XO, Kitty

XO, Kitty is an American romantic comedy drama television series created by Jenny Han for Netflix that premiered on May 18, 2023. It is a spin-off of the To All the Boys film series (itself an adaptation of Han's book trilogy To All the Boys I've Loved Before), and marks the first Netflix television series to be spun-off from a Netflix original film. Han serves as writer and executive producer in addition to being a showrunner. Anna Cathcart reprises the title role as Kitty Song Covey, a high school student who goes on her own journey to find true love. The show has received positive reviews from critics.

In June 2023, the series was renewed for a second season.

Cast and characters

Main

• Anna Cathcart as Katherine "Kitty" Song Covey
• Choi Min-young as Dae-heon Kim
• Gia Kim as Yuri Han
• Sang Heon Lee as Min-ho
• Anthony Keyvan as Quincy "Q" Shabazian
• Regan Aliyah as Juliana
• Peter Thurnwald as Professor Alex Finnerty

Recurring

• Yunjin Kim as Director Ji-na Lim
• Michael K. Lee as Professor Daniel Lee
• Jocelyn Shelfo as Madison Miller
• Lee Sung-wook as Mr. Kim
• Théo Augier Bonaventure as Florian
• Lee Hyung-chul as Mr. Han
• Sunny Oh as Mi-hee
• Ryu Han-bi as Eunice

Guest

• John Corbett as Dan Covey
• Sarayu Blue as Trina
• Han Chae-young as Dami, Min Ho's mother
• Ok Taec-yeon as Ocean Park
• Chaerin from Cherry Bullet as Lulu

Episodes

Production

In March 2021, it was announced that a series spin-off to To All the Boys was in development, with each episode being a half-hour romantic comedy. The series got developed as a Netflix exclusive, from Awesomeness and ACE Entertainment. The books' original author Jenny Han was reported to be the creator, writer and executive producer as well as writing the script for the pilot with Siobhan Vivian. Anna Cathcart was also reported to be reprising her role as Kitty Song Covey. Six months later, Netflix ordered ten episodes along with announcing other crew members. Sascha Rothchild and Matt Kaplan joined Han as executive producers while the former is also the showrunner along with Han. On April 5, 2022, Choi Min-yeong, Anthony Keyvan, Gia Kim, Sang Heon Lee, Peter Thurnwald, and Regan Aliyah were cast as series regulars while Yunjin Kim, Michael K. Lee, and Jocelyn Shelfo joined the cast in recurring roles. By that date, production had begun in Seoul. Gia Kim and Sang Heon Lee, the actors who played Yuri and Min Ho, respectively, are siblings in real life.

On June 14, 2023, Netflix renewed the series for a second season. On April 25, 2024, it was announced that the second season had begun production in Seoul.

Release

XO, Kitty was released on Netflix on May 18, 2023.

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 83% approval rating with an average rating of 5.8/10, based on 18 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "A modest and sweet extension of all the films that fans have loved before, XO, Kitty aims straight for the heart and finds its mark." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 67 out of 100 based on seven critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

While the series had a high viewership on Netflix in more than 50 countries, it received minimal attention in South Korea, where the show takes place. A reason cited for this was that the global success of South Korean media led to the country's people not caring about its depiction in foreign productions. Another explanation was that thrillers and action shows are more popular than romance shows in South Korea.

Notes

References

External links

• XO, Kitty on Netflix
• XO, Kitty at IMDb