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‘Cruel Summer’: Sarah Drew To Recur On Jessica Biel-Produced Freeform Series

EXCLUSIVE: Grey’s Anatomy alumna Sarah Drew is set for a season-long arc in Freeform’s upcoming thriller drama series Cruel Summer (fka Last Summer), from Bert V. Royal, Jessica Biel and eOne.

Cruel Summer
takes place over three summers — 1993-95 — in a small Texas town when a beautiful popular teen, Kate (Olivia Holt), is abducted and, seemingly unrelated, a girl, Jeanette (Chiara Aurelia), goes from being a sweet, awkward outlier to the most popular girl in town and, by ’95, the most despised person in America. Each episode is told from the POV of one of the two main girls, which will have the viewers’ loyalties constantly shifting as more information is revealed.

2020 Freeform Pilots & Series Orders

Drew will play Cindy Turner, mother to Jeanette. Although once the most popular girl in town, Cindy struggles to hold her family together while being in the crosshairs of town gossip.

Royal executive produces the series with Iron Ocean Productions’ Biel and Michelle Purple.

Drew is best known for her nine-season run as Dr. April Kepner on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy. She is repped by Innovative Artists, Vault Entertainment and Morris Yorn.

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