''Strangers'' is an American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

series created by Mia Lidofsky that premiered on September 4, 2017, on

Facebook Watch Facebook Watch is a video on demand service operated by American company Meta Platforms (previously named Facebook, Inc.). The company announced the service in August 2017 and was available to all U.S. users that month. Facebook Watch's original ...

. The series stars

Zoë Chao Zoë Carroll Chao (born September 19, 1985) is an American television and stage actress and screenwriter, principally known for her role as Isobel in '' Strangers'', and Zoe in '' The Afterparty''. Early life Chao was born in Providence, Rhode ...

and

Meredith Hagner Meredith Kathleen Hagner (born May 31, 1987) is an American actress. She began her career portraying Liberty Ciccone on the CBS soap opera ''As the World Turns'' (2008–2010), which earned her a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Yo ...

and is executive produced by Lidofsky,

Jesse Peretz Jesse Peretz (born May 19, 1968) is an American film and television director, TV producer and former musician. He first rose to prominence as a bass guitarist and founding member of The Lemonheads, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based band which for ...

, Michael B. Clark, Alex Turtletaub, M. Blair Brown, and

Neena Beber Neena Beber is an American writer of plays and television screenplays. She is also a television producer. Beber wrote the sixth episode of the TBS comedy '' The Detour''. Her short (10-minute) play ''Misreadings'' was included in ''Best Americ ...

Premise

The first season follows "Isobel, a young woman living in Los Angeles who rents out her extra room on Airbnb. She finds herself in need of extra cash after boyfriend moves out when she cheats on him with a woman. As she struggles to make sense of her shifting sexuality, an eccentric cast of characters rotate through her house, bringing both inconveniences and unexpected wisdom." The second season follows Isobel as she "switches from host to renter when she moves across the country with her best friend, Cam. On the cusp of 30 and now living in NYC, it's Isobel's year to explore the many different paths to adulthood, starting with a new neighborhood each episode. As a woman living fully in the bi-sphere - bisexual, biracial, and now bi-coastal - Isobel is saying yes to life and asking the most difficult question: where do you belong when you’re in between everything?"

Cast and characters

Main

as Isobel Song *

as Cam

Recurring

* Isabelle McNally as Hailey *

Langston Kerman Langston Kerman is an American actor, writer, and comedian. He has acted in programs including '' Insecure'', ''High Maintenance'', '' Bless This Mess'', and '' The Boys''. Kerman is a writer and co-star on HBO Max's '' South Side''. His first com ...

as Jake * Morgan Krantz as Ezra *

X Mayo X Mayo () is an American comedian, writer, producer, and actress. She was a staff writer for ''The Daily Show''. Mayo has acted in the series ''Strangers (2017 TV series), Strangers'', ''The Good Doctor (American TV series), The Good Doctor'', and ...

as Robbie * Kyle Allen as Milo *

Kathleen Munroe Kathleen Munroe (born April 9, 1982) is a Canadian actress and wig maker. Munroe was born in Hamilton, Ontario, and currently resides in Los Angeles. She studied cinema at the University of Toronto. She won the 2010 ACTRA Award for Outstanding F ...

as Mari *

Ciara Renée Ciara Renée Harper (born October 19, 1990) is an American actress and musician. She is best known for her roles on Broadway as The Witch in ''Big Fish,'' the Leading Player in ''Pippin'', and Elsa in '' Frozen.'' She played Esmeralda in ''The H ...

as Sasha * Stephanie DiMaggio as Stephania, the manager of Le Playground. *

Sarita Choudhury Sarita Catherine Louise Choudhury (born 18 August 1966) is a British actress, known for her role as Mina in the Mira Nair-directed feature film ''Mississippi Masala'' (1991). Choudhury has played roles in American and international films and tel ...

as Brooke *

Raviv Ullman Raviv Chanan "Ricky" Ullman ( he, רביב אולמן; born 24 January 1986) is an Israeli-American actor, director, and musician. He is best known for playing Phil Diffy, the main character in the Disney Channel series '' Phil of the Future''. ...

as Royce * Sue Jean Kim as Elody Wu * Maureen Sebastian as Stella *

Tara Summers Tara Summers (born 19 December 1979) is an English actress. Summers was educated at Heathfield St Mary's School, in Berkshire. She later attended Brown University, where she graduated with a B.A. in history in 2001. Her grandmother was Fritzi ...

