Freeform’s “Cruel Summer” has unveiled the first look at its new cast for Season 2, which will tackle the twists and turns of an intense friendship set in the early 2000s.
The second installment of the anthology series — which is the highest rated show in the network’s history — will premiere Summer 2023.
In a new mystery, “Cruel Summer” Season 2 is set in an idyllic waterfront town in the Pacific Northwest, tracing the rise and fall of a trio of friends. Approaching the story from three different timelines surrounding Y2K, the season tracks the relationships among Megan (“The Goldbergs” actress Sadie Stanley), Isabella (“Little Fires Everywhere” star Lexi Underwood) and Megan’s best friend Luke (Griffin Gluck of “American Vandal”), the love triangle that blossomed and the unknown factors that impact all of their lives.
As previously shared by Freeform, Isabella is the daughter to foreign diplomats, who is spending a year as an exchange student with the Landry family. She quickly shakes up the small town’s dynamics, but her charm can’t hide the truth about her past or the real reason she came to stay with the Landrys forever. Megan is described as an honor student and expert computer coder from a blue-collar family, who learns to embrace her true self upon meeting Isabella. But when events take a tragic turn, her long-held dreams are dashed, and she is left wondering who she can trust. Meanwhile, Luke is Megan’s childhood best friend and hails from a prominent family. Over time, he finds himself at a crossroads as he tries to establish his own place in the world, separate from the pressures of his powerful father.
The cast is rounded out by KaDee Strickland, Lisa Yamada and Sean Blakemore, as well as Paul Adelstein, who recurs. “Cruel Summer” comes from studio Entertainment One (eOne) and was created by Bert V. Royal.
Elle Triedman serves as showrunner, as well as executive producer along with Bill Purple, Tia Napolitano and Iron Ocean Productions’ Jessica Biel and Michelle Purple. The series is distributed internationally by eOne.
