Freeform ordered the Jessica Biel-produced thriller “Last Summer” to series early this year, but Deadline reports today that the series has been re-titled to the more sinister-sounding “Cruel Summer.”
Additionally, Olivia Holt (“Cloak & Dagger”) has been set to star.
“In the series, from Bert V. Royal, Jessica Biel and eOne, Holt will play one of the two lead characters, Kate, the embodiment of teenage perfection whose life is one to be envied until she mysteriously disappears.”
Mika Abdalla had played this role in the show’s pilot episode.
“Cruel Summer takes place over three summers–’93, ’94, ’95–in a small Texas town when a beautiful popular teen, Kate, is abducted and, seemingly unrelated, a girl, Jeanette, goes from being a sweet, awkward outlier to the most popular girl in town and, by ’95, the most despised person in America.”
“Each episode is told from the POV of one of the two main girls (Jeanette and Kate), which will have the viewers loyalties constantly shifting as more information is revealed.”
“Cruel Summer” is expected to air in 2021.