Valentina Garza<\/a> took over from Jessica O\u2019Toole as showrunner and executive producer for Season 3.<\/p>\n\n\tA slew of characters have been introduced to Kitty\u2019s life in school, the main group consisting of Dae (Choi Min-yeong), Kitty\u2019s ex-boyfriend and part of the reason she moves to Seoul; Yuri (Gia Kim), Kitty\u2019s frenemy-turned-best friend-turned-crush (for a time); Min Ho (Sang Heon Lee), now Kitty\u2019s main love interest; and Q (Anthony Keyvan), Kitty\u2019s best friend and roommate to Min Ho and Dae. <\/p>\n
\n\tSeason 3 opens with a romantically charged moment between Kitty and Min Ho, who enter an official relationship by the end of Episode 2, with Kitty working to get into NYU and Min Ho building his career as an entertainment manager. Elsewhere, Yuri, once a rich heiress, loses her family fortune in a lawsuit and is forced to start working and sell off her clothes to be able to afford her K.I.S.S. tuition. Meanwhile, the return of Marius (Sule Thelwell), the boys\u2019 fourth roommate and Q\u2019s secret closeted ex-fling, throws a wrench in Kitty\u2019s plans and Q\u2019s romance with his boyfriend Jin (Joshua Hyunho Lee). Kitty\u2019s family plays a bigger role this season as well \u2014 her cousin Jiwon (Hojo Shin) takes on a teaching role at K.I.S.S., and Lana Condor makes her highly anticipated return as Lara Jean, relying on her sister amidst her relationship issues with her \u201cTo All The Boys\u201d love interest, Peter Kavinsky.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThis is a season \u2014 for all our characters \u2014 that is so much about personal growth and being on the precipice of adulthood and figuring out who they are,\u201d says Garza. And Kitty is the prime example. After a mid-season break-up with Min Ho \u2014 as she falsely accuses him of getting their friend pregnant \u2014 Kitty works on building her independence, committing to NYU for college. The pair has a dramatic reunion in the finale, swapping \u201cI love you\u201ds after a train station chase, and ending the season with Min Ho flying back to Portland with Kitty.<\/p>\n
\n\tGarza spoke with Variety about taking on Lara Jean and Peter\u2019s relationship, introducing adulthood into the show\u2019s plotlines \u2014 and the original ending to Season 3. <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCOURTESY OF NETFLIX<\/p>\n
\n\tThis season features Kitty and Lara Jean\u2019s sisterly bond pretty heavily. What was it like to bring back Lana Condor and their relationship? Did you try to get Janel Parrish, who plays their older sister Margot, on-board as well?<\/p>\n
\n\tWe did have Margot featured in Season 2, as well as Peter. We wanted to up the ante and go bigger this season and bring back Lara Jean. It just felt like a natural escalation, and it was an opportunity for Kitty and Lara Jean to really lean on each other as they were going through personal issues, and remember how much they are able to learn from one another.<\/p>\n
\n\tSpeaking of Peter, Noah Centineo doesn\u2019t make an appearance this season, but his relationship with Lara Jean is part of a lot of her scenes. Was there ever a discussion of him appearing in the season with her? How\u2019d you tackle adding to the story of such a beloved couple?<\/p>\n
\n\tI definitely consulted with Jenny Han about talking about this couple and making sure that she was happy with what was going on there. We just wanted to have an opportunity for Kitty and Lara Jean to grow from one another. This season, for Kitty, was so much about personal growth, and Lara Jean is having her own growth journey off-screen.<\/p>\n
\n\tThere are no \u201cXO, Kitty\u201d books, but Kitty is a character from the \u201cTo All The Boys\u201d books and the movie adaptations. There\u2019s a nod to some previous dialogue where Lara Jean tells Kitty she\u2019s \u201cgoing to miss her a 12\u201d on a scale of 1-10, something Kitty told LJ when she was leaving for college. Are there other references to the \u201cTo All The Boys\u201d world in the show?<\/p>\n
\n\tYes! That is a reference to the movies, and they\u2019re mirroring each other\u2019s relationship to one another as they\u2019re both growing into themselves. We have some little Easter eggs in there throughout the season. We have the about the song \u201cAbout Love\u201d from Marina, which is a callback to the movies as well. [The song appeared in the final scene of \u201cTo All The Boys: P.S. I Still\u00a0Love\u00a0You.\u201d] There are little things for our audience that is watching carefully. Kitty picks up a pen to start writing her senior sunset list, which was gifted to Lara Jean by Peter, who bought it in Korea when he was with Kitty [in Season 2].<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYOUNGSOL PARK\/NETFLIX<\/p>\n
\n\tKitty and Min Ho finally get together at the beginning of the season, and every episode, there\u2019s a hurdle that they have to overcome. Was that intentional to set them up for that bigger breakup that happens mid-season?<\/p>\n
