"We’re Yearning for These Real-Life, Slow-Burn Interactions": Sadie Soverall on This Summer's Breakout Love Story
Our take
The quiet shift in our cultural fascination with celebrity is upon us, and Sadie Soverall embodies it perfectly. This isn't the era of manufactured drama and relentless self-promotion; it's an era craving authenticity, introspection, and a sense of groundedness, even within the dazzling world of acting. Soverall’s recent rise, fueled by a compelling screen presence and an evident disinterest in the typical celebrity fanfare, speaks volumes about this evolving desire. Her story resonates because it feels…real. It echoes a longing for simpler narratives, for characters who aren't flawlessly polished but possess a quiet strength and a thoughtful interiority. This aligns beautifully with the growing appreciation for understated elegance—consider the beauty routines our editors swear by, even while traveling to glamorous locales, as detailed in 4 Editors Reveal the Beauty Products They Refuse to Travel Without This Summer. It’s a reminder that even amidst the allure of the exotic, a commitment to personal rituals and understated beauty remains a core value.
Soverall’s description of her childhood—spent lost in imaginative worlds within a dilapidated greenhouse—is the key to understanding her appeal. It’s a portrait of creative independence, of nurturing a rich inner life independent of external validation. This resonates deeply with a generation increasingly wary of performative lifestyles and curated online personas. We’re seeing a return to valuing the process—the quiet moments of inspiration and introspection—over the finished product. This mirrors the broader trend within the fashion and beauty industries, where the emphasis is shifting away from overtly flashy trends and towards timeless, quality pieces and a focus on personal style. The fragrance choices detailed in Trust Me: These Are the Scents to Wear in the Most Sought-After Destinations This Summer offer a similar insight, favoring nuanced and personal scents over loud, attention-grabbing fragrances. Soverall's reluctance to engage in the typical celebrity PR machine feels almost radical in its simplicity; it’s a refreshing rejection of the constant need to be seen, to be defined by external forces.
The term “slow-burn” is apt here. Soverall’s ascent hasn’t been meteoric, but rather a gradual, organic unfolding. This stands in stark contrast to the instant-fame phenomenon driven by social media, where individuals are often propelled to stardom based on fleeting trends and viral moments. Her story highlights the enduring power of talent, authenticity, and a genuine connection with an audience—qualities that transcend the ephemeral nature of online culture. The quiet confidence she exudes, a byproduct of her introspective nature, is a potent force. Consider the deeply personal narratives shared in I Cut Off My Hair at 16—Here’s Why I'll Never Grow It Back—a testament to the power of embracing individuality and defying conventional beauty standards. Soverall embodies a similar spirit of self-acceptance and understated strength.
Ultimately, Sadie Soverall’s rise isn’t just about a new acting talent; it’s indicative of a larger cultural recalibration. We are, perhaps, collectively tiring of the noise and seeking solace in authenticity, introspection and a quiet, enduring grace. The question now is whether this shift towards valuing genuine connection and understated elegance will continue to reshape the landscape of celebrity and influence, or if it will ultimately be swallowed by the relentless churn of the digital age. Will other aspiring figures follow Soverall’s lead, prioritizing substance over spectacle, or will the allure of instant fame prove too strong to resist?
Sadie Soverall is a daydreamer. The sort of summers she yearns for were spent at her grandma’s bungalow in Guernsey, where she’d head out into the garden and lie on the warm floor of a dilapidated greenhouse, making up stories amongst the tomato plants. "It felt like a magical place, my own little world. I talked to myself a lot as a child," she says, smiling at the thought of her 10-year-old self.
She’s speaking to me from her bedroom in London on a sweltering day, and when we both appear on screen in matching tank tops, we giggle conspiratorially. Soverall still spends a lot of time cocooned in her imagination, she tells me. "Talking to myself is how I get into my characters; testing out how they sound and finding their voices. I even have a little altar to one of the characters I’m prepping for in the corner of my room." She can’t say what the role is just yet, but if her current trajectory is anything to go by, it’s going to be major.
At 24, Wandsworth-born Soverall is booked and very busy, not long off a sold-out run of John Proctor is the Villain at the Royal Court Theatre, and now starring in Every Year After, the YA romance that’s captured our love of yearning so deeply that Prime Video has already announced a second season. Soverall was still in school when she landed her first major role in Netflix show Fate: The Winx Saga, and she soon caught the eye of director Emerald Fennell, who cast her in Saltburn as Jacob Elordi’s university love interest. She held her own amongst titans including Barry Keoghan, Carey Mulligan and Rosamund Pike, her character Annabel all pouting privilege and noughties waist belts.
