Contains spoilers for XO, Kitty.To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before‘s spinoff series XO, Kitty changes a lot about the original movie trilogy. Kitty Covey was introduced as Lara Jean’s younger sister in the movie series, and she was the one to leak Lara Jean’s love letters and help set her up with Peter Kavinsky. However, fans get a deeper look into her life in XO, Kitty, when she heads off to the Korean Independent School of Seoul (KISS.) The series includes enough to connect it to All The Boys, like appearances from their father and references to Lana and Peter’s relationship, but it also can stand on its own.
The show comes two years after the final To All The Boys movie and five years after the original film. This gives XO, Kitty a lot of room to expand because times have changed a lot since the movie series premiered. Kitty’s love story is nothing like Lara Jean’s, and her character’s journey is a lot more complex. While XO, Kitty fits into the same genre as To All The Boys and shares some of the same storylines and arcs, the new Netflix series differs greatly in various ways.
10 XO, Kitty Shows Kitty’s Perspective On Life
To All The Boys was Lara Jean’s story, even if Kitty was the one to kickstart it by leaking the letters. However, XO, Kitty is Kitty’s story from her own perspective. It’s based on how she sees the world and the things she thinks are important. For Kitty, going to school in Oregon wouldn’t have been fulfilling, but going to Seoul to experience what her mother experienced and fully commit to her relationship with Dae is what she wanted. Kitty’s quirky and adventurous personality sets the new series apart from the Lara Jean-led movies.
9 Lara Jean Isn’t Important To XO, Kitty’s Story
Lara Jean may have been a crucial part of the To All The Boys films, but she’s not important to the XO, Kitty story. Kitty briefly mentions Lara Jean and Peter’s relationship, and she has a few onscreen text conversations in a group chat with Lara Jean and their eldest sister Margot, but Lara Jean isn’t mentioned for any other reasons. The To All The Boys character doesn’t make a physical appearance in the show, and her very small role isn’t crucial to the progression of Kitty’s story at all. XO, Kitty is all about the youngest Covey sister, not Lara Jean.
8 Kitty Is More Mature In XO, Kitty
Kitty was only nine years old in the first To All The Boys film, but in XO, Kitty she’s around 16 years old and entering her junior year of high school. Kitty is still pretty quirky and enthusiastic, but she’s definitely more grounded and logical than she was as a child. She’s passionate enough to move to Seoul for the guy she loves and to learn more about her mother, but she has a more mature perspective on life than she did in the original films, where she was a hopeless romantic.
7 XO, Kitty Reveals Lara Jean & Peter’s Fate
Lara Jean and Peter had a lot of ups and downs throughout the three To All The Boys films, but XO, Kitty reveals their fate. While Margot decided to end things with her boyfriend before going off to college in the first film, Lara Jean and Peter decided to stay together. XO, Kitty reveals that Lara Jean and Peter are still together and making things work even though they were very worried about how they could make a long-distance relationship work.
6 XO, Kitty Gives Kitty’s Mother A Backstory
Margot, Lara Jean, and Kitty’s late mother was mentioned in To All The Boys, but didn’t play a significant role in the film. XO, Kitty makes her a more prominent character, giving her a backstory. Eve Song went to KISS as a teenager and was best friends with Jina, the mother of one of Kitty’s classmates, Yuri. At one point, Kitty even thinks her mother had a secret child in high school that she gave up for adoption, but it turns out it was Jina who had the child. XO, Kitty does a great job telling the story of Eve as a teenager.
5 XO, Kitty Explores Sexuality Instead Of Only Straight Romances
In To All The Boys, Lara Jean explores her relationship with Peter as well as some other options, like Josh, Margot’s ex-boyfriend, and John Ambrose in the second film. However, XO, Kitty explores sexuality not only by featuring Yuri as a lesbian character but also by having Kitty question her own sexuality. Yuri is in a relationship with Julianna, and her mother doesn’t approve of her being gay. Meanwhile, after Dae breaks Kitty’s heart, she starts to develop feelings for Yuri.
4 Dae Is Less Likable Than In To All The Boys: Always and Forever
In the final film, To All The Boys: Always and Forever, Kitty meets Dae on a family trip to Seoul. They have an instant connection, and he comes across as very sweet, even as they continue their relationship over text. However, Dae is less likable in XO, Kitty, because of what he does to the main character. When she arrives in Seoul to surprise him, he’s dating Yuri. It’s not a real relationship, but he doesn’t explain this to Kitty, and he doesn’t do anything to make the situation better, leaving Kitty devastated. It’s really difficult to like Dae because of how careless he is with Kitty’s feelings.
3 XO, Kitty Changes Kitty’s Mom’s First Love
To All The Boys establishes that Eve’s first love was Margot, Lara Jean, and Kitty’s father, who she met in college. However, XO, Kitty changes this, first suggesting she may have been in love with Professor Lee, causing a fallout with Jina. This seems to be disproven, but at the end of the series, Kitty finds out about a guy named Simon, who her mom was seemingly romantically involved with. She questions if Simon was her mother’s first love instead of her father.
2 XO, Kitty Explores Korean Culture More Than To All The Boys Did
To All The Boys didn’t go much further into Korean culture than acknowledging the characters were half Korean and taking them to Seoul at the beginning of the final film. However, not only does XO, Kitty take place in Seoul, it also features primarily Korean characters, with all of Kitty’s potential romantic interests being Korean. In To All The Boys, Peter was white, as was Josh, and the three films mainly focused on Lana Jean’s American lifestyle.
1 XO, Kitty Follows More Than Romantic Storylines
Unlike To All The Boys, XO, Kitty is about a lot more than romantic relationships. While Kitty’s relationship with Dae is important, as is her feelings for Yuri and Yuri’s feelings for Julianna, the show is heavily centered on family dynamics. Kitty is destined to learn more about her mother, while Yuri is struggling with feeling accepted by her mother. Kitty’s also on a mission to find out if Alex is her half-brother and why her mother and Yuri’s mother stopped being friends. XO, Kitty is more about Kitty finding herself and growing than finding a relationship like Lara Jean did in To All The Boys.
