Tju likens Margot to Sarah Michelle Gellar’s character in the 1997 film, but instead of partaking in local beauty pageants, she is recording TikTok dances and sharing her beauty routine (and
every move) with fans. Much like its predecessors, the I Know What You Did Last Summer series is of its time. Tju turned to many of today’s social media influencers and YouTube stars for research, but for Margot, she and the showrunner wanted to get at what’s really going on behind the phone. “To some degree, we’re all putting out a façade of ourselves on social media,” she says. “We’re not going to post the bad stuff… Most of the time when Margot is documenting her life and pulls out that phone, that safety blanket, it’s at a very inappropriate time. It’s her defense mechanism. When she’s feeling overwhelmed, lonely, or unappreciated, she knows she can go on her phone, turn it on, and there are going to be comments and likes and people fawning over her, and it gives her this instantaneous high that we all get from social media.”
While Margot’s choices may, at times, be questionable, there is a real genuineness to the character. That sincerity is one of the big reasons why she is so special to Tju. The actress could easily relate to Margot’s insecurities and strong desire for approval, as she has faced her own challenges in Hollywood, often feeling alienated in her body and in her heritage as a woman of color. “I think deep down everyone is Margot, or deep down in Margot, she is everyone, in that we all feel insecure and all compare ourselves,” Tju says.