A hayden interview 

Jude (Hayden Byerly) is the newly adopted son of gay couple

Stef (Teri Polo) & Lena (Sherri Saum). (ABC)

While much of the attention on the first season of ABC Family’s drama series, 

focused on the fact that the head of the Foster family was a lesbian couple, the series also dealt with the fact that young Jude (played by Hayden Byerly) had, at the age of 13. some big questions about his own sexuality,

And while it might seem like a huge topic to ask a young actor to contemplate, 13-year-old Hayden Byerly is fully up to the task.

The series, created by Peter Paige and Bradley Bredeweg (and Executive Produced by Jennifer Lopez), is kicking off its second season tonight and TheBacklot had the chance to talk to Byerly about Jude’s journey this season now that he has been adopted by gay couple Stef (Teri Polo) and Lena (Sherri Saum). The young actor also shared his thoughts on how the show is dealing with Jude’s sexuality as well as his recent visit to the White House.

Going into the new season, where do we find Jude?

Hayden Byerly: Lena is pregnant with a baby, which is very cool. Jude is still going through issues with [his sister] Callie (Maia Mitchell) and them not having the same birth father. Brandon (David Lambert) has now joined a band. Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) is on a dance team and dyed her hair blonde and a lot of the kids get together and start to really connect with one another and hang out a lot and get into some mischief, which is the basic idea of what happens this whole new season.

With Callie going through all her stuff with her adoption stalled and her birth father issue, what is that doing for Jude?

HB: Yeah, it kind of impacts him very heavily to have his sister have a different dad and for him to be kind of scared that if she does go looking for this guy and wants to find him, then that might take her away from him. They might be separated and that’s never happened before. They’ve never been without each other. That’s all they’ve ever really had. So, Jude is definitely frightened about this incident and very upset that they didn’t figure this out before. No one knew about this.

The fact that Lena is having a baby, what’s Jude’s reaction to that as we get more into that pregnancy? Is he happy for her?

HB: I think Jude is happy to have a new baby. I think he was definitely expecting a little bit of space since Brandon moved out to his Dad’s. I think he was expecting some space to himself and just have that time to really just sit and establish his ground and Jesus was able to have his own room and all that. But now that there is this baby, he knows that that chance is definitely not going to happen. So, that kind of changes and he’s a little weird about that.

What would you say is Jude’s biggest challenge this season? There are definitely a lot of things going on around him, but what’s his big challenge personally?  

HB: I think the biggest challenge is Callie and her going off and possibly going to find this other family, I think that’s the biggest challenge that Jude faces in this season. We’ve always seen Jude question his sexuality, which is a big thing that he has been through, and a lot of kids go through, especially in those ages. So, that’s also something that’s also very interesting this season and very impactful.

Tell me how the producers and the writers talked to you about the direction of Jude’s storyline in that regard, as far as the sexuality questions?

HB: Yeah, the writers and producers actually don’t know themselves what kind of what direction they want to take. They want to play with it and just get some ideas if Jude is this or that. I also don’t know myself. Obviously he doesn’t have to be one thing or another and that doesn’t have to be established and pointed out. So, I don’t know. The writers and [producers] have definitely had discussions with me about it and asked me how I would feel. Whatever they do is always great, they’re great writers and producers. I trust them.

You said this is something that a lot of kids go through your age. Have you heard from other kids and young people via social media?

HB: Yeah, a lot of kids. It’s actually really cool when people contact me over Twitter and stuff like that and let me know that it really impacts them on a very personal level and they really get an idea as to their sexuality. With Jude being bullied, that was a big thing. A lot of people said that they were bullied and they finally stood up to that bully and now they’re not [being bullied] and now they’re really happy and doing great in school and stuff like that. It really means a lot. It means that I’m doing what I’m supposed to do very well.

The show often focuses on Callie is always getting in trouble and making the wrong decisions. Are we going to see Jude maybe have some missteps this season and get himself in trouble?

HB: A little bit, yeah, the whole group of kids get into a little bit of trouble this season. They really come together and really look like a bunch of siblings, they really hang out. It’s really cool because they get really close to one another.

The show also has a lot of kind of heavy and dramatic scenes and storylines, how do you kind of shake that off when you’re done working? Is that easy for you?

HB: It can be kind of hard. Everyone on set is very supportive of whether you like to carry that emotion with you from scene to scene, if you look to be sad, or take to take. All the actors and actresses, because I’m the youngest especially, they all make sure that I’m okay and that when I leave there I’m not sad like my character was. So, I don’t really carry that when I leave. I kind of leave it there. I let it be and I leave it with Jude not with Hayden.

Jude’s sister Callie (Maia Mitchell) received guidance from Rita (Rosie O’Donnell, who will return) (ABC)

HB: I did. Cierra, Bradley, Peter and I all went to tour The White House.

Tell me about that experience. Was the event partly because of the foster care system?

HB: They were having a discussion about kids being put on a certain medication that [they] thought was unnecessary. It was a huge discussion and a huge topic. It was a very important thing that happened and we felt so honored to be able to go there and listen in on this. To hear all these kids and all these different doctors and psychiatrists and psychologists give their personal opinions to all these different people about how they felt about this drug and how they were wasting money on basically giving kids something that they didn’t need that wouldn’t help them. So it was pretty cool. It was an honor to go and see The Oval Office and The Roosevelt Room and stuff like that, and hear all the different stories of the White House.

I know since the show started airing last year there have been a lot of awards and a lot of really positive attention. How have you taken all that in?

HB: It is very cool. It’s also hard not to get a little bit of a big head when you have so many people telling you how good you’re doing. But it’s super fun. It’s super cool. I love going to the awards and hearing people’s stories and their ideas of the show and hear them say such great things about us and what we do. It really makes you feel good. That’s our job. That’s what we’re supposed to do. If we really send up a positive message that people really understand and really love then that’s all we’re really trying to do.

HB: I like to binge watch. I recently finished Breaking Bad, which was a pretty fun series. It was a little bit of a serious series and an adult series, but it was fun to watch. Brilliant show, great acting. I like Once Upon a Time too. Really cool show to watch. I don’t watch too many TV shows, but I do like watching some of them.

Tags: Bradley Bredeweg, gay, Hayden Byerly, LGBT, Maia Mitchell, Peter Paige, Rosie O\'Donnell, Sherri Saum, Teri Polo, The Fosters

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