as Andy * Hans Tester as Henry * Sydney Mae Diaz as River *

Maria Dizzia Maria Teresa Dizzia (born December 29, 1974) is an American actress. Dizzia was nominated for the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in ''In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)''. Early life ...

as Georgie *

Stephen McKinley Henderson Stephen McKinley Henderson (born August 31, 1949) is an American actor and director. Henderson trained at Juilliard School for acting and later became a resident member of the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis from 1976 to 1981. He came to prominen ...

as Billy *

Edward Akrout Edward Akrout is a Franco-British artist and actor. Early life and education Born in Paris, Akrout grew up between France and England. He studied philosophy at the Sorbonne before attending Le Cours Florent in Paris for theatre, followed by t ...

as Mateo

Guest

Ebon Moss-Bachrach Ebon Moss-Bachrach (born March 19, 1977) is an American actor best known for playing the role of David Lieberman in ''The Punisher'' and Desi Harperin in ''Girls''. Since 2022, Moss-Bachrach has played Richard "Richie" Jerimovich in the drama s ...

as the voice of Dad ("Honeymooners") *

Gaby Hoffmann Gabrielle Mary Antonia HoffmannStated on '' Finding Your Roots'', November 21, 2017 (born January 8, 1982) is an American actress. She initially found success as a child actress, appearing in ''Field of Dreams,'' ''Uncle Buck,'' and ''Sleeple ...

as the voice of Mom ("Honeymooners") *

Jemaine Clement Jemaine Atea Mahana Clement (born 10 January 1974) is a New Zealand actor, comedian, musician and filmmaker. He has released several albums with Bret McKenzie as the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, and created a comedy series of the ...

as Oliver ("Honeymooners") *

Matt Oberg Matthew French Oberg (born August 12, 1976, in Larchmont, New York) is an American actor and comedian. He is primarily known for his roles in television series such as ''The Real O'Neals'' and '' Ugly Americans'' and ''Hart of Dixie ''Hart ...

as Dave ("Tinder Hearts") *

Shiri Appleby Shiri Freda Appleby (born December 7, 1978) is an American actress and television director. She is best known for her leading roles as Liz Parker in the WB/UPN science fiction drama series '' Roswell'' (1999–2002) and Rachel Goldberg in the L ...

as Minister/Julie ("Water Into Wine") *

Eka Darville Eka Darville (born 11 April 1989) is an Australian actor. He is best known for his roles as Scott Truman in ''Power Rangers RPM,'' Pip in ''Mr. Pip'', Malcolm Ducasse in ''Jessica Jones'' and Diego in '' The Originals''. Biography Early life ...

as Markquon ("Water Into Wine") *

Jemima Kirke Jemima Jo M Kirke (born 26 April 1985) is a British-American artist, actress and director. She gained international acclaim through her role as Jessa Johansson on the HBO series ''Girls''. She made her film debut in the 2005 indie short '' Smil ...

as Emmy ("Homeless") *

Bridget Regan Bridget Catherine Regan (born February 3, 1982) is an American actress known for portrayals such as Kahlan Amnell in the television series ''Legend of the Seeker'', Rebecca Lowe / Rachel Turner in '' White Collar'', Rose Solano in ''Jane the ...

as Ana ("Homeless") *

Holden McNeil This is a list of major and recurring characters in Kevin Smith's fictional universe known as the View Askewniverse. ''Clerks'' (1994) Dante Hicks Dante Hicks, played by Brian O'Halloran, is 22 (33 in ''Clerks II, 49 in Clerks III''), works at ...

as Charlie ("Homeless") *

Sophia Anne Caruso Sophia Anne Caruso (born July 11, 2001) is an American actress and singer best known for originating the role of Lydia Deetz in the Broadway musical ''Beetlejuice'', a role for which she won a Theatre World Award. She also portrays Sophie in ''T ...

as Lily ("The Big (Gr)apple") *

Michael Cavadias Michael Cavadias (born February 16, 1970) is an American actor known for ''Wonder Boys'', the 2012 TV series ''Girls,'' and ''Difficult People'', as well as performing in theatre with the Mabou Mines and Blacklips. Early life and education Cavadi ...

as Joakeem ("The Big (Gr)apple") * Mahi Alam as Samir ("Maskulinity") *

Samrat Chakrabarti Samrat Chakrabarti (born 22 August 1975) is a British-American film actor and musician of Indian descent. Early life Born in London to Indian Hindu Bengali immigrant parents from Kolkata. He performed in Indian community functions in Boston, ...

