Kitty Song Covey (Anna Cathcart) might just be the best matchmaker of all time. Need proof? While the chemistry between Kitty’s older sister Lara Jean (Lana Condor) and Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo) is undeniable, the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before couple has one person to thank for them getting together in the first place: Kitty. 

Now it’s time for the lovable little sister to have her own love story. Enter XO, Kitty, a 10-episode spin-off of To All the Boys. Premiering May 18, the YA rom-com reintroduces us to 16-year-old Kitty. As the new trailer teases, been about four years since we last saw the youngest Song Covey sister, and some things have changed. Mainly, Kitty’s got main character energy now. 

“She’s stepping into the fore — picking up the baton from Lara Jean,” co-showrunner Sascha Rothchild told Tudum in March. 

If you feel like you’re checking back in with an old friend, star Cathcart is right there with you. “It was like, ‘Oh, hey girl! Good to see you!’ ” Cathcart tells Tudum. “I had to figure out how to see her in a new environment.” After all, Kitty is onto bigger pastures than the Pacific Northwest digs we’re used to from TAtB. Ready to make her own mark in the world, Kitty leaves her Portland, Oregon, home behind to attend the same school her mom went to, the Korean Independent School of Seoul, or KISS. Kitty’s long-term, long-distance boyfriend, Dae (Minyeong Choi), also just so happens to go to KISS. In Seoul, love guru Kitty realizes relationships are a lot more complicated when it’s your own heart on the line.

“XO, Kitty really is Kitty’s story and that’s part of the reason why I really wanted to set this story in a different place,” creator and co-showrunner Jenny Han, who also wrote the To All the Boys novels, also told Tudum in March. “If you see the Covey house that we all know and love and their high school in Portland, you’d probably just be thinking, ‘Oh, what’s Lara Jean up to?’ ”

So what’ll Kitty be up to? And who’ll be joining her on that journey? Keep reading as Han and Rothchild answer your biggest XO, Kitty questions, from whether you’ll need to brush up on your To All the Boys knowledge to what the exciting new Season 1 photos mean. 

When is XO, Kitty’s release date? 

XO, Kitty will start its charm offensive on May 18, when all 10 episodes of Season 1 premiere. 

Do you need to watch the To All the Boys trilogy to watch XO, Kitty? 

Short answer, no! But, there’s no one better to answer that question than Han and Rothchild. Keep reading for Tudum’s Q&A with the co-showrunners to learn exactly how XO, Kitty fits in to the To All the Boys universe. 

Would you say XO, Kitty is its own story?

Jenny Han: XO, Kitty is definitely its own thing. You could enter into this story just starting with XO, Kitty and be on Kitty’s journey as if you’re meeting her for the first time. She’s the big fish in a small pond, [and] she thinks she knows it all in Portland. Then she has a rude awakening when she’s put in a new place like Seoul. That’s very relatable and universal.

Sascha Rothchild: I totally agree. XO, Kitty takes place in the same universe as To All the Boys, but it’s very much its own world. So fresh audiences can love it and then go back and watch the movies and read the books if they want.

What was it like to have Kitty grow into the main character of her own story? 

Han: For us, it was about giving Kitty the chance to really explore her inner self and to offer that peek into what she’s thinking. To All the Boys is centered around Lara Jean, and we’re really in her head. Kitty is obviously a side character to that story. So we don’t know what she’s thinking. We could guess, because Kitty definitely wears her emotions and her thoughts on her sleeve, and she says whatever she thinks. 

That was the most fun part of exploring this character: She’s not so in her head. She will say the first thing that comes to mind. Kitty is definitely a living-out-loud kind of a character.

Rothchild: The drive that Kitty has as a little girl — rifling through her sister’s things and setting people up — is the same drive she has for herself in XO, Kitty. She makes decisions, she goes for it. That really propels her forward in the story and in her relationships. 

Lana Condor and Noah Centineo are not in XO, Kitty. Why does that make sense for Kitty’s big love story?