"I was really lucky on that set because they had us in the background in a lot of shots, so I got to spend time just watching Barry and Jacob work. They are both incredible at what they do, and I became absolutely obsessed with Alison Oliver [who plays Venetia Catton, sister to Elordi's Felix]. I think she’s one of the best actors of our time," says Soverall. The masterclass continued behind the camera, too. "It was fascinating to see how creative Emerald’s process is. She’d come up with little ideas in the moment, or she’d write a new scene at night, and we’d shoot it the next day. It was just so exciting to have a brilliant, intelligent woman at the helm of this thing."
Soverall, who gently rebuffs any hint of praise with a warm humility, admits Saltburn felt like a turning point. Her childhood dream of becoming an actor—sparked by a love of the 1976 musical Bugsy Malone and fed by a primary school teacher called Mr Vince, who’d write mini plays for her to star in—was no longer just in her head. But she says that nothing has made her success feel more real than playing Percy in Every Year After; the sun-soaked, swoon-worthy adaptation of Carley Fortune’s best-selling book. In it, two childhood best friends who spent summers together in the lakeside town of Barry’s Bay are torn apart by betrayal, then thrown together again in their twenties. The tension is painful and totally delicious.
It’s the latest in a string of book-to-screen blockbusters that have sent our desire for tales of yearning off the charts, from The Summer I Turned Pretty and My Life with the Walter Boys to Heated Rivalry and Off Campus. With an already dedicated (and vocal) fandom attached, does a role like this come with extra pressure? "I think it’s lovely that these books and shows have such devoted fans, but I feel the same amount of pressure as [with] any other character I play," says Soverall. "Of course, it’s an adaptation, but to my mind, the book is there and perfect, and this is just an expansion of that world. The thing about written stories is that they’re personal—we all have a specific, special version of it in our heads that can never be replaced."
Like me, she’s a lovergirl, so she understands innately why tales of young love resonate with people of all ages and are coming to define this current era of entertainment. "Partly, the escapism and levity they offer are exactly what we need in the world right now. But I think there’s also something about social media impacting the way many of us relate to each other, and the instant nature of it. We’re yearning for these real-life, slow-burn interactions," she muses. "When I was younger it was cool to be nonchalant, which was really hard for me because I wear my heart on my sleeve. But I think it’s swinging the other way, and that’s really lovely. Being able to talk about how you feel is a joyous part of being human."
Soverall says she drew a lot of inspiration from Meg Ryan’s roster when preparing for Percy. "I watched a lot of Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail, and especially When Harry Met Sally, because it captures that specific feeling of seeing someone significant after a long time apart," she says. "Meg Ryan is my favourite rom com queen; she’s fun and a bit messy, and her characters make mistakes. She’s so exciting to watch because she’s not perfect, and because of that, she kind of is perfect."
This leads us onto her own relationship with imperfection and the journey she’s been on to embrace parts of herself that she once wished away. "As a mixed-race person who’s Trinidadian, Scottish, Irish and English, I always felt a bit different as a teenager. The only thing that was cool and attractive at my school was having straight, blonde hair and blue eyes, and when I was going through puberty, my hair would just be huge and frizzy no matter what I did," she shares.
When the boy she liked said that her hair made her look "like a witch", she saved up her pocket money to get a straightening treatment. "I immediately regretted it. I looked in the mirror and realised I’d done this permanent thing based on a very small group of people’s opinions about me," she says. "There was a period when I was trying to be someone else, but I can look back and have compassion for that version of myself. Now I love my hair, and I love all the features I got from my Trinidad side; they’re beautiful and special. And I think it’s really cool that I have my big hair on this cover. It’s like, in their face, you know?"
I do know; the tussle with our hair almost feels like a rite of passage for mixed women, but it’s glorious to see Soverall own exactly who she is, especially when, despite her impressive score sheet so far, she’s really just getting started in her career.
Is she planning to take her foot off the gas anytime soon, or is it still full steam ahead? She sips her iced coffee, thoughtful for a moment. "I’ve been wanting to work all the time, but the summer sort of forces you to slow down. It’s a time for being with friends in the sun and having fun and looking after yourself. So I’ll do some of that, then I’ll get back to it." She smiles slyly, as if she doesn’t even believe this herself.
Her eyes flick in the direction of the altar she’s made to her next character, and I suspect she’s ready to head back to her happy place: her own imagination. I wish her sweet daydreams and sign off, safe in the knowledge I’ll meet her again on screen many more times in the future.
Photographer: Natasja Fourie
Hair Stylist: Christos Bairabas
Makeup Artist: Faye Bluff at Agency of Substance
Manicurist: Ami Streets
Stylist: Remy Farrell
Editor-in-Chief: Jane McFarland
Beauty Director: Shannon Lawlor
Art Director: Natalia Sztyk
Executive Director, Entertainment: Jessica Baker
Writer: Meena Alexander
Video Editor: Natasha Wilson
Digital Technician: Kayla Middleton
Lighting Assistant: Luké Simmonds
Production: Town Productions
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