Gentry: I didn’t even know what the term “ick” meant until it was being applied to me on a global scale.
LaLonde: It was not a global scale!
Rodriguez: No, no—
Gentry: Well, it was in season 1! But either way, I laugh, we all laugh about it. I made so many jokes in season 2 when we were filming about, “Oh, careful of running, it gives the ick.” Like from those notes app TikToks, where they have the list of things that give the ick? I definitely do smile in season 2, but I make jokes all the time about, like, “Yeah, see, I learned never to smile with my teeth!”
It truly is in jest, though, it’s all in humor. Because I think it’s important to me that I would never actually allow [those comments] to influence my behavior in any regard. So I think part of that power lies within being able to think it’s humorous.
A hundred percent. I commend all three of you — being on a YA show, especially one on the Netflix scale, is not for the fainthearted. Y’all are doing great.
Gentry: When you’re getting flak online, and then you see it’s from a literal 12-year-old, it really puts it into perspective for you. You’re just like, “Okay, maybe this doesn’t matter as much as I thought it did.” [Laughs]
There really is so much divided discourse about this show. I saw a lot of people saying that Jackie was the villain of season 1. How do you feel about that, Nikki?
Rodriguez: Okay. [Sits up straight] It’s interesting, because I feel like my job is to justify Jackie’s actions; so to me, she’s not trying to be the villain. She went through a completely traumatic, forever-life-altering event, and is thrown into this whole uncomfortable new world and space! I feel like she’s just trying her best, and she makes mistakes — as everyone does at that age especially. And she’s not perfect, but who is?
Gentry: Nobody’s a villain when they’re 15 and in love.
Let’s think forward to season 3. If there’s one trait or thing you’d want your characters to preserve of themselves going into this next season, what would it be?
Gentry: I think I’d like Alex to be a bit more cumulative. I watched a scene of Nikki and I in season 2, and then immediately went and watched the first scene we ever had in season 1 — it’s so different, not even just physically, but personality-wise. Our showrunner talked with me a lot about this, where there would be moments in season 2 where it was “Old Alex,” as she called him. She was like, “This is Old Alex right now, it’s not New Alex.”
