During Cruel Summer season 1, Lexi Underwood held watch parties with her friends over Zoom. Now, the Little Fires Everywhere actor is starring in Cruel Summer season 2 — and she's right at the heart of its central mystery.
Set in a small Pacific Northwest town called Chatham, Cruel Summer season 2 follows the budding friendship between Megan (Sadie Stanley) and Isabella (Underwood), who are opposites on the surface. Megan has lived in the same place her whole life, while Isabella is a world-traveler with diplomat parents who have made her a nomad. Megan yearns for college, a fresh start, and the chance to pursue her computer science dreams; Isabella, meanwhile, longs for community and stability. Both want love, even if they won't always admit it, but the magic of their friendship quickly turns to destruction.
The story is told across three timelines around Y2K, so we get to see Isabella and Megan grow together and fall apart, and though the season just premiered on Freeform, we already have so many questions about where this narrative will go.
Below, Underwood talks to Teen Vogue about her Cruel Summer fandom, what she learned from Little Fires Everywhere, and how she's thinking about the next stage of her career.
Teen Vogue: What drew you to this part? Had you seen the first season of Cruel Summer?
Lexi Underwood: I was originally a fan of the first season. I remember when Little Fires had just finished, because they were both period pieces around the same time, seeing all the buzz about Cruel Summer. I was like, I need something to watch. 'Cause that's what everybody else was watching. So I watched Cruel Summer, and I remember it was an every week type thing. I literally got a group of friends together and we would do watch parties over Zoom.
TV: I love that. You're a true fan.
LU: When I first watched the show, what really stood out was the fact that as actors, but also as women in this industry, being able to be given content that really stretches us, where you get to see, not even a character but a human being, and every aspect, all different layers — in three different timelines, which is so interesting. Being able to have that opportunity to really dive in, do the work, and make sure that you're playing a character that is distinct [so] every single time that you see them, you understand what they're going through. For me, I was most excited to be able to have the opportunity to really challenge myself and push myself more as an artist.
TV: I was rereading the interview you did for Teen Vogue a couple years ago, around Little Fires Everywhere. You said something kind of similar about how the show was allowing you to stretch yourself, and that working with Kerry Washington was helping you realize that you have all this stuff inside of you that you can pull from. Were there other things Little Fires taught you about being a person or being an actor that prepared you for what you're doing now?
LU: This is my first time being in the number two position on the call sheet when it comes to a show, like a series, when you're working with people for this long. Something that both Kerry and Reese [Witherspoon] taught me was essentially how to lead a set, how to be a leader. Your tone, the energy that you have when you first come in, affects your time for the rest of the day.
No matter how much you think you could be so caught up in what you're dealing with, understanding that there's a crew of a hundred-something people that also have their own issues, that also are going through their own things… but we're all coming together here to do a job. So, at least for those however many hours that we're working, let's have a positive attitude and let's have fun because it's not every day that people get to live out their dreams and do what they truly love. We can't take those things for granted. Seeing Kerry and Reese move in that space in that way, just [being] kind and good people to everybody that they came across, really stood out to me. I remember being on that set and being like, "When I'm in that position, I want to make sure that when I walk in first thing in the morning, I'm saying hi to everybody. Making eye contact with everybody. I'm never making anybody feel as though they're less than or they're not important on a set."
TV: In Cruel Summer, you play Isabella LaRue, the new girl in town. What does she want most in the world?
LU: I love Isabella. Isabella has honestly been one of my favorite characters to play. Isabella's such a charmer and she's so mysterious. Even as we get closer and closer to the end, there's still layers of Isabella that I find myself un-peeling as well. She comes into this town very determined to start the life that she wants. I feel like she's never been a rule follower, but she's always been pushed back, I would say, by some of her circumstances. She sees this as a fresh opportunity, and you also see a young girl who also is just searching for love and friendship at the end of the day.
[In] a lot of her backstory, she hasn't necessarily been seen when it comes to her parents. There's a lot of materialistic things that have been given to her. She has everything that she wants, but nothing that she truly needs, which is interesting because that's a flip from Pearl [in Little Fires], where Pearl had everything that she needed but not what she wanted.
TV: How would you describe Megan and Isabella's friendship?
LU: I feel like they have never experienced a true connection like this before. And when they do it makes them excited, and they realize the true meaning of love and friendship. What it means to truly be there for one another and to be ultimately a ride or die. While they both have their other friend groups and they both have had other experiences, I think it's a really beautiful imagery to see two different girls that are coming from polar opposites.
You have someone who's coming from a very wealthy family, travels Europe, [has traveled] the world since she was two, and then a young girl who comes from a middle class family, single mother household. So seeing how they're able to come together, put aside their differences and love one another, and truly be there for each other, that's really beautiful to see; because oftentimes, I don't feel like we see that strong female friendship and partnership in TV and film.
TV: The show is set around Y2K, and that’s reflected in the clothing everyone wears. Do you feel like you were dressing like this anyway, given the Y2K resurgence? How has it impacted your personal style?
LU: Honestly, after my first fitting, I remember I tried on a bunch of low-rise bell bottom jeans, and I was literally typing into my notes. I was looking at the picture. I was like, "Okay, they got it from this place." I kid you not, a week after, I got half of the jeans that were in my fitting.
TV: What are you most excited for people to see about the show?
LU: I think this season, the stakes are raised a little bit higher just because of the mystery that we're dealing with. For me personally, what's so different about season one is the fact that we got to see those two characters, Jeanette and Kate, but they didn't necessarily interact with each other. They were aware of each other's existence, but it felt like they were two worlds apart. In this season, you see two girls who are from two completely different worlds, but who come together and who experience all those things at the same time together and you definitely get to see the layers and the shape of how it affects them and their friendship over time.
TV: The past couple years, you’ve done all of these very cool projects — last year, you were in The First Lady as Malia Obama. What are you feeling about your career right now and where you're at?
LU: I'm really excited about what the future has in store for me, but right now I can't necessarily say... none of it has been deliberate. I've been doing this since I was nine years old. It's just now kind of happening.
I'm just soaking up everything. I'm a firm believer in what's for you is for you. So all those projects and whatever future projects that come along, I just hope that the universe, God, whatever you believe in, continues to align me with the things that are truly destined for me, including the projects, the people, the networks, everybody that I'm supposed to work with. Whatever I do from this point on, I know that that's truly what's destined for me. Anything else outside of that, I'm not worried about, because I know that that's somebody else's blessing.
