Honestly, walking back into the world of Freeform’s Famous in Love feels like opening a time capsule from 2017. Remember that era? Everyone was trying to find the next Pretty Little Liars, and Bella Thorne was the undisputed queen of the network. If you spent any time on Twitter back then, you couldn't escape the drama—both on-screen and the messy, rumored stuff behind the scenes. The show followed Paige Townsen, a regular college student who gets plucked from obscurity to star in a massive movie franchise called Locked. It was basically a "show within a show" about the insanity of Hollywood.
But when we talk about the cast of Famous in Love, we aren't just talking about actors playing roles. We’re talking about a group of people who, for two seasons, were at the center of a massive hype machine that eventually just... stopped. The show was canceled in 2018 under a cloud of rumors about "diva behavior" and budget issues, leaving fans on a massive cliffhanger that never got resolved.
The Lead: Bella Thorne as Paige Townsen
Bella Thorne was already a household name when she took the role of Paige. She’d done the Disney Channel thing with Shake It Up and was pivoting hard into a more "edgy" adult image. In the show, Paige is this wide-eyed girl who suddenly has to navigate love triangles and predatory producers. Bella played that vulnerability well, even if her real-life persona was way more rebellious than Paige's "girl next door" vibe.
Since the show ended, Bella has been everywhere. She didn’t just stick to acting; she directed an award-winning adult film, wrote books, and famously broke the internet when she joined OnlyFans, which caused a huge controversy regarding how the platform handles payouts for independent creators. She’s still acting in indie films like Girl and Habit, but it feels like her time as a mainstream TV star ended with Famous in Love. There were reports from The Hollywood Reporter and other outlets suggesting friction between her and showrunner I. Marlene King, though King later tweeted that they were on good terms. Still, the vibe was definitely "it's complicated."
The Love Interests: Charlie DePew and Carter Jenkins
You can't have a teen drama without a love triangle. It’s the law of the land.
Charlie DePew played Jake Salt, the "boy next door" indie filmmaker who was constantly pining for Paige. Jake was the moral compass of the show, which usually meant he spent a lot of time looking frustrated. Since the show wrapped, Charlie hasn't been in the spotlight as much as Bella. He’s done some voice work and appeared in a few projects, but he’s also leaned heavily into the tech world. He actually co-founded an app called Re-spin. It’s a common pivot for actors who realize that the Hollywood grind is, well, a lot.
Then you have Carter Jenkins as Rainer Devon. Rainer was the quintessential "troubled" movie star. Carter had been acting for years before this—he was the kid in Aliens in the Attic—but this show was supposed to be his big breakout. He’s stuck around the industry, most notably joining the After franchise as Robert. If you’ve seen After We Fell or After Ever Happy, you definitely recognized him. He’s one of those actors who consistently works but somehow manages to stay out of the messy tabloid drama that followed Bella.
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The Scene Stealers: Georgie Flores and Pepi Sonuga
If you ask any die-hard fan who the best character was, they’ll probably say Cassandra Perkins. Georgie Flores played her with this quiet intensity. She was the third wheel in the Jake/Paige/Cassie friendship dynamic. Georgie has been relatively quiet since the cancellation, appearing in shows like Doom Patrol and Dumont. She’s one of those performers who feels like she should be in way more stuff.
Pepi Sonuga, who played the pop star Tangey Turner, has probably had one of the most interesting post-show careers. Tangey was a complex character—dealing with a "momager" and trying to reclaim her identity. Pepi brought a lot of soul to that. Since then, she’s been in Pam & Tommy on Hulu and had a recurring role in Queens. She has this effortless cool that makes her stand out in every frame.
Why the Cast of Famous in Love Couldn't Save the Show
The ratings weren't great. Let’s be real. But that wasn't the only problem.
Famous in Love was caught in the middle of a shifting TV landscape. Freeform was trying to figure out its identity post-PLL. There were also those nasty rumors about Bella Thorne’s behavior on set. Variety reported that there were "multiple sources" claiming her behavior was erratic, though Bella fired back on social media, calling the claims false and hurtful.
