Joey King has been preparing for her role in Uglies for more than a decade. “What’s crazy is my excitement for the story has been at the same level since I was 11 years old,” she told Netflix. 

It all started one day when King was home sick from school, and her older sister pushed a copy of Scott Westerfeld’s first Uglies book into her hands. “She was like, ‘Just read the first chapter and if you don’t wanna continue, then you don’t have to,’ ” King recalled. Despite her earlier reluctance, the young actor soon fell headfirst into the world of the Uglies. “I was like, ‘I wanna play Tally Youngblood someday,’ ” King said. But she didn’t just wind up playing Tally — King also executive produced the adaptation, helping to shepherd it to the screen.

In the dystopian world of Uglies, appearance is everything. “Basically what happens is, you’re afforded a surgery when you turn 16 years old so you can look any way you want to look,” Uglies director McG told Netflix. “It’s the belief of the society that if we all look the way we want, you can eradicate conflict.”

Of course, that isn’t quite how things play out — and King’s Tally accidentally winds up on the front lines of a budding uprising in this seemingly perfect society. You can see the first trailer for the new film above, and read on to learn more about the world of Uglies.

What is Uglies about?

In a futuristic world that imposes a cosmetic surgery at 16, Tally is eager to join the rest of society. But when a friend runs away, Tally embarks on a journey to save her that upends everything she thought she wanted.

Uglies was first published in 2005, but King believes its power has only grown over the years. “I think it is super relevant that we’re making this now,” King said.

McG agrees. “The film’s really about beauty as interior,” he said. “It’s a commentary on what we’re experiencing today, where so many people can’t just take a photograph and post it on social media. You’ve got to put it through the filter, you’ve got to edit it, you’ve got to do the thing to present this idealized version of beauty. And this is a moment to say, ‘Take a deep breath, work on your inner game, love people for who they are, and accept yourself for who you are,’ and strangely, it’s a much more fruitful way to live.”

Uglies author Scott Westerfeld has another reason why McG was the perfect filmmaker to bring his novel to life: a sense of fun. “Here’s a super important thing about Uglies: It’s set in a dystopia, but it’s full of people who are having fun anyway,” Westerfeld tells Tudum. “The ‘uglies’ play pranks, ride hoverboards, and sneak into parties. They jump off buildings in bungee jackets! If you put McG in a dystopia, he would totally be that guy.”

When will Uglies be streaming on Netflix?

Uglies is now streaming on Netflix.

Joey King Takes You Behind The Scenes of Uglies

Who’s in the cast of Uglies?

The cast of Uglies includes:

• Joey King (A Family Affair, The Kissing Booth) as Tally Youngblood
• Keith Powers (Straight Outta Compton, #REALITYHIGH) as David
• Chase Stokes (Outer Banks, Stranger Things) as Peris
• Brianne Tju (Light as a Feather, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged) as Shay
• Jan Luis Castellanos (13 Reasons Why, Tall Girl 2) as Croy
• Charmin Lee (The 5th Wave, Parenthood) as Maddy
• Jay DeVon Johnson (Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Cinnamon) as Az
• Laverne Cox (Orange Is the New Black, Doubt) as Dr. Cable

For Chase Stokes, who plays Tally’s childhood best friend Peris, Uglies was an opportunity to spread his wings as an actor. “Peris is sort of three characters in one as we see him shift throughout the film,” Stokes tells Tudum. “It speaks to the phases of growing up. We shift. We find ourselves in spaces that feel unfamiliar at times, but I do believe if your head and heart are in there, you find your way back to yourself. I felt that deeply with him and really enjoyed playing in that space.”

Is Uglies based on a book?

Yes. Uglies is based on Scott Westerfeld’s 2005 novel of the same name (Westerfeld is also the author of Leviathan, the source material for an upcoming Netflix anime series).

Producer Jordan Davis had her own relationship with the book. “My daughter Catherine and I read Scott Westerfield’s Uglies together when she was in school, and she loved sharing the book with me,” Davis tells Tudum. “It gave us the opportunity to talk about all of the important themes tackled in the book: body image and beauty, individuality, friendship, and loyalty, to name a few.”

To nail all those themes, Uglies made sure to keep the creator of its world close. Westerfeld served as an executive producer, and he had a memorable first interaction with the film’s director. “McG and I first met on the movie set,” Westerfeld recalls. “He was carrying this dog-eared copy of Uglies, feathered with a hundred Post-its. We were shooting Tally’s travels in the wild that day, and McG’s first question was, ‘Does SpagBol taste bad the first time Tally eats it? Or is it only terrible after she’s been eating it for two weeks straight?’ ” 

Westerfeld immediately felt his book was in the right hands, literally and figuratively. “I was thinking, ‘Damn. This guy really cares about the book, but also the world inside the book: all the little details that make a story feel specific and real.’ ”

“I spoke to Scott extensively about the book, and I wanted to make sure that we got it right,” McG said. “He was such a wonderful collaborator every step of the way. So we were lucky to have Scott on board.” Westerfeld also played another small role on the production. “He’s in the movie for those of you who can find the moment,” McG revealed. Keep your eyes peeled.

Brian Douglas

What happens at the end of Uglies?

Uglies ends with a tragic twist: Even after joining the Smokies’ resistance, Tally chooses to head back to the clutches of Dr. Cable. But it’s not a choice made out of selfishness — it’s a noble sacrifice. Tally has learned from the Smokies, the rebel dissidents who refuse the Pretty procedure, that Pretties aren’t just physically changed. They’re also brainwashed.

“What’s amazing to me about Tally is that she has such an open heart and such an amazing spirit that with all the information that she was fed about this surgery, about really what it is to be Pretty, she’s [still] able to change her mind,” King told Netflix. “She’s able to be open enough to say, ‘What if we did fight for humanity? What if we did have the right to choose who we become?’ I think that she’s so brave and so willing to do anything to protect the people that she loves.”

Ultimately, that resilience leads Tally back to New Pretty Town. All seems lost at the end of the film: The rebels’ cause has been shattered, Tally’s childhood friend Peris is seemingly dead after becoming a brainwashed super soldier, and the Smokies are on the run. With the fate of the world on the line, Tally is forced to make an impossible choice. To help rebel leaders David, Maddy, and Az test their Pretty cure, she agrees to become a Pretty, sparing her newly Prettyfied friend Shay from becoming an unwilling test subject.

“She makes the ultimate sacrifice in the end where she elects to become Pretty,” McG told Netflix. “But as a ruse for the Smokies to go in and liberate everyone, or at least give them the choice to do so.” Once she’s a Pretty, the Smokies will return for her and give her their cure.

The choice is also a moment of redemption for Tally, whose choice to spy on the Smokies for Dr. Cable led to their capture. “If you come back, then I’ll know that you’ve forgiven me,” she tells David. 

“You are so beautiful,” he responds — flying in the face of the Pretties’ dogma. 

With that, Tally turns herself in to the Pretty forces and shouts the final lines of the original novel: “I’m Tally Youngblood. Make me Pretty.”

But the film steps a little further into the future than the novel does, showing us a glimpse of the new Pretty Tally — and her one notable blemish: the scar on her palm that connected her to her old friend Peris. It’s a reminder that she’ll always be beautiful and flawed, no matter what the Pretties say. “We’re not Uglies,” King said. “We’re not Pretties. We’re just people.”