Alexa Demie is not retiring from acting. https://t.co/YDnNHl8Egw
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) June 1, 2026
-In a new interview with THR, Alexa Demie and Sam Levinson talk about the process of Alexa getting cast in the role of Maddy Perez.
-Alexa originally read for the role of Rue but Levinson saw her more as the HBIC the came to be known as Maddy Perez though it would be a little but of a hurdle getting her there.
-Levinson recalls “But HBO didn’t think she was right for the part, because they had imagined a blond cheerleader, I remember pulling her aside and giving her some tips. I think she was wearing something red, and I knew that the execs would immediately think, ‘Oh, she’s too Latin.’ So I told her, ‘Don’t wear anything red,’ to soften up what I knew would be their initial perception.”
-In an effort to appease both parties, Alexa was brought back to read as Maddy alongside a blonde actress that HBO wanted for the role. Alexa recalls “I was like Joan of Arc,” she says. “At that point it wasn’t about getting the show anymore, it was about going into that room and being seen.” She read a scene from 1×04 wherein Nate’s family just won the chili cook-off, shortly after Nate berates Maddy for wearing a revealing outfit in front of his family; Maddy responds by calling Nates mother a cunt “They couldn’t have picked a better scene. I was in my fire. The last line is like, ‘I know none of you like me and I’m not supposed to be here.’ I looked every single person in their eyes. And then I was driving off the lot and I got the call that I got the part.”
-The rest was history and a new HBIC cheerleader was born to join the the ranks of Cordelia Chase and Santana Lopez.
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