Hilary Duff may have made a name for herself when she starred as the titular character in the Disney Channel’s Lizzie McGuire, but her latest role as Kelsey Peters on TV Land’s Younger proves that she’s more than just a teen star. Duff told MTV News that the relatable tone of Younger reminds her of why she loved starring on Lizzie McGuire. “[Lizzie] was the relatable girl that everyone wants to be friends with, and that’s who Kelsey is.”
Younger tells the story of 40-year-old Liza Miller (Sutton Foster) following a separation from her husband. Desperate to reinvent herself, Liza takes a job at a publishing company under the false assumption that she is 26. Duff stars as Liza’s workplace best friend and business partner as the two embark on creating their own imprint.
While few people in Liza’s life know about her secret, she eventually tells Kelsey the truth during the final moments of the Season 3 finale. “The memories they’ve made have been tarnished now,” Duff told MTV while discussing the cliffhanger. “Think about if you were friends with someone at your workplace and then all of a sudden they were like, ‘I’m 40 and I have a daughter.’ You’d be like, ‘You’re a psycho freak, what the hell?'” The actress later elaborated on how Kelsey reacts to her friend’s deceit when she spoke with TV Insider. “Our brilliant writers are not letting Liza off the hook. You’re going to see a whole new side of Kelsey where she gets mean and wants revenge,” she revealed. “We play this show for comedy but, hey, if your best friend in real life told you this kind of lie, you’d be scared. You’d think you were dealing with a complete psychopath!”
Now that Kelsey and Liza’s youth imprint called Millennial is up and running, Kelsey may have to take part in Liza’s lie in order to keep their company alive. “It would be a devastating scandal for the company, and Kelsey is not about to let that happen. Millennial is her dream and she’s going to protect it—no matter what. Yeah, going along with this lie might only make the problem worse but Kelsey isn’t thinking that far ahead. She is all about now.”
Duff also reflected on Kelsey’s dating life while talking to TV Insider. She admitted that Kelsey has awful taste in men and that “she keeps falling for the same kind of guy.” She continued, “It’s difficult to have it all. Kelsey cares so much about her career that she’s just not crushing it in the relationship game. But it doesn’t help that she makes mistake after mistake—which Josh (Nico Tortorella) will point out to her this season.” Here’s to hoping that the upcoming season of Younger finds Liza settling her love triangle with Josh and Charles (Peter Hermann) and instead gives Kelsey a chance to find someone that is just as fabulous as herself.
The series also stars Debi Mazar, Miriam Shor, and Molly Bernard. Season 4 of Younger premieres Wednesday, June 28 at 10/9c on TV Land.