🤐 SPOILER ALERT 🤐

The XO, Kitty Season 1 trailer — like any great teen rom-com — promises us a love triangle. But even Anna Cathcart, who portrays perky heroine Kitty Song Covey, knows you’re probably surprised by who ends up pulling her character’s heart in two directions at the end of the season: Dae (Minyeong Choi), Kitty’s longtime, long-distance boyfriend and Yuri (Gia Kim), the most popular girl at Kitty’s new school and her would-be nemesis. 

“I’m really excited to see what people think about [the storyline] and who they ship with Kitty,” Cathcart tells Tudum. 

In the initial sneak peek, we learn Kitty is heading to the Korean Independent School of Seoul (aka KISS) to finally experience IRL romance with Dae. We also see her hop into the shirtless arms of Min Ho (Sang Heon Lee), the hunky, if arrogant, wealthy playboy she meets at KISS. But as Episode 6 reveals, that scene was a dream sequence — Min Ho’s dream sequence, in fact. 

Later in Episode 6, it’s not Min Ho who catches Kitty’s eye. Instead, Kitty realizes her feelings for Yuri are way more loving than loathing. Suddenly, XO, Kitty isn’t just about Kitty connecting with Dae or the memory of her late mom, Eve — it’s about Kitty’s nascent journey as a bisexual girl. 

“XO, Kitty is really about Kitty learning that love can look a lot of different ways and that it's not something that you necessarily can figure out super easily,” says Cathcart, who learned about Kitty’s journey of self-discovery early on and thought  it was beautiful that audiences could experience that honest growth alongside her character “I’m very proud of her that she is, and that she’s letting herself explore that. I personally love that at the end of our season, it’s not that Kitty’s now all settled and she’s like, ‘Oh, that was a bit crazy, but I got it.’ ”  

Instead, Kitty ends Season 1 broken up with Dae and just missing her opportunity to tell Yuri how she feels. In a flash of rom-com coincidence, Kitty runs into Yuri at the airport in Episode 10 — except Yuri is there to pick up her girlfriend Juliana (Regan Aliyah), further complicating this love triangle. Co-showrunner Jenny Han, who also wrote the To All the Boys novels, always intended to put Kitty in a place where she could grow. 

“Kitty’s a different character [from big sister Lara Jean] and I’ve always imagined her to be somebody who was open in so many different ways and still very much exploring her identity,” Han told Tudum in March. While To All the Boys couple Lara Jean (Lana Condor) and Peter (Noah Centineo) are a traditional “one true pairing” kind of romance, to borrow Han’s words, Kitty’s love life is meant to be completely different. 

“This story is for Kitty, who’s a matchmaker, who pairs people together, to expand outside of that thought of there being one person for you and think that maybe there's many different loves that you can have, many different experiences, all different kinds of people,” Han said.  

In the last scene of the finale, Kitty is given one more person to consider because Min Ho reveals his feelings for her on their flight back to America. At last, Kitty’s love triangle takes its final shape as a love square. “I was like, ‘Wow, what a position to be in,’ ” Cathcart jokes. But there is a deeper meaning to this enviable, if overwhelming, situation. 

“There’s no little button for Kitty where she's like, ‘Oh, now I know who I am and I know what label fits me or if I even want to have a label,’ ” says Cathcart. “All those things are up in the air. I love that.” 

So who should Kitty choose? And what does the future hold for the entire XO, Kitty love polygon and beyond? The cast and crew have shown up for class and they’re ready to explain.  

Who should Kitty choose? 

Kitty has three stellar romantic options at the end of XO, Kitty Season 1: Dae, Yuri and Min Ho. But Cathcart believes she doesn’t need to make a decision anytime soon — or ever.  

“Kitty doesn’t need a person, obviously,” she says. “It’s very cool that she doesn’t have a person by the end. She’s essentially choosing herself and choosing the space to figure that out.” 

Instead, Cathcart hopes Kitty continues to explore her options and “follow her heart,” since “the best choice you can make is the one that you feel is right in your gut.” Her co-stars Kim and Choi agree. Kim, who portrays Yuri, says, “Whoever ends up with whom, I think it’s going to be really cute and adorable. And Choi says Dae only lets Kitty go “because he knows that that's the only way to respect her and love her.” 

As co-showrunner Sascha Rothchild told Tudum in March, Kitty’s open-ended love story was meant to celebrate younger generations who are “[a] little bit more open to dating several people at once,” or have grown up seeing their parents go through breakups. “As Min Ho says, relationships can be for ‘a reason, a season, or a lifetime,’ " she added. Han enjoyed exploring how “happily ever after” has evolved to a place where very young people aren’t expected to be together forever. 

“What was exciting about Kitty’s story is that it shows you can really explore different people for different times of your life,” Han said. “It doesn’t mean that somebody isn’t significant or that their love wasn’t important to you. It means that at that moment in your life, they were that love. Then maybe it enables you to keep going and find new loves.”  

Meet the Characters of ‘XO, Kitty’ 

Is Alex really Kitty’s brother? 

No, he’s not — despite what it says in Eve’s hospital records. Instead, Alex (Peter Thurnwald) is Yuri’s biological brother. As we learn at the start of XO, Kitty, twentysomething KISS teacher Alex, who was raised in Australia by adoptive parents, has come to Seoul to learn about his birth parents. Over the course of Season 1, he, Kitty and her friends put together the mystery of his lineage. 

Yuri’s mom, KISS principal Jina Lim (Yunjin Kim), is Alex’s biological mother and Alex’s stern KISS colleague Professor Lee (Michael K. Lee) is his biological father. Jina and Professor Lee were in love during their time at KISS. When Jina gave birth — unbeknownst to Professor Lee — she put Eve’s name on the paperwork since they were best friends and roommates at the time. 

Why did Juliana actually leave KISS? 

In Episode 1, we learn Yuri and Juliana were caught kissing before the KISS welcome party, and Jina tells Yuri that Juliana’s parents decided pull her from the school. But that’s not true. In reality, Yuri’s mom used her power to force Juliana out of the school and “protect” the Han family image. In Episode 9, Yuri confronts her mom about the homophobic betrayal.  

“It’s my favorite scene out of the season. It was also the scene I was most anticipating and most nervous about. It’s a pivotal moment for her, Yuri and for her relationship with her mom,” Kim says. “At the end of the day she just wants her mom’s approval and love for who she is.” 

After the truth about Alex comes out, Jina realizes the hurtful mistakes she’s made and decides to make amends. The first step is inviting Juliana back to KISS, which is great news for Yuri and a disappointing surprise for Kitty. 

Kitty can’t really be done with KISS — right? 

After a tough first semester at the rigorous KISS, Kitty ends the season with grades good enough to remain at school. Unfortunately, that success is short-lived because school officials catch her celebrating in the hallway of the boys’ dorm and learn that’s where she’s been living all semester. Uh-oh.

And with that, Kitty is expelled for breaking the rules, hence her forlorn flight back to America to end Season 1. Still, Cathcart says Kitty is leaving South Korea fulfilled. “Her heart is very full,” she says. “Kitty’s also learned a lot about her mom, Korea and herself. It’s not just about the love stories.” 

But is Kitty’s Seoul-searching adventure truly over? You’ll have to keep checking back with Tudum for all your XO, Kitty news to find out. 

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Additional reporting by Jean Bentley.