Han: We all fell so deeply in love with Lara Jean and her story. So it felt like the greatest gift to give to Kitty was to let her as a character kind of set off on her own two feet and not put her in the shadow of either of her sisters.

And Lana and Noah are both off and doing big things. The whole To All the Boys family couldn’t be more proud of them and excited for all the things that come next. We’re all excited to see Anna [Cathcart] really pick up the mantle and continue Kitty’s story.

Who is in the cast of XO, Kitty? 

Cathcart leads XO, Kitty as its titular “brave and impulsive” hero, as Han said. “Kitty’s very confident in herself. She feels like she knows the answer to everything,” Cathcart says. “In XO, Kitty, we’re seeing her have things shift around her in ways that they never have before.”

On that journey, she’s joined by Minyeong Choi, who portrays 16-year-old Dae, the boy Kitty met during the Song Covey family trip to Korea in To All the Boys: Always and Forever. Kitty and Dae have maintained the relationship they started in that movie and have been dating for four years — a real commitment with that kind of distance. 

“What I love about Dae is that he is warmhearted,” Choi tells Tudum. “When he wants to win someone’s heart, he only uses the sincerity. He knows how important love is.” 

Kitty’s other classmates are portrayed by Sang Heon Lee as wealthy popular guy Min Ho, Gia Kim as KISS queen bee Yuri and Anthony Keyvan as Q, a jock with a heart of gold. Peter Thurnwald, Michael K. Lee and Yunjin Kim, of Lost and Money Heist: Korea, play key members of the KISS faculty. 

John Corbett and Sarayu Blue will also appear as Kitty’s dad and stepmom, Dan and Trina. 

Where are the XO, Kitty photos? 

Right here in our metaphorical binder. The first photos of XO, Kitty give us a glimpse into Kitty’s world — from Portland to Seoul. Now Kitty is far more likely to be wearing an attention-grabbing little black dress or crop top than overalls and a high ponytail. 

“She’s a little older, she still has her same sort of Kitty style, but with a little bit of a little new edge,” Han said. 

Rothchild agreed, adding, “Now she’s not just a little sister. She’s the love interest that we’ll be following on her journey.” While the XO, Kitty team kept the “essence” of its protagonist’s personality, they “tweaked” her closet a little bit. “It’s still very fashion-forward, very quirky in her own way. But we aged up her look so it was appropriate for us to tell a story about her and finding love,” Rothchild said..

Speaking of style, one photo gives us a peek at Min Ho, one of Kitty’s fashionable new classmates. “He’s a classic bad boy, rich boy, top boy. He’s Kitty’s nemesis early on,” Han said. But like any YA bad boy worth his hair products, there’s more to Min Ho than meets the eye. “He’s got his own little sadnesses and reasons why he is the way he is,” Han said. 

We also see Yuri, who “rules” KISS according to Han. Yuri is an heiress and is rarely seen without her “minions” — including in these photos. “They were so lovely that we just kept giving them more stuff to do,” Han said. Rothchild revealed that the pals had color-coordinated outfits. “And, for viewers who really pay attention, they’ll see that each of the minions has the color palette that continues through every episode,” she said. 

Yuri’s mom, Jina (Yunjin Kim) — who’s also the principal of KISS — can be spotted chatting with Kitty in the photos. “Jina is a woman who comes off as a little bit stern and cold,” Rothchild said. “But a big part of Kitty’s journey is getting to know Jina because she ties into Kitty’s past. There’s a lot more there [than what you see] when you first meet her.”

Click through the full gallery to see the rest of XO, Kitty’s cast. You might just catch a couple more familiar faces. 

Can I watch the XO, Kitty trailer? 

You sure can. Watch the trailer video above to see Kitty work her matchmaking magic in an unexpected way — proving she and KISS are a fated duo. However, circumstances with Kitty’s other big love, Dae, might be more complicated than she could have ever guessed. What will the trailer’s big twist mean for Kitty? Well, tune in on May 18 to find out — and then keep coming back to Tudum for all your XO, Kitty news. 

This interview has been edited and condensed. 

Meet the Characters of ‘XO, Kitty’