Adults Returns for Season Two as Amita Rao Steps Into the Spotlight
FX's comedy Adults returned for its second season on 27 August, and the spotlight is firmly on Amita Rao, the 27-year-old actress and stand-up comedian who plays Issa — a character FX describes as loud, loyal, passionate, and unapologetic about her armpit hair (The Hollywood Reporter; FX Networks).
The show premiered on 28 May 2025 and follows five twenty-something friends — Issa (Rao), Anton (Owen Thiele), Paul Baker (Jack Innanen), Samir (Malik Elassal) and Lucy Freyer's character — who crash together in Samir's childhood home (FX Networks). Its first season ran to eight episodes, all available to stream on Hulu (FX Networks).
Season two picks up weeks after a finale that upended the group's dynamics. Paul Baker, who is Canadian — much like the actor who plays him — married Anton in season one so he could stay in the country. In that finale, Paul chose Anton over his girlfriend Issa, leading to a charged kiss between the two men (The Hollywood Reporter; The Hollywood Reporter).
The love triangle is the engine of the new season. Anton and Paul Baker have a connection, Paul Baker and Issa are dating, and Anton and Issa are best friends — three edges pulling against each other (The Hollywood Reporter). The Hollywood Reporter's 12 August feature on the season described the second run as centring on the palpable chemistry between Paul Baker and Anton, a dynamic Issa cannot deny.
Rao told The Hollywood Reporter she was most interested in the tension between Issa and Anton as best friends this season. She also said she had not seen a show that captured a Gen Z ethos the way Adults does (The Hollywood Reporter).
The cast bonded quickly during production. Rao and co-star Malik Elassal became close friends, helped by organised ice-breakers and a public scene they filmed together, according to a Hollywood Reporter feature published 30 May 2025 (The Hollywood Reporter). When the show premiered, Rao and Elassal called each other to talk through the shift in energy they felt watching it back (The Hollywood Reporter).
Beyond the series, Rao works as a stand-up comedian and creates and produces her own comedy material (The Hollywood Reporter). FX has also released a behind-the-scenes video with Rao, titled "Diary #002: Behind the Scenes With Amita Rao," alongside an official trailer for the second season (FX Networks).
FX describes Anton as Samir's college roommate — guarded, with a tendency to hide behind his outrageous charm and competence (FX Networks). That guard, combined with Paul Baker's impulsiveness and Issa's loyalty, is what gives the season its charge.
For viewers, the new season offers a continuation of the messy, overlapping friendships that defined the first — now with higher stakes and a love triangle that, by design, leaves no relationship untouched.
