'The Kissing Booth 2's Maisie Richardson-Sellers Has A Message For Chloe Haters
When The Kissing Booth 2 introduced viewers to Noah's new life at Harvard, one of his classmates put his girlfriend Elle (and fans) on high alert. In all her beauty and confidence, Chloe Winthrop seemed like a major threat to Noah and Elle's relationship throughout the film. And even though that turned out to not be the case, the actor who plays Chloe in The Kissing Booth 2, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, knows some hardcore Noah/Elle shippers have a vendetta against her character. Her message to the fans who still feel that way after finishing the movie? "Watch it again!"
Warning: Spoilers for The Kissing Booth 2 follow. Fans were introduced to Chloe when Elle (Joey King) went to visit Noah (Jacob Elordi) at college. Throughout the film, Elle couldn't shake the feeling Noah was cheating on her with his new gal pal. Those feelings only intensified after Elle found Chloe's earring under Noah's bed. Even to viewers, the whole situation seemed pretty sus.
In the end though, Chloe didn't fulfill the stereotypical "other woman" role fans expected her to. In fact, Chloe was actually a big factor in mending Elle and Noah's relationship. "She helps them learn how to communicate better," Richardson-Sellers tells Elite Daily. "She actually goes from being a threat to being hugely important in bringing them back together again."
That is true; if Chloe hadn't encouraged Noah to tell Elle how he felt about her, they might not have tried to make things right with one another. But that's not to say Chloe was an expert communicator herself. Even though Chloe didn't mean to flirt with Noah, many fans are convinced her words and body language were a little too friendly to be totally innocent.
Richardson-Sellers doesn't think Chloe meant to be flirty, though. "I think she has a bit of a communication issue," she explains. "She should have clocked what was going on and had a conversation with Elle ... But I genuinely think she has good intentions. I think women like that — strong, powerful, independent, open-minded women — they sadly often struggle to have female friendships in the same way. I think she's so excited to have a female friend like that, so it kind of blinds her to the other side of what’s going on."
By not having Noah cheat on Elle with Chloe, The Kissing Booth 2 took a much-needed step away from the common rom-com trope of women fighting over a guy. Richardson-Sellers hopes fans see past their initial distrust of Chloe to embrace this message. "Too often do we see women pitted against each other," she explains. "I think [the film] celebrates the power of coming together, especially as women, but also male and female friendships. There doesn’t always have to be this layer of, 'Is there anything more?' You can just have these organic, happy, loving, supportive, inter-gender and same gender relationships without this jealousy component."
If The Kissing Booth 2 has you interested in seeing more of Richardson-Sellers' projects, you're in luck. The actor recently left her starring role as Charlie/Clotho in Legends of Tomorrow (on which she previously played Amaya/Vixen) to pursue other creative endeavors — namely, her own production company, Barefaced Productions. "[The company] focuses on telling stories of marginalized individuals, marginalized communities, and LGBTQ+ individuals in a way that they are creating their own stories rather than having their stories told for them," Richardson-Sellers explains, adding that she already has three projects in development.
Of course, there's also The Kissing Booth 3, which was confirmed just days after the sequel premiered. The third film will reportedly feature the whole cast from the previous films, so come 2021, fans should expect to see Chloe back in some capacity. Before that happens, Richardson-Sellers hopes fans who aren't too fond of her character will spend some more time on the second movie: "Don’t be so quick to judge, keep an open mind, and re-watch."
The Kissing Booth 2 is on Netflix now.
