2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
The ‘Love Island: Beyond the Villa' Cast
When Love Island USA season 6 ended, the fan base was parasocially bereft. Reddit-theorizing, imaginary-wedding-planning bereft. Peacock, ever the provider, fed this carnal hunger with Love Island: Beyond the Villa, a glossier, post-reality docuseries that drops its islanders into Los Angeles. Get in loser, we're trading bikinis and fire pits for ring lights and Ubers in WeHo.
At this point in Love Island USA season 7, audiences have seen hours of commercial break content featuring the stars of the previous season plugging brands like CeraVe, Maybelline, and InstaCart. It's already feeling more LA in here.
Peacock's Beyond the Villa is is both a continuation and a course correction. It's what happens when a dating show becomes an ecosystem—and its contestants become people with phones, fans, and feelings. Think: Love Island meets The Hills, with most of the cast we've seen and heard. Key word being 'most.'
Last season, Serena won the season and the edit. Post-villa, she's swapped modest Texas influencer vibes for a 2-million-follower presence, a forthcoming hair-care line, and a refreshing amount of mental health transparency.
She's still with Kordell Beckham, her co-winner, though he's largely offscreen, busy working on other projects. This absence makes her storyline quietly melancholic—part businesswoman-in-bloom, part long-distance relationship. There's something delicate about her attempt to scale without spinning out, and she's showing it all.
The couple you thought would break up immediately, but didn't. Leah is the coolest girl in your friend group you kind of resented for being spiritually centered and good at layering. Miguel is soft-voiced and European, which means you underestimated how emotionally available he'd be. Their arc is what happens when a hot couple decides to play house—but with vague discussions of 'parenthood, sort of' in between collabs and Trader Joe's runs.
JaNa does not believe in shrinking to be loved. She's one-third of the show's emotional holy trinity of aforementioned ladies, and easily its most quotable star. Kenny is the calm to her storm—the kind of man who listens first and thinks twice. They are the couple you root for because they seem real; but they might want slightly different things, and slightly too soon.
She's one half of the exes that should've muted each other, but got a show instead. Kaylor is a case study in heartbreak performance art. Aaron is what happens when emotional repression gets a skincare routine. Their breakup was brutal, and the show doesn't shy away from it.
Connor left the villa without a strong storyline and enters this show as the calming voiceover of everyone's drama. He's single, unbothered, and surprisingly wise. Is he boring? Possibly. Is he necessary? Absolutely.
Liv was a late addition to the villa and never fully clicked into the narrative. Here, she's mostly seen floating between Kaylor's emotions and her own quiet brand-building. But there's tension brewing. A friendship fallout is teased—one of those slow burns where texts go unanswered and Instagram likes suddenly stop flowing.
In the midst of a personal rebranding, Kendall arrives with baggage—specifically a breakup tied to a leaked video and a now-ex, Nicole Jacky, who doesn't care for quiet goodbyes. Their on-screen lunch is set up like a boxing match. He's in PR crisis mode, but this time, there's no villa edit to save him. His journey is either redemption or slow implosion.
'Love Island: Beyond the Villa' premieres exclusively on Peacock on July 13.
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