\n\tI don\u2019t know if we were trying to give them hurdles, but Kitty and Min Ho are both also going through their individual growth journeys. This is a season \u2014 for all our characters \u2014 that is so much about personal growth and being on the precipice of adulthood and figuring out who they are. So, I think that a lot of those hurdles are really coming from the journeys that they\u2019re going on, as they\u2019re discovering who they are and what they want, and asking questions about what the future holds for them as individuals.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe incident that instigates their break-up is pretty dramatic, with Kitty thinking Min Ho got Eunice pregnant. Why did you choose to have her react like that and jump to conclusions?<\/p>\n
\n\tKitty is learning not to let her own insecurities get the best of her. From the beginning of the season, when she\u2019s seeing the way that he\u2019s interacting with these K-pop stars, I think she\u2019s feeling a little bit insecure, and that\u2019s sort of a moment where she reaches peak insecurity. It\u2019s also a little bit of a classic misunderstanding trope when it comes to first loves. Things are just not going the way that Kitty expects them to go, and she is having to learn to let go of those expectations. That\u2019s another really big theme for her this season. <\/p>\n
\n\tWe\u2019ve talked a lot about this season being focused on the character\u2019s personal approach, along with their relationships. Did you like it was important for Kitty and Min Ho to break up and go through their own character arcs before coming back together?<\/p>\n
\n\tI think so. Kitty enters her senior year with this perfect plan for what a perfect year looks like for her, and she has very specific expectations. \u00a0When it doesn\u2019t look like what she thought, that really shakes her, and for her personal growth, she\u2019s going to have to learn that life and love very rarely follow a script, and she has to lean into the unexpected.<\/p>\n
\n\tOne of the obstacles that presents itself is Min Ho\u2019s friend\/former crush, Gigi, making an appearance. Kitty\u2019s worries about their relationship don\u2019t end up leading anywhere, and it\u2019s the first season where Kitty and Min Ho\u2019s only love interests have been each other. Was there ever any discussion about exploring the romantic side of Min Ho and Gigi\u2019s friendship?<\/p>\n
\n\tWhat we really wanted was for Gigi to come in and represent his first love, which is something else that Kitty wasn\u2019t expecting \u2014 to have a ghost from his past come in and crash into her present. It creates an opportunity for her to deal with her insecurities and grow through that challenge. What we\u2019re really trying to do is make it something that was landing on Kitty\u2019s insecurities, but is not necessarily a reality. It was less important to give her an actual foil than it was to show how she\u2019s processing everything. <\/p>\n
\n\tWhat is that relationship going to look like in the future? Are there any issues that you think they\u2019re going to have to overcome?<\/p>\n
\n\tI\u2019m sure that\u2019s a question that all our fans are asking! We\u2019re all just trying to live in the moment and bask in Season 3 right now. We\u2019re very excited for the fans to see what we made this season, and we\u2019ll just have to wait and see.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCOURTESY OF NETFLIX<\/p>\n
\n\tYuri undergoes a pretty big character arc this season and is forced to grow in a lot of ways. How did you decide where you wanted to end her story in Season 3 \u2014 and getting back together with Juliana? Was that always the plan?<\/p>\n
\n\tIn Season 2, we left Yuri really heartbroken and realizing that she has a lot of personal growth that needs to happen. This season was very much about that for Yuri, and she\u2019s dealing with really huge things. She\u2019s lost her fortune. Her parents aren\u2019t in her life. She doesn\u2019t know if she\u2019s going to be able to come back to K.I.S.S. and isn\u2019t planning to until Kitty kind of saves the day. But she\u2019s really working on herself and trying to figure out, \u201cIf I\u2019m not Yuri Han, the heiress, who am I?\u201d This season was about her reinventing herself, but in the process, she becomes somebody who is able to be worthy of that love and that relationship that she broke in the previous season. So, it felt very full circle to be able to get back to that place with Juliana.<\/p>\n
\n\tMarius\u2019 character was a bit of a plot twist, being one of the more openly antagonistic characters, in the beginning, at least. What was the thought process behind introducing him to the show? And was there ever any hope for his relationship with Q?<\/p>\n
