Cruel Summer Cast for Season 2: Meet the Characters and Who Plays Them

Since Freeform's hit Cruel Summer is an anthology series, the Cruel Summer cast for season 2 brings in a whole new set of players for a whole new small town mystery. This time, our world is full Y2K, beginning in the summer of 1999 in a Pacific Northwest town.

Sadie Stanley (Kim Possible) and Lexi Underwood (Little Fires Everywhere, The First Lady) play this season's protagonists — and potential best friends-gone-sour. Told over three time blocks in 1999 and 2000, we see the pair become close… only for a turbulent mystery to take over the town, with the two of them in the center.

Freeform's Cruel Summer airs weekly at 9 p.m. EST — find out everything you need to know about the Cruel Summer cast for season 2 below.

Sadie Stanley as Megan Landry

Sadie Stanley tells Teen Vogue that her character Megan Landry is a “super smart, super ambitious coder” with a younger sister and a single mom raising them. “She comes from a family where she knows that nothing's going to be given to her, and she needs to find her own way and make her own way in the world,” Stanley says from set in Vancouver. “She has big plans for her life.” Her main goal is to go to a prestigious college and eventually work at Apple — her friends, even her best friend Luke, don't factor as highly into the equation. When Isabella LaRue enters her world, however, everything will change forever.

You'll likely recognize Stanley from her starring role as Kim Possible in the live-action movie from 2019. Since then, the Columbia, South Carolina native has acted in PEN15, The Goldbergs, and most recently, the Ray Romano-led film Somewhere in Queens. Follow Sadie Stanley on Instagram here.

Lexi Underwood as Isabella LaRue

Isabella LaRue is the plot catalyst for Cruel Summer season 2, and it's a perfect role for rising star Lexi Underwood, who was a big fan of the first season. Isabella is free-spirited and adventurous, unafraid to take risks and to push Megan outside of her comfort zone — she arrives in the town to live with the Landrys as an exchange student for a year, a break from her glamorous jet-setting life. 

“She comes into this town very determined to start the life that she wants,” Underwood tells Teen Vogue. “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.”

Underwood has previously played Malia Obama in The First Lady and starred in the critically-acclaimed show Little Fires Everywhere as Kerry Washington's character's daughter Pearl. She'll next act in Tommy Dorfman's forthcoming film, I Wish You All the Best.

Follow Lexi Underwood on Instagram here.

Griffin Gluck as Luke Chambers

Griffin Gluck plays Luke Chambers, Megan's best friend who eventually becomes embroiled in a love triangle between Megan and Isabella. Gluck described this season in three words — “teen-angst, mystery, and nostalgia” — in an interview with Nerds and Beyond. Gluck's time on the series is also a reunion of sorts: one of his early roles was in the show Private Practice, and Paul Adelstein — who plays his dad in Cruel Summer — also played his father.

Gluck is a veteran actor at this point; his first big role was in the 2011 Jennifer Aniston flick Just Go With It, and he's since starred in Tall Girl and its sequel, Big Time Adolescence, and Locke & Key.

Follow Gluck on Instagram here.

Lisa Yamada as Parker Tanaka

Parker Tanaka is a cool girl who isn't afraid to speak her mind, says actress Lisa Yamada. She's part of Megan's larger friend group, and is also romantically entangled with older college guy Brent Chambers (Braeden de la Garza). “She says whatever she wants. No filter. I was definitely not as cool as her when I was in high school,” Yamada tells Teen Vogue. “I feel like she's a leader. She gives a alpha female energy into whatever room she's in. Definitely not who I am as a person, but I feel like I can learn a lot from her.”

Yamada previously acted in Little Fires Everywhere alongside Lexi Underwood, as well as in Never Have I Ever, All American, and Missing. Born and raised in California, she's also a dancer, and is fluent in Japanese. Oh, and she's Team Edward.

Follow Lisa Yamada on Instagram here.

Braeden de la Garza as Brent Chambers

“I think the best way to describe Brent Chambers is he's kind of just a classic bro. He's just kind of a dude, the classic macho college frat guy. Arrogant,” Braeden de la Garza tells Teen Vogue about his character, who is Luke's older brother Brent. But is there more than meets the eye with Brent? “You see a lot more depth as the season goes on.” 

Brent is also romantically connected to Parker, played by Lisa Yamada, though there's perhaps not so much depth to their connection. “Most of their interactions consist of Brent being like, wow, you're so hot,” de la Garza laughs.

Grapevine, Texas, native de la Garza is a relative acting newcomer who had his first big professional role as Prince Emmett in The Quest on Disney+. Fun fact: He's also Demi Lovato's cousin.

Follow Braeden de la Garza on Instagram here.