Cruel Summer Showrunner Explains Those Confusing Season 2 Timelines

With half of its episodes already aired, Season 2 of Cruel Summer doesn't disappoint so far. The story of three Chatham teens caught up in a murder mystery feels darker, more twisted, and somehow even more gripping than the premiere season.

However, there's one aspect of the new installment that has some viewers confused.

Just like in the first season, the new story spans three different timelines, a piece of which is shown in each episode, leading up to the grand finale where everything that has happened is set to be revealed. But if the first chapter covered a rather long period of three years, from 1993 to 1995, the whole story in Season 2 takes place in just one year, from the summer of 1999 to the summer of 2000.

With each time period having a very different vibe from the other two, some fans feel that the protagonists and their relationships have changed too much over the course of just one year, making the story hard to buy. However, the season's showrunner, Elle Triedman, doesn't think that's a problem.

'I actually liked the compression of the time that we looked at,' Triedman told The Hollywood Reporter, addressing issues surrounding the show's unique format. 'Especially in senior year of high school, everything changes.'

The showrunner explained that the year in the lives of the protagonists that she and her team chose to show is actually formative and can change a teenager in a matter of days, depending on the circumstances they find themselves in. And that's exactly what happens to protagonists Megan, Luke, and Isabella.

'It's the summer before senior year, it's winter break, and then it's the summer after,' Triedman said. 'It's also a time when everyone's trying to figure out who they are and who they want to be. It's a time of reinvention.'

As for the making of the show, the unusual three-timeline format naturally presented its challenges, the most significant of which were production difficulties.

'The biggest challenge is really tracking it within itself,' the showrunner explained. 'In a perfect world, you would write all of the scripts, lay them out on the floor and then sort of shuffle the deck, and cut and paste. Production time doesn't allow for that.'

While it was not an easy task and not every fan is sold on the one-year story, the writers have certainly done a great job of juggling the three timelines. So far, the second season feels like a compelling mystery that's fun to follow and try to solve. Let's hope the rest of the season won't disappoint either.

Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 6 is airing on Freeform on July 3, 2023.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter.