Who will she choose? Liza Miller’s problems will continue to pile up on the upcoming season of Younger. Besides having to keep her real age a secret, the 26-year-old assistant (err, the 40-year-old single mother) will be stuck in a love triangle between her on-again tattoo artist beau Josh (Nico Tortorella) and her hunky older boss Charles Brooks (Peter Hermann). Leading lady Sutton Foster teased what her character should do next, exclusively with Us Weekly.
“I feel like both of these characters — Josh and Charles — they both are great for Liza and both are wrong for Liza. I think they both offer her something that she needs,” Foster, 41, tells Us. “Both guys are still very much in play. But there haven’t been any decisions made as far as Liza is concerned.… I can very much see her choosing neither.”
She adds: “One of the reasons that I love the show so much is that she’s very focused on work. I mean, why is she doing all of this in the first place? It’s really to reclaim her career and find a voice for herself in the workplace again. And these guys are wonderful distractions, but I think she is really struggling with keeping her priorities straight.”
Priority No. 1, of course, is making sure no one finds out she’s not who she says she is. To fit the part of a young Brooklyn go-getter, she has had to lie to her coworker bestie, Kelsey Peters (Hilary Duff), and get a completely new wardrobe. The style is such a change (and the outfits so short!) that even Foster had a hard time adjusting.
“The practicality is that most days I throw on a pair of Toms and jeans and a T-shirt because I’m going to be sitting on the subway or schlepping somewhere, and the last thing you want is to have to deal with a skirt flying up,” the Broadway vet says, laughing. “I tend to dress a little more practically in my real life. But Liza, there’s some wild things that she gets to wear. A lot of the little pieces, I would grab, but sometimes [with] the whole outfit, I’m like, ‘I can’t pull it off!'”
Even so, some of the eye-catching ensembles have sparked Foster’s interest. “My style is very easygoing, colorful … but I tend to keep it supercasual. I play dress-up for a living, so my style tends to be neutral. I tend to leave all my style for the stage,” she adds. “[But] when you spend a lot of time with these characters, it starts to bleed into your life. I can’t pull off her style completely, but my eyes have sort of opened to new ideas.”
Foster’s home decor is just as vibrant as Liza’s closet. While filming Younger in Brooklyn, the two-time Tony winner resides in an NYC penthouse with her writer husband, Ted Griffin. Foster recently teamed with HomeGoods to add more furnishings and statement pieces to her already enviable collection.
“My husband is a writer, I’m an actor, so we wanted it to feel like a place where it was fun, as opposed to stuffy,” she tells Us of her high-ceilinged abode, which overlooks the Hudson River. “[It’s] a little glamorous, but it’s more fun and whimsical as opposed to sleek and modern.”
Read the rest of Sutton’s Q&A below:
How do you think Kelsey would react if she learned the truth about Liza?
I can’t stand that she doesn’t know. I would love for her to find out. I don’t think that she would take it well. I really think Kelsey keeps everything close to her heart and that it will really be confusing and a betrayal to her. I know that it will be important for her to know, and I just hope that she’ll be able to understand and that we’ll be able to salvage the friendship.
If it were the series finale, where would you want Liza to end up?
It would be great if all her cards were on the table, she didn’t have to lie anymore and she was respected for the talent and creativity that she has and not based on her age. It would be amazing if she and Kelsey were able to branch away from Empirical and have their own publishing [company] that they ran on their own. It would be great for her to just be truly, authentically her.
Can we expect Liza to ever sing on the show?
Doubtful! I don’t think Liza can sing. If all of a sudden she started singing, it would be pretty weird. I don’t think she has any hidden talents like that. And frankly, as a musical theater performer, it’s great to play a character that doesn’t sing.
