After Ayo Edebiri, Will There Be More ‘I Love LA’ Surprise Cameos?

Ayo Edebiri‘s surprise I Love LA cameo is perhaps unsurprising, given The Bear star’s close friendship with series creator and star Rachel Sennott (the pair costarred in Bottoms). Edebiri debuted in I Love LA Episode 2 on Sunday, November 9, on HBO. Can viewers expect more surprise cameos from Sennott’s Hollywood friends? The short answer is, yes.

On I Love LA, Edebiri plays Mimi Rush, a popstar client of stylist Charlie (Jordan Firstman). In the episode, Mimi and Charlie were meeting to plan a look when the singer revealed that Zendaya had agreed to play her mother in a music video. The confused Charlie asked if she meant that Zendaya would play a younger version of Mimi’s mom in a flashback, but nope! Mimi’s excitement was quickly snuffed when her publicist chimed in, saying that Zendaya hadn’t actually confirmed her participation. In fact, they hadn’t heard a peep from her team.

Charlie, wanting to quickly appease the sensitive celebrity, started gossiping about the Emmy winner. “It is important to me. I want you to feel that she is a bad person,” he said. This backfired on Charlie later in the episode, when Mimi changed her tune about the actress after she agreed to be in the video for real. Mimi fired him for “talking s**t” about her “best friend.”

Executive producer Emma Barrie told TV Insider that there are more surprise cameos to come in I Love LA.

Related

‘I Love LA’: Rachel Sennott on Why Josh Hutcherson Was Perfectly Cast

“This is a show about best friends having each other’s backs as they navigate a city full of maniacs. We absolutely have more surprises in store,” she said.

There are surprises in store with the previously announced guest stars as well, specifically in how the stars are characterized. Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood and TikTok influencer Quenlin Blackwell, for example, play exaggerated parodies of themselves. The main characters are heightened versions of the main cast as well.

“I sort of split myself between Maia and Tallulah [Odessa A’zion],” Sennott told TV Insider. “Tallulah is a little bit like who I was when I first moved to New York, and I was a little bit of a messy party girl, blown up a bunch of times, and adding all these other inspirations. Maia is like me when I first moved to LA and was depressed and isolated, and a little controlling. I am not either of those characters … but I hope people see themselves in the characters, good or bad.”

Alani was also rewritten after True Whitaker booked the role to reflect her cadence and quirks and lean more into the nepo baby stereotypes she knows well (she’s the daughter of Forest Whitaker).

Additional guest stars this season include Moses Ingram, Josh Brener, Tim Baltz, Froy Gutierrez, and Colin Woodell.

I Love LA, Sundays, 10:30/9:30c, HBO