Anna Cathcart Is Able to Take the Lead

It’s Anna Cathcart’s flip now. Greater than 4 years after originating the position of Katherine “Kitty” Tune Covey—the meddling, matchmaking youthful sister of protagonist Lara Jean (Lana Condor)—within the To All of the Boys movie trilogy, Cathcart has reprised the fan-favorite character in XO, Kitty, a brand new 10-episode spin-off sequence that premiered Thursday on Netflix.

In it, Kitty, now a junior in highschool, strikes from Portland, Oregon, to the South Korean capital of Seoul to reconnect along with her long-distance boyfriend, Dae (Minyeong Choi), and attend the Korean Unbiased Faculty of Seoul (KISS), the place she shortly discovers that relationships are much more sophisticated when you need to put your personal coronary heart on the road.

“One thing that’s so distinguished within the motion pictures is that Kitty could be very, very assured. She’s very sassy and seems like she is aware of the reply on a regular basis,” Cathcart, now 19, tells Bazaar.com on a current video name from Los Angeles, the place she has spent the final couple of weeks doing a media blitz after ending her freshman yr on the College of British Columbia. “And for the primary time, we’re seeing her on this sequence not being so positive of herself and never feeling like she’s bought all of it found out … and that’s what rising up seems to be like.”

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Under, Cathcart opens up in regards to the expertise of revisiting Kitty (which she likens to catching up with an previous pal), the recommendation she acquired from former costars Lana Condor and Noah Centineo as the brand new lead of the TATB franchise, and the bevy of cliffhangers that may go away viewers fervently awaiting a possible second season.

Once I spoke with Lana Condor final summer time, she mentioned she had given you some recommendation throughout preproduction about conserving your vitality and talking up for your self because the first-time lead of a significant mission. What did you be taught from her about what it means to set the tone on set as No. 1 on the decision sheet?

I used to be so fortunate that I had her and Janel [Parrish, who played the oldest Song Covey sister, Margot] to show to and have them as position fashions for the previous couple of years for the reason that motion pictures, particularly at this level the place I used to be having the chance to enter a brand new place and new expertise. I really feel like standing up for your self and realizing what you want and what’s obligatory is one thing vital and might simply get misplaced. [The experience] could be very overwhelming and thrilling, but it surely’s straightforward to get tied up in it, and [it’s important] to recollect what you want, wish to advocate on your relaxation and your wants.

Additionally, it’s teamwork. It’s not such as you’re the workforce captain, and everybody else is just not on the identical degree as you. You’re very a lot in it collectively, and I’m nothing with out my forged, and we’re all there for one another. We had been all equals. I believe that that was one thing that was actually vital to me off the highest—ensuring everybody felt included and valued and cherished, as a result of I felt so supported by all of them. Trying again, that will’ve been such a very completely different chapter for me if I didn’t have them to show to.

I noticed you additionally reunited with Noah Centineo on the premiere final week. Did he give you any phrases of knowledge throughout manufacturing?

He was so candy. He had texted me some time in the past, after I was in Korea, to say congratulations and that he was pleased with me, and that he is aware of it may be actually overwhelming generally, however that I bought this. It actually did imply rather a lot to listen to that from folks whom I’ve regarded as much as for thus a few years [not only] as actors, but in addition as human beings. Seeing him simply the opposite day on the premiere was such a shock and such a terrific reunion. It felt like my coronary heart was exploding. [Laughs.]

The wonderful thing about this sequence is that it doesn’t negate any of the worldbuilding that Lana and Noah helped set up within the movies; it merely expands the universe in a unique a part of the world. How did you identify camaraderie with this new forged when most of you had been uprooting your lives to stay in Korea for 4 months?

One thing that I discovered was at all times fascinating had been the parallels [between] my life and Kitty’s life. I used to be like, “I’m sort of going to worldwide faculty too. I’m taking this huge leap right into a brand-new chapter of my life and shifting the world over, being away from household, and studying learn how to be impartial.” … However I used to be fortunate that the bond with this forged was fairly instant. A few of them had been locals and had lived in Korea most of their lives. Different folks had been from throughout—we’ve folks from Australia, somebody from France, and completely different folks from completely different locations in America. I believe the range in our pal group helped rather a lot. Variety is a vital theme within the present, however we additionally valued it as folks and as pals. One of many first days we frolicked, we went to karaoke and went bowling, and by the top of the evening we had been like, “How did we simply meet?! I really feel like we’ve been pals for years.” And I can inform you that’s not at all times the case.

It’s straightforward to conflate actors with the characters they play, however in your case, you had been exploring South Korea on the identical time Kitty was.

I believe a few of the greatest recollections from capturing and being in Korea are these little small moments that you simply later understand are usually not small in any respect, like going to get fried rooster late at evening with the forged and hanging out and enjoying board video games in somebody’s room till three within the morning. These little issues are what make the expertise in the long run.

We had been based mostly in Seoul, however we might drive three hours out and keep there for a couple of days or simply shoot in several neighborhoods. After all, there’s nonetheless a lot of Korea that I haven’t explored and that I actually wish to see, however by the top of it, I felt like I might get the sense of being an area, attending to stay someplace and never simply be a vacationer for a couple of days. I went to Seoul after I was capturing the third film, as the remainder of the forged did, but it surely was for 2 weeks. However this time, I used to be like, “Oh, we bought to know grocery shops and the subway system,” and that’s actually particular.

