Summary

• "I Saw the TV Glow" centers on Owen and Maddy's friendship through their shared love of a show.
• The film, praised for its introspective views, was directed by Jane Schoenbrun and produced by Emma Stone's production company, Fruit Tree.
• The cast includes Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, and Phoebe Bridgers in a cameo role.

I Saw the TV Glow chronicles two young characters' bond over their obsession with a television show and features a cast of a handful of familiar faces, including a popular singer-songwriter. The 2024 psychological horror drama film, directed and written by Jane Schoenbrun, was produced by Emma Stone and Dave McCary under their film and television production company, Fruit Tree, and released by A24. I Saw the TV Glow's reviews have been mostly positive, with critics praising Justice Smith's performance, Schoenbrun's direction, and the movie's introspective views on identity, adolescence, and the consumption of media.

I Saw the TV Glow premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2024, and was released in theaters on May 17, 2024.

As mentioned above, I Saw the TV Glow centers around two friends — Owen and Maddy — with troubled home lives who develop a friendship through their shared love of a show called The Pink Opaque. The supernatural series is about two teenage girls — Isabel and Tara — who use their psychic connection to battle monsters. When The Pink Opaque gets canceled, Maddy mysteriously goes missing, and the events that follow in the 2024 original horror movie begin to warp Owen's sense of reality.

Justice Smith As Owen

Date Of Birth: August 9, 1995

• Active Since: 2012

Actor: Justice Smith was born in Los Angeles, California, and following his graduation from the Orange County School of the Arts when he was 18, Smith immediately jumped into acting. He started booking small roles in television shows and movies, but Smith's breakthrough came when he starred as Ezekiel "Zeke" Figuero in The Get Down, a Netflix musical drama series. Sadly, Netflix canceled The Get Down after one season, but Smith went on to appear in numerous notable films and series.

Notable Movies & TV Shows:

Character: Justice Smith plays Owen, one of the two main characters, in I Saw the TV Glow. Owen meets Maddy when he's in seventh grade and she's in ninth, and Maddy shows him The Pink Opaque, forever changing both of their lives. Meanwhile, Owen's mother is dying of cancer, and his father is certainly not the best parental figure in the world.

Brigette Lundy-Paine As Maddy

Date Of Birth: August 10, 1994

• Active Since: 2015

Actor: Brigette Lundy-Paine was born in Dallas, Texas, as the child of two actors and filmmakers. They moved with their family to Alameda, California, when they were two years old, and when Lundy-Paine graduated from high school, they attended New York University and promptly pursued an acting career. Lundy-Paine ultimately rose to prominence when they landed the role of Casey Gardner in Atypical, a comedy-drama series on Netflix.

Notable Movies & TV Shows:

Character: Brigette Lundy-Paine stars as Maddy, a lesbian who introduces Owen to The Pink Opaque, in I Saw the TV Glow. As the years go on, Owen and Maddy continue watching The Pink Opaque, but in her junior year of high school, Maddy runs away to escape her abusive stepfather, and the show gets canceled. Maddy mysteriously returns to town in 2006 and finds Owen to tell him the shocking details of her whereabouts for the past eight years (which, of course, relate to the series that initially bonded them).

Helena Howard As Isabel

Date Of Birth: July 23, 1998