The stars and executive producers of the 'Fosters' spinoff talk to ET about the anticipated new series.
Maia Mitchell and Cierra Ramirez are all grown up.
The stars of The Fosters reprise their beloved characters, Callie and Mariana Adams Foster, on the new Freeform spinoff Good Trouble, picking up right where the series finale left off, which was set five years in the future. Now, they're packing their bags, leaving San Diego and starting a new life as young 20-somethings in Downtown Los Angeles. A recent graduate of UCSD Law School, Callie is working a clerkship at a conservative judge's office, while Mariana, an MIT alum, is a software engineer at a male-dominated tech company.
"It's our baby! It's rare to be involved in something from the start of the whole process, so we're really invested and excited," Mitchell, rocking a new blonde 'do, told ET's Denny Directo and Cassie DiLaura on Tuesday. "Seeing it come to life, it's just very exciting," Ramirez added.
Both Mitchell, 25, and Ramirez, 23, serve as executive producers on Good Trouble, one of ET's top TV picks for 2019, and the real-life BFFs commented that they were "lucky" to be able to take ownership over their characters and have some creative control behind the scenes. "We've had insight into it from the beginning and it's been a huge blessing," Ramirez shared.
When the action picks up on Good Trouble, Mitchell teased that both Callie and Mariana are "both thrown into the adult world, and [they] realize very quickly that it's not going to be as breezy as they thought." Familiar faces from The Fosters family, such as the moms Stef (Teri Polo) and Lena (Sherri Saum), Jesus (Noah Centineo), Jude (Hayden Byerly) and Brandon (David Lambert) all appear throughout the 10-episode season.
The five-year time jump also affords Mitchell and Ramirez a chance to tell more adult stories and touch on things that may have been a little too mature on The Fosters. "Cierra and I have a very similar dynamic to Callie and Mariana, but especially now that we're playing our own ages," Mitchell said. "The topics that we cover on the show are so relatable to us."
"A lot of conversations that we've actually had too," Ramirez added. "I was such genuinely a fan of The Fosters, [it's cool] just to see where these girls have gone in their lives. Some of The Fosters family will come back and you'll see who they are now."
Mitchell and Ramirez opened up about the upcoming storylines that hit close to home for them -- and they often include Fosters faves.
"The moms episode, when they come and visit us and the girls are trying to keep it together and act like adults, but as soon as their moms call their bluff, they just [break down]," Mitchell recalled, adding that she calls her own mom for advice every day. "Usually in rehearsal, I won't cry and I won't do much but I just started bawling my eyes out because it was about to be my birthday and my mom had said she couldn't come. So I was like, 'Oh my gosh, this is too relatable!'"
"Right away, they're hit with parking tickets and getting their car towed. I'm like, I can relate even to this day!" Ramirez said with a laugh. "I just got a parking ticket the other day. Welcome to L.A., girls!"
Freeform has been doling out sneak peeks from Polo, Saum, Centineo, Byerly and Lambert's cameos over the past few days, but Ramirez teased that the timing of their appearances is intentional. "We need our family and they come in at the perfect time," she said.
If audiences haven't seen The Fosters before, another hook in is To All the Boys I've Loved Before breakout Centineo. A shirtless photo and brief clip from his episode, airing in the back half of Good Trouble's first season, was released Friday.
"It's so weird because he was actually guest starring the week that [the Netflix movie] came out, so we sort of saw it happen overnight," Ramirez said. "He's still our Noah."
When asked if they were protective over Centineo, Mitchell adorably replied, "Yes!" "I freaked out a little. I was like, Is he OK? But he's still a dork so it's fine."
Good Trouble premieres Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Freeform, but the first episode is streaming now on Hulu.
RELATED CONTENT:
