‘Cruel Summer’ Reveals New Season 2 Cast: Sadie Stanley, Lexi Underwood & More (PHOTO)
Freeform‘s hit anthology series Cruel Summer will return for its second season in the Summer of 2023 and will feature a new cast of characters and a mystery to unravel.
The Season 2 synopsis, which is set in “an idyllic waterfront town in the Pacific Northwest,” according to the network, “follows the rise and fall of an intense teenage friendship. Approaching the story from three different timelines surrounding Y2K, the season twists and turns as it tracks the early friendship between Megan, Isabella, and Megan’s best friend Luke, the love triangle that blossomed, and the mystery that would impact all of their lives going forward.”
The series stars Sadie Stanley, Little Fires Everywhere star Lexi Underwood, Griffin Gluck, KaDee Strickland, Lisa Yamada, and Sean Blakemore. Originally, newcomer Eloise Payet was set to lead in the show before Underwood was confirmed as her replacement.
Additionally, Paul Adelstein will recur, reuniting him with Strickland and Gluck, who played his wife and son on Private Practice.
Stanley will play Megan Landry, a computer coder and honor student from a blue-collar family. When she meets Isabella (Underwood), she lives in the moment and embraces her true self, but when tragedy strikes, her long-held dreams get dashed, and she becomes increasingly paranoid about who to trust. Isabella, meanwhile, is described as “alluring and enigmatic.” Her parents are foreign diplomats, and she’s spending a year as an exchange student with the Landry family. While she does shake things up in the small town, she can’t use her charm to hide the truth about her past or the real reason she’s living with the Landrys forever.
And Gluck’s Luke Chambers comes from a prominent family. He finds himself at a crossroads when he tries to find his own place in the world, away from his powerful father’s expectations.
Cruel Summer comes from studio Entertainment One (eOne) and was created by Bert V. Royal. The show features an entirely new team, including Elle Triedman serving as showrunner. Executive producers include Triedman, Bill Purple, Tia Napolitano, and Iron Ocean Productions’ Jessica Biel and Michelle Purple. The series is distributed internationally by eOne.
Cruel Summer, Season 2, Summer 2023, Freeform
