PEN15: Season 2 | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

FAQs

What was Maya from PEN15 diagnosed with? ›

They spend time reminiscing with each other, and whether they've made the right choices in their lives. When Yuki returns home, she spends time alone with Maya and Shuji, and tells them both how much she loves them. Maya is diagnosed with ADD and Irlen syndrome.

Maya Ishii-Peters is one of the main characters of Pen15 on Hulu. She is the thirteen year old version of her actress, Maya Erskine in the 2000s. Family and background: Similar to the actress who plays her, Maya is born to an ethnic Japanese mother (played by her real life mother) and a Caucasian father.

PEN15 shouldn't work—two 33-year-old women acting like 13-year-olds while surrounded by a cast of actual 13-year-olds—but good God, does it. PEN15 is a strange, funny, and often poignant series in which creators and actors Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle play fictionalized versions of their middle school selves.

The writers at Pen15 nailed it with their hilarious (and super-accurate) explanation of Irlen Syndrome on this week's episode, when the main character, Maya, gets diagnosed with it by her psychologist and is given yellow glasses to wear!

In a heartwarming Instagram post on Wednesday, Maya Erskine shared the joyful news of her second pregnancy with fans. The PEN15 actress, alongside her husband Michael Angarano, posted a charming snapshot featuring Erskine donning a chic black dress that delicately highlighted her burgeoning baby bump.

The show picks up just two days after the events of the Season 1 finale, which included Maya and Anna being felt up by Maya's crush Brandt (Jonah Beres) in the janitor's closet at the fall dance. Brandt admitted he likes Maya, too, but warned her not to tell anyone.

Shuji Ishii is the older half-brother of Maya Ishii-Peters in Pen15.

The pair said that they always envisioned the series as three seasons but the pandemic – the show was forced to shut down production due to Covid19 – hastened the ending. The first seven episodes of Season 2 launched in September 2020 with an animated special airing earlier this year.

Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle don't just share names with the characters they portray on Hulu's PEN15, they also share the same close friendship in real life.

Thankfully, series creators and stars Anna Konkle and Maya Erskine have costume designer Melissa Walker to help the cause. From binding the leads' breasts to Tommy Hilfiger treasure hunts, here's how she suits up each character to look as authentically early aughts as a Tiffany charm bracelet.

Is Maya Erskine real mom in PEN15? ›

Early life and education. Erskine was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of Mutsuko Nigatawa and jazz drummer Peter Erskine. Her mother is Japanese, from Tokyo. Her mother also plays the role of her character's mother on PEN15.

Erskine and Konkle claimed in an exclusive interview with Vulture that the idea was to emphasize the fact that the two of them did not fit into their high school (as high schoolers themselves), and two adults portraying teens would help visually emphasize the fact too.

For Konkle, it was Anna's orthodontia. She wore a set of prosthetic wire braces that changed the way she moved and held her mouth, mentally transporting her right back to picking out her own braces colors again.

Kathy got the house, and as Anna says, “If he doesn't get me too, then what's he gonna do?” Meanwhile, Maya gets diagnosed with ADD and Irlen Syndrome. She is prescribed medication for the former and Matrix glasses for the latter. But don't worry, her doctor seems to say, Haley Joel Osment has the same glasses!

PEN15 Made Sure Everyone Felt Safe On The Set

Body doubles were used for romantic sequences. Body doubles were used for romantic sequences between Erskine and Konkle's characters and the kids in the series, and camera tricks were also used.

Kirkpatrick diagnoses Maya with advanced complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), a disease that can be treated with ketamine. After low doses of ketamine prove ineffective, Kirkpatrick recommends a ketamine coma, whereby Maya would be given a large amount of ketamine to induce a five-day coma.

'Take Care of Maya,' a 2023 Netflix documentary, highlights the struggles of a young girl, Maya Kowalski, with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). Maya received a CRPS diagnosis at the age of nine in 2015 after a severe asthma attack.

Toward the end of the episode, Maya's older brother, Shuji (Dallas Liu), helps her realize she's been at the receiving end of racial microaggressions for much of her life but never pieced them in a pattern before. In classic “PEN15” fashion, Maya responds by trauma-vomiting.