Photo Credit goes to ABC Family

Garrett Clayton joins the cast of The Fosters this year as Chase Dylan, “a thespian, who’s pretty confident and knows what he wants,” the promising and dashing young actor shares. Revolving mainly around the character of Mariana (played by Cierra Ramirez), Garrett shares much screen time with her, but funnily enough is close friends with another actress on the show: Maia Mitchell, with whom Garrett filmed last year’s fun Teen Beach Movie. Although they have little to no scenes together, they have thoroughly enjoyed catching up on set.

“It was fun – it was like playtime,” Garrett says of his time spent shooting The Fosters this season. “I couldn’t have been in a more easygoing setting, with friends.” And now Garrett counts Cierra as a great friend too. “We didn’t know we were going to be so excited to work together until we discovered how big Kiristen Wiig fans we were!” he reveals, informing us that they regular text KW comedy quotes to each other.

As for his character, he is not at liberty to tell us much just yet. “It’s going to be very interesting to see what people think over time,” he hints. And when asked to reveal what he thinks makes Chase ‘tick’, he had this to say: “My reason for who Chase is – I think he comes from a pretty intense family with high expectations, and maybe that’s created a little insecurity. He’s a people pleaser. It’s taken a toll on him mentally.”

Garrett is excited to continue exploring the character on the show, one which he was a fan of before coming on to join the cast. “I’ve always held the show in high regard,” he says. “They’re really telling a story about people – it’s not some melodrama.”

The Fosters airs on ABC Family on Monday’s at 9pm.