The second season of FX’s Adults is upping the ante when it comes to guest stars — and there was one special guest in particular that gave Owen Thiele an intense physical reaction.
“So Raven-Symoné is the reason I do this. Genuinely, she is everything. A queer black woman leading a television show was everything to me. It’s the reason I felt I could do this. So finding out that she was in the show and playing my sister, I was like, literally, I felt sick,” Thiele, 29, told Us exclusively on Tuesday, August 25, ahead of the season 2 premiere. “I think it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. That was very cool.”
Episode 3 of the new season introduces Thiele’s character Anton’s sister, Talia, played by the That’s So Raven alum, 40. While Anton is convinced that Talia plans to ask him to be a sperm donor for her and her partner’s fertility journey, he is disappointed when he finds out his sister had something else in mind. What ensues is nothing short of hilarious familial chaos as Anton reconciles with the different ways in which his friends and family perceive him.
Amita Rao, who rounds out the group of roommates at the center of the sitcom along with Jack Innanen, Lucy Freyer and Malik Elassal, was also “really excited” to work with Raven-Symoné, though sadly, her scene with the iconic actress was cut.
However, there are plenty of fun guest stars to go around.
“Working with friends like Jake Shane and then a new friend, Zosia Mamet, who I’m obsessed with, I love Girls, was a dream,” Thiele added, while the rest of the cast and show creators highlighted their time with Julia Fox — who returns after a surprise appearance in season 1 — Gaten Matarazzo, Ben Marshall and more special guests.
“Gaten was pretty awesome,” Freyer, 30, who has a brief Easy A-esque fake hookup scene with the Stranger Things alum, recalled to Us. “That scene in particular was so exciting. … I think people have seen him as such a young boy, and for him to be doing something fun like this was really cool.”
She continued: “He was a great scene partner. He was down to clown. He was so lovely and kind and patient on set. He was awesome.”
Show creator Ben Kronengold also praised Matarazzo, 23, noting he “shows a side of himself that I think audiences are going to be really surprised by.”
Looking ahead, if Adults is renewed for a third season, the cast is certainly shooting for the stars.
“I’m curious about people’s parents,” Freyer told Us of her dream guest stars. “I desperately want Steve Carrell and Melora Hardin to play my parents as their characters on The Office, à la the ‘Dinner Party’ episode.”
Thiele added: “I want someone so weird that doesn’t fit in the world. Like, I want Julianne Moore on the couch and us being like, ‘Julianne Moore?!’”
Season two of FX’s Adults is now streaming on Hulu.
