At the end of Season 1 of MTV's hit show "Awkward", high school nobody Jenna (Ashley Rickards) chose nice guy Jake (Brett Davern) over high school jock Matty (Beau Mirchoff) after a season full of major drama. Jenna originally fell for Matty, but when he wanted to keep things on the down low, she fell for Jake, who just so happened to be Matty's best friend.
Matty is left heartbroken, and to make things worst, he has to see his best friend making out with the girl he loves on a daily basis. When faced with a tough decision -- bros before hoes? -- Matty decides to fight for Jenna's affection, and somewhere along the way, he may learn a thing or two about his past mistakes.
In an interview with HuffPost TV, Beau Mirchoff previewed the upcoming season, Matty's shirtless tactics and a future episode that could see everyone swapping roles. (Jenna, sans snark? Imagine!)
I just want to say that I think MTV is on Team Matty. Have you seen the marketing for Season 2? You’re shirtless in every ad.
[Laughs.] No, they didn’t want that, but I made sure that it had to happen. It’s quite hilarious. I’m a piece of meat now. You do know that, right? That’s what I am. I have no problem with it, except my mom and all of my friends make fun of me.
Jenna has a great line in Season 2. “You have nice abs. I get it!”
Right! I guess it’s a compliment. I should embrace it more!
But it’s also Matty’s ploy to get Jenna back, right?
Exactly! It’s part of his arsenal to get Jenna back. Matty knows what he has going for him and that’s his abs. He knows what he’s doing.
What’s going to happen to Matty and Jake’s friendship this season? I can only imagine that it’s going to be hard for Matty to be around Jake and Jenna.
Right. Matty is obviously still in love with Jenna, and his best friend is dating her, so it’s a very complicated situation. He doesn’t want to blatantly profess his love for Jenna again, so he’s got to do it in a sly, sneaky way. In one of the episodes, he takes his shirt off while they’re playing video games because it’s too hot playing video games. [Laughs.] It’s just so ridiculous ... It showed Matty’s competitive nature. He wants what he can’t have, and guys are innately competitive, so there’s going to be a lot of that this season.
What other tactics does he use to get Jenna’s attention?
He doesn’t just take his shirt off. I promise! He’s got a couple of other [tactics], but not many. He was pulling out the big guns by taking off his shirt. After that, he really has to get creative, and that isn’t really Matty’s thing.
At the end of Season 1, fans were shocked to realize that Jenna’s mom wrote the "carefrontation" letter. Were you shocked?
No because we weren’t allowed to read that part of the script. Lauren [Iungerich] wanted to keep that a secret from everybody. I kind of suspected. In the beginning of the season, I was like, “Is it Matty? I need to know if it’s me!” She’s like, “Fine. No, it’s not you.” So that was a relief! It was a little strange to find out it was Jenna’s mom, but I think it was justified. Lacey is a very complicated character and human being. It all will make sense. You’ll see why she did it. In Season 2, you’ll see her battle with that decision and her turmoil. There’s some heartbreaking stuff coming up.
There’s also a really shocking moment between Matty and Sadie this season that I totally did not see coming.
Oh yeah, there is! Fans will look at Sadie and Matty in an entirely new light.
When you read the script, were you like, “Oh my god, what?”
When I read it, I definitely wasn’t anticipating it. But in a drunken moment, when you’re down on your luck, I could see how that could happen. It was an impulse, so we’ll see what happens.
She’s like Sadie 2.0 this season.
Definitely. She’s firing on all cylinders this season. She’s actually my favorite character. She can be a bitch at times, but then you still feel for her. Sadie has a wide scope of emotions, and Molly [Tarlov] plays her so well.
Do you ever feel like Sadie and Jenna could be friends?
I think they could be! In later seasons, I could definitely see Sadie having a big revelation and changing her ways. If Jenna wasn’t Jenna -- if she was more popular or grew up in the same social circle -- they could definitely be besties.
I’d love to see an AU (alternate universe) episode where all of the roles are switched. Jenna can be the popular one, and Matty can be the academic.
There’s an interesting episode later in the season that may be kind of similar to what you are talking about. I won’t say anything else, but you’re a smart cookie.
"Awkward." Season 2 premires on Thurs., June 28, 10:30 p.m. ET on MTV.
Check out "Awkward" Season 2 cast photos here:
