Start the countdown, because XO, Kitty is returning to steal hearts in the new year. Season 2 of the To All the Boys spin-off — starring Anna Cathcart as teen matchmaker Kitty Song Covey — will premiere on Jan. 16, and you can watch the trailer for the new season above.
If you look closely, you’ll see a familiar face back in the fold: Noah Centineo, who returns as Peter Kavinsky, the boyfriend of Kitty’s middle sister, Lara Jean. “Working with Anna again was amazing,” Centineo tells Tudum about reuniting with his on-screen little sister. “She’s so wonderfully talented, and her work ethic shows in every scene. Stepping back into the To All the Boys universe was a true joy, and I hope our incredible audience enjoys seeing Peter again as much as I did.”
XO, Kitty Season 1 follows Kitty as she finds her own love story at boarding school, and it accumulated 72.1 million hours of viewing within its first week, appearing on the Top 10 list in 90 countries.
Filming XO, Kitty Season 2 took place in Seoul, South Korea, in early 2024, following the success of the first season. The new episodes will follow Kitty as she returns to high school for a new semester at the Korean Independent School of Seoul (KISS).
While many details about XO, Kitty Season 2 are kept under lock and key like a KISS secret, read on to find out who’s joining the cast, see new photos, and learn what obstacles Kitty will face in the new episodes, out Jan. 16.
He sure is, confirms showrunner Jessica O’Toole. “This season of XO, Kitty is all about where Kitty is going but also where she came from. And the opportunity to include Peter Kavinsky in that journey was so exciting,” she tells Tudum. “I can’t wait for the fans to see Peter interact with some of their favorite XO, Kitty characters and to see all of the other juicy surprises we have in store ... including some big moments fans have been waiting for and others they will never see coming.”
And don’t worry — O’Toole says the rapport between Kitty and Peter was just as loving as the rapport between the actors behind the scenes. “It was amazing to watch Anna and Noah together on set,” she says. “They have so much love and respect for each other, and you can feel it in their scenes together.
Kitty’s social circle is expanding, with three new characters joining the show this season: Audrey Huynh (ANZBBGRL, Wyrm) as Stella, Sasha Bhasin (Brave the Dark) as Praveena, and Joshua Lee (Gangnam Project) as Jin.
This trio joins the returning cast from Season 1, including Minyeong Choi (Dae), Gia Kim (Yuri), Sang Heon Lee (Min Ho), Anthony Keyvan (Q), Peter Thurnwald (Alex), and Regan Aliyah (Juliana).
Although Kitty arrived in Seoul convinced that long-distance boyfriend Dae (Choi) was her forever-partner, her experiences at KISS changed everything. Over Season 1, Kitty realized love can flourish in countless disparate ways — and “things are not always so simple,” Cathcart told Tudum in 2023.
Clearly, Kitty’s first kiss was only the beginning. “By the end she’s like, ‘I literally have no idea about anything. I am figuring it out. There are so many new people now that are a possibility,’ ” Cathcart said. “To see her world expand is a huge, huge difference and will be a really fun thing to follow.”
Co-showrunner Jenny Han was excited to see Kitty break away from the “one true pairing” romance trope and take a more untraditional route. “I write so many romantic stories about young people. Everyone wants the ‘happily ever after’ and to feel like two people are together forever — but they are really young,” Han told Tudum in March 2023. “What was exciting about Kitty’s story [is] that it shows you can really explore different people for different times of your life.”
Yet, that doesn’t mean first loves like Dae “aren’t significant or that love wasn’t important to you,” Han continued. “It means that at that moment in your life, they were that love. And then maybe it enables you to keep going.”
When Kitty heads back to KISS for her second semester, she’s single for the first time in a long time and ready for a fresh start: no more meddling, no more drama. Maybe just some casual dating — emphasis on casual. But she has more to worry about than her love life, as a letter from her mother’s past sets her on a wild journey, and new faces at KISS bring change. As secrets unravel and bonds are tested, Kitty will learn that life, family, and love are more complicated than she ever imagined.
Follow Kitty to wherever (and whomever) her journey takes her when XO, Kitty Season 2 premieres Jan. 16. Until then, keep coming back to Tudum for all your news on the most successful matchmaker of the To All the Boys universe.
Of course you can! Click through the gallery of new photos below.
