KJ Apa explains why he didn’t read The Map That Leads to You book before taking on the lead role

The Map That Leads To You book was made into a live-action film on Amazon Prime Video and opened to mixed reviews on August 20, 2025. As for KJ Apa, he revealed that he had never read the book before the crew started production as a fresh perspective was needed.

The actor plays the lead role of Jack alongside Madelyn Cline's Heather. He is quite well-known for his role on Riverdale, where he portrayed the character of Archie Andrews. 

As it comes to The Map That Leads To You books, the story revolves around Heather, who has decided to take a trip through Europe with her best friends Connie and Amy. Soon enough, she comes across Jack, who is the opposite of her character. She has lists and plans, while he is spontaneous.

They explore all the places together; however, Jack had a secret. Critics have compared the storyline to Netflix's My Oxford Year, that had released recently and ended with the lead character dying. 

When it comes to the story, there are quite a few differences between the text and the film. When asked if he knew of these and whether he had read The Map That Leads To You book, KJ Apa denied.

Explaining to The Hollywood Reporter, he said, 

"By the way, I haven’t read the book. I always kept asking Marty, 'Do I need to read this book?' And he’s like, 'No, it’s gonna be better if you don’t read the book because we wanna just have a fresh perspective.'"

What are the differences between The Map That Leads To You book and the movie? 

The Map That Leads To You film that has been released on Amazon Prime Video shows that Heather's mom was not present in her life growing up. The book has her parents still happily married and together. 

Another key detail was that Heather belonged to New Jersey, but in the film, it is mentioned that Heather is from Texas. The writers also changed the country of Jack's origin. The film sees him hailing from New Zealand, and working odd jobs for money at the places he travels to, so he could afford a living. However, the book says that he is from Vermont. 

Another huge twist was when Connie and Raef were getting married, Heather got a letter from Jack, who described his feelings and health issues. He apologizes and tells her that he does not want her to see him like that. 

The books had a small difference; instead of getting the letter, it was Rafe who told her about Jack's health. 

Overall, even though the story's blueprint has remained the same, there were these key changes that happened. And like Marty had said to KJ Apa, they wanted to keep things a bit separate.

The Map That Leads To You is available to stream online via Amazon Prime Video.