'XO Kitty' Season 3 Is Here, and Star Anthony Keyvan Says Q's Journey Gets Real

"XO Kitty" Season 3 is now streaming on Netflix, bringing the KISS crew back to Seoul for their senior year at the fictional Korean Independent School of Seoul.

NBC Palm Springs' Manny the Movie Guy sat down with Anthony Keyvan, the Filipino-Iranian actor who plays the lovable Quincy "Q" Shabazian, one of the show's breakout characters and a rare example of queer Iranian and Filipino representation on a major streaming platform.

This season, Q faces real pressure as he tries to balance friendships, a new old friend stirring up trouble, and keeping his relationship with Jin, played by Joshua Lee, on solid ground. Keyvan says the friendship he and Lee have built off-screen makes all the difference. "I think it's important that Josh and I are friends, chemistry," he said.

What makes Q stand out, Keyvan says, is how freely the character moves through the world. "It's very nice to play a character that's unapologetically himself, and doesn't receive judgment, because it's important to show to the audience that it's not always scary."

But Season 3 doesn't let Q off easy. For the first time, the character stumbles. "You have times that you falter and you slip up," Keyvan said, nodding to the more complex arc ahead for his character.

As a half-Filipino, half-Iranian actor, Keyvan pushed the show's creators for more authentic cultural details, including keeping his character's mother's Filipino maiden name. The personal stakes run deep. "My parents risked a lot to provide for me," he said.

XO Kitty Season 3 is streaming now on Netflix.