Television just cannot stop telling tales about a twentysomething New York-based friend group. There’s something electric and absurd about the dynamic—the vastness of the city lends itself to hilarious, myopic dramas, the chaos universal but the storylines hyperspecific: From Friends to Girls, Broad City to How I Met Your Mother, each series speaks to the energy of the time in which it was made, capturing each generation’s version of ambition, connection, and survival. Gen Z speaks its own language and plays by a different set of rules, making stories that embody the risk, irony, absurdity, freedom, and spontaneity of our time feel rare. Enter Billie, played by breakout star and comedienne Lucy Freyer, in the new FX series Adults.

Created by Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw, Adults follows five friends sharing a house in Bayside, Queens as they fumble through post-college life. It also paints a vivid, realistic picture of moving to modern day New York City. “People often say about shows set in New York that, ‘New York is the extra character,’” begins Freyer, “which I don’t feel about Adults. We’re deep in Queens. If anything, the house we all live in is the extra character.”

In so many ways, Adults feels like a fresh take on the generation-long New York pals story. By stepping outside the usual Manhattan or Brooklyn backdrop, it highlights the outer boroughs and spaces often excluded from NYC media narratives. The modern New York story is also one of relentless gentrification, and the once-romantic dream of moving there has become a near impossibility for most. As for the characters, ambiguity is embraced–in career paths, sexuality, and relationships. The characters are not seeking the traditional clean-cut American Dream or covering themselves with labels. Earnestness and irony coexist, and the digital age is ever-present without feeling forced.

Freyer stars alongside Malik Elassal, Owen Thiele, Amita Rao, and Jack Innanen, a diverse ensemble of comedians, social-media personalities, and actors alike. “The dynamic the five of us have found is very similar to the dynamic in the show,” Freyer says. “We just fell in love with each other.” The group would hang out consistently, watch old YouTube videos they grew up on, and “tell each other secrets (they) hadn’t told anyone.” None of this bonding felt unnatural. It was kismet.

“Working on Adults has definitely loosened me up with feeling like I can be free with dialogue, because we have such an amazing environment on our set where you can riff within the parameters of the scene,” Freyer says of the showmaking process. She explains that after each scripted take, they try an improvised one where the group gets to bounce back and forth at their own rhythm.

It is this sort of rhythm that draws Freyer into the craft—for her, the thrill of acting lies in the in-between. It’s not about perfection, but about discovery, those unexpected moments when something clicks, riffs, or flows, often by accident. “All these little moments where you’re discovering something new,” she says. “That’s where the fun lies.”

Growing up in Sydney, Australia, Freyer often went to the theater with her family. At 11, she was enchanted watching Billy Elliot and Annie live on stage. “It wasn’t film or television,” she says. “It was theater that made me realize: I need to be on stage…I just assumed drama was everyone’s favorite part of the day.” It wasn’t until a high school teacher encouraged her to take it seriously that she began to see things differently. After school, she went on to star in the off-Broadway play The Wanderers and the indie comedy Paint before landing Adults.

As Freyer reflects on where she’s been and where she’s headed, it’s clear she’s not rushing the process. There’s an openness in the way she talks about her career. Measured. Grounded. Refreshingly ego-free. While it can be easy to structure one’s life in terms of ambitious checklists or pre-scripted manifestos, Freyer’s outlook is more about staying attuned to joy. Her north star isn’t about chasing the most prestigious roles or climbing some invisible ladder. It’s about working with people who bring out the best in her, and finding projects that challenge, excite, and fulfill her. “I just want to keep working with people I love on material that I love,” Freyer shares.

That ethos is part of what makes Adults work so well. It’s a show about navigating uncertainty, about messing up and trying again, about finding clarity not in grand epiphanies, but in the tiny, ridiculous moments between friends.

Throughout our conversation, Freyer returns again and again to the importance of ensemble and collaboration. With every cast, an irreplicable energy takes shape, like a precious and fleeting invention. “Nothing works if one of the pieces of the ensemble is missing,” she expresses. Her love for the cast of Adults isn’t obligatory. It is solid and real. She speaks about their bond with a grateful awe, as if still surprised by how easily they all clicked.

When I ask which stories she feels drawn to now, Freyer returns to the power of comedy. “I love doing things that make people happy and make people laugh,” she says, simply. Though, she also affirms her range and shares that she has always wanted to act in a classic Chekhov play, in all their complex, melancholic, honest glory. Even the best comedy, after all, is born from truth. Adults communicates the truth of a generation. The Wanderers explored truths about tradition, identity, and love. Freyer finds such great joy through the spontaneity of performance, because those slivers of surprise are where the truth resides.

Photographed by Aysia Marotta

Styled by Dylan Wayne

Written by Audrey Valentine Weisburd 

Hair: Alison Farfan at Highlight Artists

Makeup: Cat Mignano at Cam Artistry

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