Cover Josh Boone with the cast of ‘Regretting You’: Mckenna Grace, Mason Thames, Sam Morelos (Photo: Instagram/@regrettingyoumovie)
Josh Boone with the cast of ‘Regretting You’: Mckenna Grace, Mason Thames, Sam Morelos (Photo: Instagram/@regrettingyoumovie)
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In ‘Regretting You’, Sam Morelos brings depth and warmth to the role of Lexie, a friend who becomes family. The Filipino-American actor reflects on friendship, grief and finding authenticity in Hollywood
In Regretting You, grief becomes the start of something else. Adapted from Colleen Hoover’s best-selling novel and directed by Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars), the film is a family drama that shows the quiet devastations that follow loss. At its heart are mother and daughter Morgan and Clara Grant, played by Allison Williams and Mckenna Grace, whose relationship fractures after a devastating accident exposes long-held secrets. Within this storm of heartbreak, one figure brings calm. Lexie, Clara’s closest friend, becomes a reminder of tenderness and loyalty. Portrayed by Filipino-American actor Sam Morelos, she grounds the film with warmth and force.
Morelos, who first gained attention through their breakout role as Nikki on That ’90s Show, enters Regretting You with a new kind of depth. The film asks them to inhabit a character whose empathy becomes a lifeline. Lexie listens, steadies and repairs. She represents friendship in its best form. “The most exciting thing about Lexie was how magnetic she was on the page,” Morelos shares. “I already knew I wanted to be her friend.” Through Lexie, they explore how care and courage can exist within the same breath.
Their journey into the role arrived almost as swiftly as the character herself. A single Zoom reading secured the part. “I had booked the job without so much as a callback,” Morelos says, recalling being stunned by how quickly everything unfolded. The surprise gave way to joy once reality settled in. Bringing Lexie to life, they say, felt like both an opportunity and a privilege, especially in embodying a Filipino character within a major Hollywood production.
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Above Filipino-American Sam Morelos as Lexie in ‘Regretting You’ (Photo: Paramount Pictures)
Filipino-American Sam Morelos as Lexie in ‘Regretting You’ (Photo: Paramount Pictures)
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On set, connection came naturally. The cast’s chemistry carried through in the friendships that formed behind the scenes. Grace and Mason Thames, who play Clara and Miller, became instant companions. Their rapport gave every scene a lived-in ease. “We hardly had to act because we were genuinely all friends,” Morelos explains. That closeness mirrored the story itself, where chosen family fills the spaces left by absence.
Among the many moments filmed, one sequence continues to linger in Morelos’s memory. The graveyard scene, which follows a heated dinner argument, captures Lexie and Clara at their most vulnerable. Surrounded by silence, the two friends rediscover one another. “It was such a tender and precious moment between the girls,” Morelos says. “It shows what friendship looks like in difficult times.” For them, it reflects a larger theme within Regretting You—that family extends beyond blood, and that love, when freely given, can be the truest act of survival.
For Morelos, the role of Lexie also opened space to express identity. As a Filipino-American actor in Hollywood, they view representation as a daily practice rather than an abstract goal. “My Filipino identity has not only shaped my personal life, but it is found in the shape of my face, the colour of my skin, the curl of my hair,” they say. “I do not exist without it.” Their voice carries conviction, built on experience and awareness. Every role, they believe, should hold room for authenticity, for presence that feels truthful and lived.
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Morelos has also grown increasingly vocal about how Filipino stories are portrayed. They reference a line once read about representation: that crumbs can start to feel like a feast when there is no seat at the table. The remark lingers with them. It speaks of the hunger many Filipino creatives know—the desire for genuine space, not fleeting visibility. Karaoke jokes and cultural shorthand, they say, no longer satisfy. What the industry needs are narratives that capture the full range of the Filipino experience, with all its intricacy and feeling. “Our deeply complex and meaningful stories deserve a place in the mainstream,” they add. Until that day arrives, Filipino artists continue to build their own tables, shaping communities that create and uplift one another.
Regretting You invites audiences to consider how people piece themselves together after loss. Through Sam Morelos’s portrayal of Lexie, the film gains a heartbeat that is human. Their performance captures friendship as both balm and rebellion, akin to a force that steadies against the weight of grief. It also marks the arrival of a young artist who carries their heritage with pride, finding strength in the act of showing up as themselves.
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Credits
Interview: Joan Chan
Angela Nicole Regis Guiral is a digital editor at Tatler Philippines. She studied journalism and has since written features that look closely at how culture, lifestyle and social impact converge, while occasionally wandering into the worlds of style and travel.
