Spoilers Ahead for Season 2 of Netflix’s XO, Kitty
When XO, Kitty arrived on Netflix in 2023, it tried its best to distance itself from its predecessor, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, which was celebrating its fifth anniversary that same year. Despite its source material being one of the best romantic comedies of all time, it was important to the creative team that the young adult dramedy allow Kitty (Anna Cathcart) to be her own person away from the shadows of her older sister. It worked well for the first season, but now that the second has arrived on the 2025 TV schedule, it’s clear that they’re no longer afraid of peppering in easter eggs and callbacks to the original movie.
When it comes to references back to TATB, the most obvious one, of course, is the inclusion of fan-favorite Peter Kavinsky, whose cameo was revealed in the XO, Kitty's Season 2 trailer and set the internet into a tizzy. As exciting as it was to see Noah Centineo step back into the role of the internet’s boyfriend, it’s not the only callback in the eight-episode season.
In fact, there are a handful of “intentional and subtle” easter eggs that callback to the original film that diehard fans are going to love. As a fan myself, I definitely have a favorite.
I couldn’t stop kicking my feet like a blushing middle school girl when Kitty fainted on the track in the exact same position as Lara Jean (Lana Condor) did in the original movie when she spotted her love letter in Peter’s hand. Take a look:
The best part is the XO, Kitty crew didn’t phone in the parallel and instead made sure it was identical to the frame used in the OG flick.
In an interview with Deadline, Cathcart broke down how the iconic scene came to be:
It was so cool to see how much care everybody put into it because we would have the original scene up on someone’s monitor during rehearsal to make sure my ponytail was in the right spot and the line of the track was in the right spot. We had a mirrored monitor to see Lana [Condor] from the first movie and then me on the track to see if it was the same. The little details that we were so conscientious of. I can’t wait for fans to notice that. They were very intentional and subtle.
I love it when a show is calculated with its easter eggs, and judging by the outpouring of support on social media, it’s a move that has totally paid off for XO, Kitty.
In addition to the fainting scene, TATB fans will also find a subtle callback to the iconic hot tub scene of the first movie, as well as letter writing, which started it all.
While not officially an easter egg, Cathcart also mentioned in her interview that some fans think Minho’s constant need to refer to Kitty by her last name is parallel to the way Peter called Lara Jean “Covey” for a large chunk of the first film. We’ll let the TATB fans be the judge on that one, while the rest of us look for other fun callbacks and easter eggs to these beloved films.
The first two seasons of XO, Kitty are now available to stream with a Netflix subscription.
