When Adults first came out in 2025, it was compared to beloved shows of the past, like Friends and Girls, as well as its contemporary Gen Z comedy, I Love LA. But two seasons in, FX’s hangout sitcom has proven itself to be more than an emulation of its forebears in the Messy Adults in the Big City canon.
Even its creators, Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw, are in on the joke: in the Season 2 finale, the story’s central friend group comes face to face with the incumbent homeowners’ association president and his daughter, Nina Adler, played by Zosia Mamet — a.k.a. Shoshannah Shapiro from Girls.
“You think you’re the first people to be young and adorable in New York?” she tells Billie (Lucy Freyer), who’s made herself the campaign manager for her himbo friend and HOA presidential candidate Paul Baker (Jack Innanen).
The characters of Adults are in the trenches of their twenties, quirky but not neurotic (maybe except for Julian Manjerico’s Zack-Carlos bin Laden), getting roped into silly situations (like the friends trying to get a raccoon out of the house before the acid sets in), and eager to live life to the fullest, even if they haven’t figured everything out.
Here, we rank the main cast and a few recurring characters of Adults according to how good they are at adulting.
This list contains spoilers for Adults Season 2.
8. Zack-Carlos
Flamboyant and with a flair for the dramatic, Zack-Carlos would have been suited for a queerer friend group, but it’s a sixth spot in Samir’s childhood home that he covets. There’s a bitterness and desperation about him that makes him so funny, even though IRL it would be hell to deal with a person you dislike insisting on being a part of your life. At the end of the day, this demon twink just wants to get out of his mom’s home and find community.
7. Carly
We all learn at some point that we’re not meant to be singers. A lot of people are lucky enough to figure that out when they’re kids, but for an unfortunate few, like Carly (Rachel Marsh), that realization comes a little later in life. But Carly’s good at other things, like her med school studies, and being the type of person who promptly ends a relationship instead of dragging it out through long distance and letting things turn bitter between her and Samir (Malik Elassal).
6. Samir
Where would Adults’ main characters be without Samir Rahman? No, really. Samir is a good guy for letting his friends stay at his childhood home rent-free while his parents are away on what feels like an eternal vacation. He also tries to look after them and be a responsible adult, like when he helped Issa (Amita Rao) overcome her fear of needles by chasing her around with one, or when he offered to trip-sit the group on Acid Night (only before taking a heavy dose himself so that he wouldn’t be solely in charge of exterminating a raccoon from his house).
5. Issa
Just because Issa Damani comes in fifth here, doesn’t mean she isn’t an icon. If there’s one thing she’s good at, it’s getting over a guy, whether it’s the elusive ex from the special prequel episode released in July this year, or Paul Baker. We can all learn from her when she says, “I’m done fixing these lost, broken men.” We can also learn to embrace the Weird Little Guy that comes out of us in times of discomfort. Plus, she’s good with children in dance school and middle-aged corporate supervisors.
4. Julia Fox
Like Zack-Carlos, Julia Fox (as herself) only comes around once every season. But every time she appears, it’s to show us how to make a graceful exit. In Season 1, she left at the height of a chaotic dinner with the group and Billie’s high school teacher-turned-boyfriend, Mr. Teacher (Charlie Cox), who came in high on a horse’s dose of ketamine. In Season 2, she helps out with Paul Baker’s presidential campaign but immediately dips when his frat bro friends show up. Her excuse? “I have to go. I’m really turned on by them.” And good for her! We should all know when to leave the party.
3. Anton
Anton Evans (Owen Thiele) is a fun adult. Of the entire group, he has the most stable job (in digital ad sales, no less), but even the corporate setting couldn’t drain the party girl out of him. Anton is a treat to be around, unless you’re his lesbian sister, Talia (Raven-Symoné). He’s also a people-pleaser and extroverted to a fault, accidentally befriending the neighborhood stabber in Season 1. But by being outgoing, he gets everything he wants. Except maybe an end to his months-long dry spell, and Paul Baker, Issa’s boyfriend.
2. Paul Baker
Paul Baker is so adult, everyone refers to him by his full name. He’s kindhearted and hot, which makes him a great hang, and also makes his group of frat bro friends all the more surprising. But as it turns out, these bros who make crude jokes and can’t name a single Muslim celebrity (“Jafar,” one friend says) are well-adjusted adults with jobs in tech and law. In the finale, Paul Baker also shows himself to be a man of ambition when he runs for HOA president. But when he realizes that he might have to sacrifice his friendships to achieve that, he and the rest of the group find a way to sabotage his own campaign.
1. Billie
Billie Schaeffer epitomizes the primary tension of being in your 20s: wanting to be seen as a grown-up while desperately clinging to youth. She wants to be a mentor figure to the kids at her old high school and to Sophie-Rose (Sophie Telegadis), the 20-year-old who’s inherited Billie’s fake ID, but Mr. Teacher’s students aren’t really interested in getting advice from her, and Sophie-Rose ends up becoming Billie’s babysitter on a night out. If there’s anything Billie’s built for, it’s crisis management, whether it’s talking a robber down or calling in backup for an HOA election — and isn’t adulthood just one crisis to be managed after another?
Adults Season 2 is available to stream on Hulu via Disney+.
Frequently Asked Questions
FX’s Adults was created by Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw and premiered in 2025 as a hangout sitcom about a friend group of twentysomethings navigating adulthood in New York.
Billie Schaeffer, played by Lucy Freyer, ranks highest because she embodies the show’s central tension: wanting to be seen as a grown-up while clinging to youth. She’s positioned as the group’s crisis manager and an attempted mother figure.
The genre describes hangout sitcoms centered on flawed twentysomethings navigating friendship, romance, and identity in a major city. Adults follows the lineage of shows like Friends and Girls while carving out its own Gen Z comedic voice.
Zosia Mamet, best known for playing Shoshanna Shapiro on HBO’s ‘Girls,’ appears in the Season 2 finale as Nina Adler, daughter of the incumbent HOA president. Her cameo winks at the genre comparisons Adults has drawn since its 2025 premiere.
In the Season 2 finale, Paul Baker and the rest of the group sabotage his own HOA presidential campaign after he realizes winning could mean losing his friends, reinforcing the show’s recurring theme of friendship.
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