Ginny and Georgia<\/em>\u2018s Sara Waisglass<\/strong> weighed in on the surprising recast concerns about Diesel La Torraca<\/strong>\u2018s fan-favorite character Austin.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s doing a great job with it. He\u2019s taking it all in stride,\u201d Waisglass, 27, exclusively told Us Weekly<\/em> while discussing her new film How to Lose a Popularity Contest<\/em>. \u201cAnd how lucky are we all to have a job that we can grow through?\u201d<\/p>\n Waisglass, who plays Max on the hit Netflix series, noted La Torraca\u2019s growth spurt, adding, \u201cHe\u2019s taller than me and he\u2019s always been my peer because I was a child actor. So I remember that I was too young to hang out with the adults but too old to hang out with people my own age. So I really understood.\u201d<\/p>\n She continued: \u201cIt\u2019s weird that I met him when he was 8 years old and now here\u2019s this man who is talking about his process and stuff. It\u2019s wild. But the funniest was the first time we had a read through. We always go through the table. We\u2019re like, \u2018Hi, I\u2019m playing Max.\u2019 And we get to Diesel and he has his deep voice. We laughed so hard.\u201d<\/p>\n After season 3 aired in 2025, viewers questioned whether La Torraca, 14, was now too old to play Ginny\u2019s half-brother while pointing out the lengths the Netflix show went to in season 3 to conceal the young actor\u2019s growth spurt.<\/p>\n Creator Sarah Lampert weighed in at the time on why the show wasn\u2019t trying to be accurate with Austin\u2019s age.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyone who works on the show will tell you I am fastidious about the details. I am just specific with so many things. Then things like Diesel growing five years [older], I\u2019m like, \u2018Whatever.\u2019 Because you can\u2019t control it,\u201d she exclusively told Us in June 2025. \u201cWe can\u2019t recast. Diesel is Austin.\u201d<\/p>\n Lampert made it clear there were no plans to bring in someone younger to play Austin.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a few jokes we\u2019re planning to make. We\u2019re aware that he\u2019s growing up and that helps us,\u201d she said before acknowledging that viewers will have to \u201csuspend their disbelief\u201d because La Torraca \u201cgrew [up] and it\u2019s a TV show.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t want to do a big time leap because that really misses emotional storytelling. Because of that, the flashbacks already make no sense in terms of the timeline of the flashbacks,\u201d she added. \u201cTime is but a construct in Wellsbury.\u201d<\/p>\n La Torraca, meanwhile, addressed the concerns while sharing the creative ways the show disguised his obvious growth spurt.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, honestly, we kind of ignore it a little bit!\u201d he told Teen Vogue that same month. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of just like \u2026 there\u2019s a 14-year-old sitting at the table with Harry Potter glasses on that\u2019s supposed to be 9. And that\u2019s OK! In some shots, I did have to bend my knees a little bit to look a little shorter than [Antonia], or they got her an apple box a few times, but for the most part, we\u2019ve kind of just kept the show running.\u201d<\/p>\n La Torraca continued: \u201cPlaying a 9-year-old for six years when you are growing \u2026 I\u2019ve grown with him, but I\u2019ve also kind of departed from him because I was 8 when we started, now I\u2019m 14. There are a lot of differences in the way that he would move and act and speak. I have to heighten my voice register, slouch a little bit [to] feel like I\u2019m actually a shy, insecure 9-year-old.\u201d<\/p>\n Before Ginny & Georgia<\/em> returns for season 4, Waisglass scored a role in Tubi\u2019s How to Lose a Popularity Contest<\/em>, which allowed her to play someone different than Max Baker.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of my biggest fears is that I can only play Maxine Baker, because, like, my energy does bleed into my performances,\u201d Waisglass told Us<\/em>. \u201cAnd something I was very worried about was, in this movie, is it just going to be Max in a different film?\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Ginny-and-Austin-Ginny_And_Georgia_n_S3_E2_00_07_40_22R_Crop\"](\"https:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Ginny-and-Austin-Ginny_And_Georgia_n_S3_E2_00_07_40_22R_Crop.jpg?w=1000&quality=86&strip=all\")
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