Freeform’s “Cruel Summer” will return later this year with a new mystery and cast. The second season, executive produced by Jessica Biel and Michelle Purple and eOne, has added Sadie Stanley, Griffin Gluck and Eloise Payet. In June, the thriller was renewed for a second season at Freeform after becoming the network’s most-watched series in network history.

The official Season 2 synopsis reads, “Set in an idyllic waterfront town in the Pacific Northwest, the next chapter of ‘Cruel Summer’ follows the rise and fall of an intense teenage friendship. Approaching the story from three different timelines surrounding Y2K, the season twists and turns as it tracks the early friendship between Megan, Isabella and Megan’s best friend Luke, the love triangle that blossomed, and the mystery that would impact all of their lives going forward.”

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Stanley will play Megan Landry, a computer coder and honor student who starts focusing more on living in the moment after meeting Isabella, played by Payet. Isabella is the daughter of foreign diplomats who is spending a year with the Landry family. Though charming, it’s only a matter of time before the truth is revealed about what really brings her to town.

Gluck portrays Megan’s best friend, Luke Chambers, who finds himself at a crossroads as he tries to find his place while also living up to his father’s expectations.

The Season 2 cast includes KaDee Strickland as Debbie, Megan’s hardworking single mom; Lisa Yamada as a popular musician named Parker; Sean Blakemore as the town’s by-the-books sheriff; and Paul Adelstein as Steve, Luke’s high-profile dad.

The first season of the anthology series starred Olivia Holt, Chiara Aurelia, Michael Landes, Froy Gutierrez, Harley Quinn Smith, Allius Barnes, Blake Lee and Brooklyn Sudano, following the story of two young women across three summers.

Elle Triedman serves as showrunner for Season 2, with executive producers Bill Purple, Tia Napolitano, and Iron Ocean Productions’ Jessica Biel and Michelle Purple. The series is distributed internationally by eOne.

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