\n\tThis season, we\u2019re telling stories about first loves, and they\u2019re very complicated and messy. \u00a0Marius introduces the idea of Q\u2019s first love as well, in the same way that Gigi does. It shakes Q\u2019s confidence in his relationship with Jin and makes him ask himself some questions. It was another opportunity to create a complication for Q and have him ask himself what\u2019s really important as he\u2019s looking ahead to his future. For all of our characters \u2014 Kitty and Min Ho, Q and Jin, even Mihee and Madison \u2014 they\u2019re all asking at the precipice of adulthood and transitioning into this other phase of life \u2014 are we going to be in each other\u2019s lives? Marius comes in and helps complicate that question for Q and Jin, and ultimately, it\u2019s a resounding yes for them.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYOUNGSOL PARK\/NETFLIX<\/p>\n
\n\tMost characters have had a couple of love interests by this point in the show. The couples we have at the end of Season 3 \u2013 can they be accepted as the show\u2019s endgames? Including Kitty and Min Ho?<\/p>\n
\n\t[Laughs.] I think that they are right for each other right now. I think only time will tell what will happen in the future.<\/p>\n
\n\tI feel like I\u2019m going to get a similar answer for this next question. But is the romantic aspect of Kitty and Yuri\u2019s relationship done with? How did you know you wanted them to be platonic this season and going forward?<\/p>\n
\n\tKitty and Yuri are always going to be in each other\u2019s lives. The journey that they\u2019ve taken this season was very deep and very profound, even though it was platonic. At the end of the day, they are winding up being family, because Yuri\u2019s\u00a0brother is marrying Kitty\u2019s cousin, and so they have a new kind of familial bond that they\u2019re forging, which is also really significant.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe pregnancy storyline this season is probably the most mature one the show\u2019s had so far. What was the inspiration behind that storyline, and how are you planning on tackling more adult topics as they grow up?<\/p>\n
\n\tWe were very intentional about writing a season that was more adult and had a more adult theme. All of our characters are on that precipice of adulthood and transitioning out of being kids and out of being in high school, thinking about the future and having to be adults. It seemed fitting that we would have some slightly more adult themes, and so that pregnancy scare was in keeping with that more mature content that we wanted to have. <\/p>\n
\n\tAs you mentioned, Kitty\u2019s cousin Jiwon and Yuri\u2019s half-brother Alex are in a relationship now, and Jiwon\u2019s expecting a child. How did you decide that it was the right time to bring Hojo Shin, who plays Jiwon, up to series regular and have her character be more of a presence this season?<\/p>\n
\n\tWith it being Kitty\u2019s senior year, one of her goals is really spending quality time with her family in Korea, because as far as she\u2019s concerned, this is her last year at K.I.S.S., and her time with that family is coming to an end. We really wanted to deepen those relationships, because it\u2019s a priority for Kitty.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe show focuses on friendship heavily. Are there any other friendships you\u2019re looking forward to developing on-screen?<\/p>\n
\n\tWe did have one moment this season where Min Ho visits Yuri at work, and we realized, \u201cOh, we don\u2019t think we\u2019ve had another scene this whole season, where we have these two characters playing against one another.\u201d So that could be interesting. Of course, they are brother and sister in real life, and they don\u2019t get to act against each other. In the moment, we were all thinking, \u201cWhy don\u2019t they ever interact on camera?\u201d <\/p>\n
\n\tThe season ends with Min Ho chasing Kitty across Seoul and a very dramatic train station reunion that reminded me of \u201cThe Summer I Turned Pretty\u201d finale, which is also a Jenny Han show. In your mind, do the characters of these shows exist in the same world? Could there potentially be a crossover one day?<\/p>\n
\n\tThat would be a question that you\u2019d have to ask Jenny Han! But I will say that when I was watching the finale of \u201cThe Summer I Turned Pretty,\u201d I said, \u201cOh no, they\u2019re on a train too!\u201d That was very unexpected and serendipitous. For a lot of the season, that wasn\u2019t what we were expecting to do. We did imagine that there was going to be an epic race to the airport, but for most of the season, it was actually going to be Kitty racing to stop Min Ho from leaving. It was going to be a motorcycle race through the city on the back of Marius\u2019 motorcycle. But as the season developed, it became clear that it was part of Min Ho\u2019s journey, that he was someone who needed to change and make the overture towards Kitty. Fun fact!<\/p>\n
\n\tThis interview has been edited and condensed. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPOILER ALERT:\u00a0This post contains spoilers for Season 3 of \u201cXO, Kitty,\u201d now streaming on\u00a0Netflix. Another season of \u201cXO,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,18964,169163,282,169164,169165],"class_list":{"0":"post-378094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-jenny-han","12":"tag-to-all-the-boys-iu2019ve-loved-before","13":"tag-tv","14":"tag-valentina-garza","15":"tag-xo-kitty"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}