When a show gets canceled, it’s usually a mix of:
- High production costs (shooting in LA isn't cheap).
- Low linear ratings (even if streaming numbers are okay).
- Behind-the-scenes friction.
In this case, it was the perfect storm. The show ended on a cliffhanger where Paige had to choose between Jake and Rainer during a press conference. We never got the answer. In a 2018 interview, Marlene King mentioned she had plans for a third season that would have explored the "dark side" of fame even further, but the plug was pulled before they could even get into the writers' room.
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The Supporting Players: Keith Powers and Niki Koss
We have to talk about Keith Powers. He played Jordan Wilder, the bad boy with a secret past. Keith has arguably become one of the most successful members of the cast of Famous in Love. He starred in The New Edition Story, What/If on Netflix, and the movie The Tomorrow War. He’s got that leading-man energy that Hollywood is always looking for.
Niki Koss, who played the "villainous" Alexis Glenn, has moved behind the camera quite a bit. She’s been directing and producing, which makes sense given her character was always scheming and managing everyone’s career. It’s a classic case of art imitating life, or at least art influencing a career path.
The Reality of the "Locked" Universe
Looking back, the show was a bit meta. It was about the cast of a movie dealing with fame, played by a cast of a TV show dealing with fame. The pressures Paige felt—the loss of privacy, the fake relationships for PR, the constant scrutiny—were things the real actors were likely experiencing in real-time.
Social media was a huge part of the show's marketing. The cast was encouraged to be very active on Instagram and Twitter. This created a weird blurred line where fans felt like they knew the actors personally. When the show was canceled, the fans didn't just lose a story; they lost that daily connection to the actors.
What You Should Do If You Miss the Show
If you're still stinging from that Season 2 finale, there are a few ways to get closure, or at least a similar fix.
First, read the books. Rebecca Serle wrote the original novel Famous in Love and its sequel Truly, Madly, Famously. The show deviated quite a bit from the source material, but the books provide a much more structured ending for Paige and her friends. Rebecca Serle has since become a massive bestseller with books like In Five Years and Italian Summer, so it’s interesting to see where she started.
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Second, follow the cast on TikTok or Instagram. Most of them are still friends. You’ll occasionally see them pop up in each other’s comments, which is a nice reminder that the "drama" reported by tabloids might have been exaggerated.
Finally, if you want a show with the same DNA, watch The Bold Type or Gossip Girl (the original or the reboot). They capture that same "young person trying to make it in a big, scary industry" vibe without the weird cliffhangers that will keep you up at night.
The cast of Famous in Love was a group of incredibly talented people caught in a show that burned bright and fast. While we might never know who Paige Townsen officially chose, seeing where the actors have gone since 2018 shows that they all made the right choices for their own careers. They moved past the drama of Locked and found their own versions of Hollywood success.
To really dive back into this world, your best bet is to look up the 2018 PaleyCenter interviews with the cast. They talk a lot about the filming process and the bond they formed before things got messy. It's a great look at the "before" times of the series. Check out the actors' current production companies too—many of them, like Niki Koss, are now creating the kind of projects they would have starred in back then. This shift from "talent" to "creator" is the most common trend among this specific group of actors. It's a way to take back control in an industry that, as the show depicted, often tries to take it away.
Explore the recent filmographies of Keith Powers and Pepi Sonuga specifically if you want to see the best acting work to come out of this group. Their growth since the Freeform days is genuinely impressive. They've moved from teen tropes to layered, adult performances that prove there was a lot of untapped potential on that set. It’s a bummer the show ended the way it did, but the careers it launched are doing just fine.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Check out Rebecca Serle's books to see how the story was originally intended to end.
- Follow Keith Powers and Pepi Sonuga on social media to see their latest, more mature projects.
- Watch the "Famous in Love" Season 1 PaleyCenter panel on YouTube for behind-the-scenes insights from the cast during the show's peak.