You remember the chaos. If you watched Desperate Housewives during its heyday, the Scavo twins were basically the human embodiment of a headache for Lynette. One minute they’re toddlers painting the neighbor’s house blue or jumping off the roof with umbrellas, and the next, they’re grown men causing international incidents and accidental pregnancies. Porter and Preston Scavo were the ultimate wildcard of Wisteria Lane. Honestly, keeping track of their ages, their actors, and their increasingly weird storylines is a full-time job.
The Great Age Jump and the Actor Switch
The most jarring thing about Porter and Preston Scavo wasn't their behavior—it was their faces. For the first four seasons, they were played by Brent and Shane Kinsman. These were the bowl-cut kids who made Lynette’s life a living hell while Tom was off being, well, Tom. They were cute, sure, but they were mostly there to show how overwhelmed a stay-at-home mom could get.
Then came the Season 5 time jump. Suddenly, we skipped five years into the future, but the twins seemed to have aged about a decade. Max and Charlie Carver took over the roles, turning the Scavo boys into 16-year-old (or 18-year-old, depending on which episode’s continuity you trust) delinquents. The Kinsman twins actually went on to do Cheaper by the Dozen, while the Carver brothers became staples in shows like Teen Wolf and The Leftovers. It’s one of those rare TV recasts that actually worked because the energy stayed the same: chaotic, slightly dim-witted, but weirdly loyal to their mom.
✨ Don't miss: Death Wish II: Why This Sleazy Sequel Still Triggers People Today
Why Porter and Preston Scavo Were Always in Trouble
If there was a fire, a fight, or a legal bill, one of these two was usually at the center of it. Let’s look at the Season 5 arson plot. Porter gets framed for burning down Rick’s restaurant and then Warren Schilling’s club. It was a whole thing. He literally had to hide out at his grandmother’s nursing home because he was terrified of a nightclub owner.
Meanwhile, Preston decides to go on a "find himself" trip to Europe and comes back with a Russian fiancée named Irina. Talk about a mess. Lynette, being Lynette, immediately senses something is off. Turns out she was right—Irina was essentially a gold-digger with a trail of bodies (or at least empty bank accounts) behind her.
🔗 Read more: Dark Reign Fantastic Four: Why This Weirdly Political Comic Still Holds Up
- Porter's Low Point: Getting an older woman, Anne Schilling, supposedly pregnant while her husband threatened to kill him.
- Preston's Low Point: Almost marrying a con artist because he wanted to prove he was a "man."
- The Shared Low Point: Moving back into the house as adults and expecting Lynette to do their laundry while they sat on the couch.
The Julie Mayer Situation (The Twist Nobody Wanted)
The final season really went off the rails with the Porter and Preston Scavo legacy. In a move that still makes fans on Reddit scream, Porter ends up getting Susan’s daughter, Julie Mayer, pregnant. It was uncomfortable for everyone. Julie was significantly older—she used to literally babysit the twins.
Watching Susan and Lynette argue over a grandchild while Julie just wanted to finish her PhD and put the baby up for adoption was peak Desperate Housewives drama. It felt like the writers didn't know what to do with the "adult" versions of the boys, so they just turned Porter into a mini-Tom: well-meaning but totally incompetent without a strong woman telling him what to do. He eventually steps up, sort of, but it’s Julie who carries the heavy lifting while Porter gets a job and hopes for the best.
💡 You might also like: Cuatro estaciones en la Habana: Why this Noir Masterpiece is Still the Best Way to See Cuba
Where Did They End Up?
By the series finale, the Scavo family finally moves out of Fairview. They head to New York City so Lynette can run a massive corporation. It’s assumed the twins went with them or stayed in the city to be "nearby."
We know Porter becomes a father to a baby girl (Sophie). We know Preston... well, Preston usually just followed Porter’s lead. The show never gave them a grand send-off because, by the end, Wisteria Lane had bigger fish to fry than the twins' latest screw-up. But their presence defined the Scavo household. Without the twins, Lynette wouldn't have been the "warrior mom" fans grew to love.
What you can do next: If you’re revisiting the series, pay close attention to the transition in Season 5, Episode 1. You can track how the writers shifted the twins from "background noise" to primary plot drivers to see where the tonal shift of the show really began. Also, check out the Carver brothers' later work in The Batman (2022) to see how far the Scavo boys have actually come since the pizza parlor days.