Though it feels very very similar to an American teen present, XO, Kitty is full of soapy plot twists which might be paying homage to Okay-dramas. For example, Kitty unwittingly finds herself doubtlessly having emotions for 3 completely different classmates by the top of the season. What was your response to the way in which showrunners Jenny Han and Sascha Rothchild determined to finish the finale?

It was actually modified a couple of instances. As a forged, we had been studying what the finale was gonna be once we had been doing different earlier episodes, so [we were] on the sting of our personal seats. I really like the cliffhanger with Min Ho [Sang Heon Lee] on the very finish, and I personally really feel like enemies-to-lovers is at all times a terrific trope to observe. I do know that it was very surprising for Kitty, and it was for me as properly. It was very cute, and I’m only a huge fan of that scene.

However normally, I really like how on the very finish, Kitty doesn’t have all of it found out. Once you’re rising up, that’s one thing that, a minimum of for me, can really feel very distinguished and really overwhelming: Different folks have it found out, and I want to seek out myself and get there. It’s not as straightforward as that, and generally that realization can really feel scary. I really like that on the finish, Kitty doesn’t know who she is, or what the subsequent day is gonna appear to be, however is aware of that she grew. She got here right here to find out about her mother and about herself, and each of these issues undoubtedly occurred, so she will be able to nonetheless really feel actually fulfilled and proud when she will get on that airplane.

Let’s break down the three folks Kitty is considering on the finish of the season. First, there’s Min Ho, who confesses his emotions to her on the airplane to Los Angeles. What do you suppose was the turning level in that relationship?

I believe it’s that traditional trope of getting that stress off the highest of not liking one another, which might in a short time flip into a unique sort of stress, which is principally what occurs. I believe in episode 5 after they’re creating their Chuseok social gathering collectively they usually’re bonding in a brand new manner the place they’re one-on-one, Kitty is like, “Oh my God, you really are an actual individual, and you might be good generally.” She’s beginning to see him as an actual human who has a character; she will be able to see the place he’s coming from and perceive his background just a little extra, which explains his conduct. [But dating him] doesn’t actually cross Kitty’s thoughts till that final scene the place she’s like [high-pitched], “Oh my God, what the heck is going on?!” Min Ho is just not desirous to essentially really feel that manner, which I believe is proven with that dream sequence when he wakes up freaking out after which freaks out the remainder of the episode.

Episode 8 shifts Kitty and Yuri’s (Gia Kim) relationship, within the sense that Kitty finds out Yuri was relationship Kitty’s boyfriend, Dae, to cowl up the truth that she was homosexual and in love with a lady who was kicked out of KISS. How do these conversations make Kitty start to surprise about her personal attraction to Yuri?

Kitty didn’t know that Yuri might ever even be remotely , after which at that second when she finds out her fact, [Kitty] is like, “Oh my God, so it is doable …” So it’s undoubtedly a bomb dropped on Kitty’s mind. After which by the top of that episode, she’s feeling nice about Dae as a result of they’re lastly again collectively. However when she sees [Yuri] speak to Juliana, she’s realizing, “Why do I not really feel okay about this? What’s taking place right here?” This isn’t one thing that Kitty is attempting to do. She desires to be with Dae; she desires it to be good the way in which that she deliberate it at first of this journey. However emotions are usually not one thing you’ll be able to management.

[Kitty] has that line [to Yuri] the place she’s like, “You had been somebody that I pitied, and also you had been somebody I hated final week, and now I relate to you since you care a lot about love, and also you’re doing this since you love any person. I get love. I do know love. That’s my factor.” So it’s undoubtedly an enormous shift within the relationship, and the view that she has of Yuri utterly modifications.

Final however not least, we’ve Dae, whom Kitty describes as her old flame. What did you wish to convey in that ultimate breakup scene to indicate the development of Kitty and Dae’s relationship and why they may not be as properly fitted to one another as both of them could have thought?

That scene was a really particular one. That day felt so completely different. Minyeong and I talked about how vital that scene felt to the story. One thing that I agree with is the message that even when one thing is just not proper anymore, it doesn’t take away from how particular it was on the time. I believe that’s undoubtedly what Kitty’s attempting to inform Dae: “You’ll at all times be the right first boyfriend, and also you’re at all times gonna be the primary boy that I ever cherished. That doesn’t change even when now we’re not collectively.”

I believe Kitty goes by means of rather a lot, and she or he simply wants to provide herself time to concentrate on her relationship with herself, and that’s undoubtedly a driving issue for why she desires to interrupt up. She doesn’t wish to harm anyone within the course of, and she or he is aware of that it would harm Dae in the long term if she’s going by means of these emotions, so it’s undoubtedly for one of the best [right now].

What would you wish to discover ideally with Kitty going ahead, assuming she’s capable of return to KISS not directly in a hypothetical second season?

I hope Kitty continues to be sort to herself and provides herself as a lot area as doable to make errors and perceive that you simply don’t must be so laborious on your self. I really like the scene within the final episode the place she talks to her dad, and her dad’s saying, “You might be actually robust.” And he or she’s like, “I don’t really feel very robust.” And he’s like, “However you might be. Generally, these are the moments the place you don’t really feel it, however that’s you being brave and being courageous.”

Everybody’s expertise rising up is completely different, however on the root of it, all of us really feel misplaced at instances, all of us really feel confused. I believe the present does a terrific job exhibiting that it doesn’t matter what household you come from, or the place on the earth you reside, these core themes are one thing we are able to all relate to. So if Kitty continues to try this, I’ll absolutely help her story, and I hope she continues to comply with her personal coronary heart and never get pushed into doing one thing that she doesn’t really feel is true for her.

This interview has been edited and condensed for size and readability.