Jess McLeod didn’t expect to see so much of their own reflection in Janae Matthews, the punk-smart outsider they play on Peacock’s twist-heavy thriller One of Us Is Lying. Sitting down with Gayety’s Caitlynn McDaniel, the nonbinary Canadian actor explains that Season 2 lets Janae “fall in love with themself”—a journey McLeod was making in parallel off-camera.
When the new episodes dropped on October 20, 2022, fans found Janae braver, queerer, and far less interested in shrinking to fit Bayview High’s social pecking order. McLeod credits a writers’ room that asked real queer actors what self-acceptance looks like after the coming-out confetti settles. “It’s the messy middle nobody shows,” they laugh, recalling the scene where Janae practices new pronouns in a bathroom mirror before storming the hallway in chipped black nail polish.
Off set, McLeod was having similar mirror talks. Growing up they’d been told to choose between playing “girlfriend” or “nothing,” so inhabiting a character who tosses the binary felt like wearing their first tailor-made wardrobe. They share that filming intimate friendship moments with costar Melissa Collazo became “free therapy,” turning late-night script work into real-life gender journaling.
But stepping into Janae’s boots isn’t all catharsis. McLeod admits the show’s murder-mystery pace can bulldoze nuance if they don’t fight for it. They once halted production to switch a locker-room insult from “he-she” to “nothing at all,” arguing that silence can sting louder than slurs. The writers agreed, and the scene now hangs in tense quiet—proving that authentic representation happens word by word, take by take.
Asked what viewers should expect next, McLeod grins: “More messy, more music, more Janae realizing they deserve the same epic romance everyone else is chasing.” It’s a promise that rings personal. For every queer teen piecing together their own identity, Janae’s arc—and McLeod’s candor—offer a reminder: self-love isn’t a finale; it’s the cliff-hanger that keeps you turning the page.
