‘Cruel Summer’ Season 2: Lexi Underwood to Star in Recasting

The second season of Cruel Summer continues to evolve at Freeform.

Little Fires Everywhere breakout Lexi Underwood has been tapped to replace newcomer Eloise Payet in one of the leading roles for the second season of the recently announced anthology. Sources tell THR that the decision was made to redevelop and recast the role following last week’s table read.

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As THR exclusively revealed, season two of Freeform breakout Cruel Summer will feature an entirely new cast, new showrunner and new storyline. Set in an idyllic waterfront town in the Pacific Northwest, season two of the anthology 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 of 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. Season two returns at a date to be determined this year.

Underwood will take over the role of Isabella, the daughter of foreign diplomats, who is spending a year as an exchange student with the Landry family. She quickly shakes up life in this small town, but her charm can’t hide the truth about her past, or the real reason she came to live with the Landrys, forever.

Underwood joins a cast that also includes Sadie Stanley (The Goldbergs), Griffin Gluck (Locke & Key), KaDee Strickland (Private Practice), Lisa Yamada (All American), Sean Blakemore (Greenleaf) and Paul Adelstein (True Story). The latter, who reunites with his former Private Practice wife and son in Strickland and Gluck, is set for a recurring role.

Underwood, who earned an NAACP Image Award nomination last year for her role as Kerry Washington’s daughter in Hulu’s Little Fires, plays Malia Obama in Showtime anthology The First Lady opposite Viola Davis’ Michelle Obama. Underwood’s credits also include the lead in Disney+’s Sneakerella (due in May). She made her Broadway debut at 11 in Lion King. She is repped by CAA, Untitled Entertainment and Jackoway Austen.

Elle Triedman (Freeform’s Siren, Guilt) serves as showrunner for season two and exec produces Cruel Summer alongside Jessica Biel, Michelle Purple and Entertainment One. The show ranks as Freeform’s most watched series in history.

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