Lexi Underwood is aware of the “smartphone face” sensation. But it’s not something she’s particularly worried about when she’s acting—despite having been born in 2003. Portraying the quintessential ’90s teen seems to be her sweet spot.
“Listen, I wish that I was a ’90s teen for the fashion, for brownie points, and just to be cool, but I’m also okay with being a teen now,” the Cruel Summer star tells Bazaar.com over Zoom, sitting casually on what looks like the floor and talking animatedly. “If I’m at a party, I am really good at just slowly creeping in a corner and being on my phone. I just couldn’t imagine what you do if you don’t have one,” she laughs. “Let’s leave that in the past.”
As a teen growing up just before the turn of the millennium, Isabella—Underwood’s character in the Freeform series—has no problem getting by without a phone. And it’s safe to say the teen drama wouldn’t be nearly as fun to watch if characters had them anyway. The absence of phones makes viewers wonder during stressful scenes: What would they do in a situation like that?
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The first season of Cruel Summer aired to much fanfare in 2021, focusing on the tension between two girls in the early ’90s, one of whom goes missing, the other seemingly taking her place. The second season, which stars Underwood and takes place at the end of the decade, transforms the series into an anthology, introducing viewers to a whole new town, cast, and mystery, though the format of the show—the story jumps across three different timelines—remains the same.
Even before being cast in the new season, the 19-year-old actress was a fan of the show. She fondly recalls bingeing all 10 episodes when they arrived on Hulu, texting with friends about what they thought had happened. “Something that I loved so much about the first season was the structure of it, with the three different timelines,” Underwood says. “I saw how they were taking that but making it even more complex and layered for season two.”
So far, that layering includes the complications that tend to arise with teen female friendship as Isabella, the intense but fun-loving daughter of diplomats who has spent more time abroad than in America, comes to stay with Megan (Sadie Stanley) and her family in the Pacific Northwest for the girls’ senior year of high school. As the three timelines unfold—summer 1999, winter 1999, and summer 2000—we witness the rocky beginning, steadfast middle, and chilling end of an intense friendship and love triangle that leaves the boy involved dead … and that’s only a brief synopsis. As each episode unravels, more and more secrets are exposed—which is also more or less how Underwood learned about her own character’s fate.
“They told us nothing along the way, and we kept asking who did it,” she says. “It's hard as an actor, if you’re playing summer 2000 roles and you have no clue whether or not your character is telling the truth or if the other person is telling the truth. There were so many different theories that came up just because we had no clue.”
Was Underwood scared Isabella had something to do with the murder? Absolutely, she says—but she remained on her character’s side nonetheless. “I love Isabella so much. It’s never your job to judge your character. So every time I was like, I’m Team Isabella. I’m supporting her; she made the right decision—even if she didn’t. I support women’s rights and women’s wrongs,” Underwood says, smiling. “I was just remaining positive, and I think everybody was doing that for their characters, because nobody wanted their character to go that way.”
While not knowing anything about the fate (or potential motives) of a character you’re portraying seems like it could be frustrating, Underwood didn’t mind it. As a viewer, she says, she loves shows like Black Mirror that keep you on the edge of your seat: “I love being able to watch shows unfold like that, and I think that it’s really fun to be able to see the audience members come up with their own theories.”
Speaking of theories, yes, Underwood has seen all of your takes on just how much Isabella is like her character Pearl from Little Fires Everywhere (“I’m on Twitter and I’m loving it”), which propelled the actress to a new level of fame in 2020. She’d already made a connection between the two roles ahead of filming, and was thoughtful about bringing some of Pearl to Isabella, especially since she saw them as having very similar cores.
“It was really interesting being able to not only play two characters in the ’90s, but also to play two characters that are so similar when it comes to craving stability and always having what they needed, but not necessarily what they wanted, or vice versa,” she says. “I feel like Isabella is just a more mature version of Pearl.”
More mature, maybe, but still mysterious and not at all perfect. “I feel like Isabella would get on my nerves. She is definitely a bit of a clingy friend, and she takes things a little far,” Underwood says. A hint toward what’s to come? That’s for her to know and us to find out, but the actress thinks we’ll be content with how the second season eventually comes together.
“When I got the last episode, I had no clue what was gonna happen and I was so incredibly shocked,” she says. “It’s not ‘Who did it?’ but more ‘How did it happen?’ I think that people will be really satisfied with the ending.”
Brooke LaMantia is an NYC-based culture and fashion freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Cut, Cosmopolitan, W Magazine, InStyle, NYLON, and more.
