately wants to experience more of life than doctors, medication and fear. That personal connection gives Ry’s story a layer of reality beneath the sun-drenched Mallorca romance.

For Todd, The Last Sunrise ultimately combines two very different things: the escapism of an intense summer love story and the reality of living with a rare genetic condition. Ry and Julian may be fictional, but the experience that helped Todd understand Ry’s fear, frustration and desire to live fully comes much closer to home.