Kennedy McMann Has Been Preparing to Play Nancy Drew All Her Life

Kennedy McMann and Leah Lewis speak on stage during the Nancy Drew panel at 2019 New York Comic Con at Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on Sunday (October 6) in New York City.

The two actors were joined by co-stars Tunji Kasim, Alex Saxon, Maddison Jaizani and Scott Wolf as they promoted the new CW show.

In a recent interview, Kennedy opened up about how it was fate for her to play the title role.

“I come from a super literary family. My mom’s an author. I grew up reading the books. I played the computer games all through college. I was hogging the family computer when I was a kid, and then it just became my laptop, when I was 19, (with) different ‘Nancy Drew’ games on it,” she shared. “So I was pretty well versed. When it came about I was, like, ‘Ah, ah, I’ve been doing this my whole life. I’m ready to go.’

Kennedy adds, “But then when I got the part, it had been a while since I read the books. And I intentionally did not reread them because I was confident in the history that I had with the character, and I felt like I knew her really well.”

“I feel like I wanted to just be true and dedicate myself to the Nancy that we were creating, with all the knowledge that I already had to back up the historical relevance of her traits and things like that.”

However, Kennedy‘s Nancy is a bit different from the 1930s book version: “She’s very prim and proper in the 1930s editions of the books, and we’re showing her in a more modern context. But, yeah, I think that there is just a broader market for a lot riskier material.”

Nancy Drew premieres THIS WEEK on The CW!