‘Cruel Summer’ cast on the Y2K influences in season 2 of the hit teen drama

When Freeform’s hit teen thriller Cruel Summer returns for season 2 on Monday, fans will be treated to a completely new mystery. The cast of the anthology series sat down with ABC Audio, where they shared they’re ready for all the theories that are sure to come their way.

“Bring them on, because we sure had our own,” Lexi Underwood said. Griffin Gluck echoed her comment, adding, “I’d like to see a fan come up with a theory we haven’t had ourselves.”

Season 2 starts during the summer of 1999, and Underwood shares that Y2K influences reached every aspect of production – including wardrobe.

“I’m so obsessed with period pieces and just ‘90s, early 2000s in general. In my everyday life, I draw most of my inspiration from that time period,” Underwood says, sharing that the wardrobe department often asked for her opinion on her character’s clothing.

“Obviously, because I was like, what, 3? How old? I was not even alive during the year 2000. So, I don’t know much about it,” Underwood said. “I was doing my deep dives on Pinterest and Tumblr of, like, everything I could find from that era.”

Gluck, on the other hand, was not as fond of the Y2K fashion trends. “It’s the flip-flops with the cargo shorts,” he said. “For me, that’s not doing it.”

And while this season promises something different storywise, star Sadie Stanley says it’s still the same show fans know and love.

“Season 1 was a wild, huge success and it was amazing. And we have that same formula of the three different timelines, and we have all that same drama and the twists and the big crazy ending where everybody’s like, ‘Oh my God,’ you know?” Stanley said. “The fans should be hopefully pleasantly surprised.”