as Jai ("Maskulinity") *

Madhur Jaffrey Madhur Jaffrey CBE (née Bahadur; born 13 August 1933) is an Indian-British-American actress, food and travel writer, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing Indian cuisine to the western hemisphere with her debut cookbook, ...

as Nani ("Maskulinity") *

Trieste Kelly Dunn Trieste Kelly Dunn (born January 14, 1981) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Deputy Siobhan Kelly in the Cinemax series ''Banshee'' and U.S. Marshal Allison Knight in the NBC series '' Blindspot''. Personal life Dunn studie ...

as Elliot ("Big Little Chill") *

Rebecca Naomi Jones Rebecca Naomi Jones (born March 31, 1981) is an American actress and singer best known for her performances in the Broadway rock musicals ''Passing Strange'', '' American Idiot'', and '' Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' as well as being the first wo ...

as Eliza ("Big Little Chill") *

Dolly Wells Dorothy Perpetua Wells (born Gatacre; 5 December 1971)Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, vol. III, 2003, pg 3046 is an English actress and writer. She co-wrote and starred in the Sky Living series ''Doll & Em'' (2014–2015) with Emily ...

as Tasha ("Big Little Chill") *

Talia Balsam Talia Balsam (born March 5, 1959) is an American television and film actress. Early life Balsam was born in New York City on March 5, 1959, to actors Martin Balsam and Joyce Van Patten. Her ancestry is Russian Jewish (father) and Italian, Dutch, ...

as Isobel's Mother ("Smash the Plate-triarchy") *

Rain Dove Rain Dove Dubilewski (born September 27, 1989) is an American model, actor, and activist, best known for their work in subversive fashion, as a gender-nonconforming model, posing alternately as male and female in photoshoots, productions, and ru ...

as Elly ("Spun and Done")

Episodes

Season 1 (2017)

Season 2 (2018)

Production

Development

On May 2, 2016,

Refinery29 Refinery29 (R29) is an American multinational digital media and entertainment website focused on young women. It is owned by Vice Media. History Justin Stefano, Philippe von Borries, Piera Gelardi, and Christene Barberich co-founded Refinery29 i ...

announced during its Digital Content NewFronts presentation that they were producing the series in association with Beachside Productions. The series was expected to be written and directed by Mia Lidofsky and executive produced by

. Following the series debut at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2017, Lidofsky continued to try and figure out how to get the show launched and distributed. That spring, Facebook became aware of the series and soon acquired its already produced first season. On June 26, 2017, it was announced that the series had been acquired by

and that it would premiere with the launch of the service in late 2017. On October 17, 2017, it was reported that Facebook had renewed the series for a second season consisting of ten episodes to premiere in 2018. The runtime of each episode was expected to expand from 15 minutes in length to a more standard TV half-hour (between 20 minutes and 25 minutes).

Filming

Principal photography for season two of the series was expected to begin in late March 2018.

Release

Marketing

On January 20, 2017, a trailer for the first season was released.

Premiere

On January 22, 2017, the series premiered its first three episodes at the annual

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

Park City, Utah Park City is a city in Utah, United States. The vast majority is in Summit County, and it extends into Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City' ...

. On July 15, 2017, the series held its official west coast premiere at

Outfest Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

where the entire series was screened as part of the film festival's centerpiece screening series. On June 26, 2018, the series held its second season premiere at The William Vale hotel in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. On July 19, 2018, the west coast premiere of the second season is scheduled to be held during Outfest in Los Angeles, California. The first two episodes of season two are set to be screened and will be followed with a question-and-answer session with the cast and crew.

Reception

''Strangers'' has been met with a positive reception from critics upon its release. ''

Mashable Mashable is a digital media platform, news website and entertainment company founded by Pete Cashmore in 2005. History Mashable was founded by Pete Cashmore while living in Aberdeen, Scotland, in July 2005. Early iterations of the site were a ...

'' critic Laura Prudom claimed that "if you haven't discovered Strangers yet, you're in for a treat." ''The Knockturnal'' critic Ivan De Luce praised the show for exploring sexuality in a "fresh way" and that "Unlike other shows about youth, Strangers steers clear of characters who mope about the pointlessness of life, and instead focuses on the positive, namely the many relationships that help us through life’s struggles. As a result, Strangers exudes warmth."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Strangers (2017 TV Series) 2010s American comedy-drama television series 2017 American television series debuts 2010s American LGBT-related drama television series American comedy web series English-language television shows Facebook Watch original programming American drama web series American LGBT-related web series