"Cruel Summer" Season 2 Star Lexi Underwood on Playing Isabella ...

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.