Sherri Saum Chats About the Return of The Fosters

The Fosters is back, and a few bombshells were dropped in last night’s midseason premiere, especially in that final scene with Stef’s cancer diagnosis.

We recently chatted with the fantastic Sherri Saum (Lena) about The Fosters‘ return, including a sometimes meddling mother-in-law, continuing Monty drama, trouble brewing for Callie because of her Fost and Found app, and the family coming together to support Stef. Here’s what she shared.

There’s an interesting little dynamic brewing with a mother-in-law lurking around and potentially causing some trouble. Can you tell us a bit about having Stef’s mom, Sharon (Annie Potts), around the house?

It’s really, really hard. As Stef’s wife and partner in life, Lena feels like she knows what’s best for Stef. Lena knows her in a way that only a wife can know someone, and of course Sharon thinks the exact same thing, that she knows her [daughter] best. It’s going to be tough to navigate that and try to keep stress levels down, but at the same time, I think it’s highly relatable to anybody who’s had to deal with 1) an illness, and 2) the in-laws. It’s not easy trying to keep everybody together, and having five kids in the house.

There’s definitely a full house throwing an extra layer of challenges into this situation, between Sharon and also Jesus returning from school.

Having Jesus back is going to be crucial. When something like this happens you want to circle the wagons, and it’s really good that all the family’s going to be there. I think Stef’s got all the support she can get. It will work in our favor.

There doesn’t appear to be an end to the Monty drama yet, either. What can you share about that?

It wasn’t like [Lena and Monty] had sex, but it was still a pretty deep betrayal, when we consider that this was an emotional betrayal as well. Lena was going to Monty and sharing personal stuff, sharing her troubles, stuff that she should be sharing with Stef. It’s definitely not going away especially because Lena still has to work with Monty every day. We are going to have to work really hard to re-structure our relationship and keep it really professional.

Was it just me, or does Monty appear to be waiting on the sidelines hoping something happens?

Monty is lovely and professional and a wonderful educator. She obviously feels very deeply, and I think that she probably feels that if sex wasn’t a factor, she and Lena could have a really meaningful relationship. They click on a lot of levels, and they have a lot in common, so I don’t know how easily that’s going to go away for her.

While the family is dealing with Stef’s cancer, there’s also another potentially huge issue brewing with Callie and her Fost and Found app. There is someone preying on Callie because of the information contained within Fost and Found, including the bombshell that Callie and Brandon hooked up before her adoption was finalized. How much do Lena and Stef play into this storyline?

It’s a tricky, tricky thing. The Fost and Found app that Callie designed is an amazing thing for a girl to come up with, especially considering what’s she’s been through. She’s been through a lot, and things have gone the wrong way for her, but she’s coming into her own. She’s helping other people — kids who are like she was — and it’s a great thing. There’s also these tricky minefields that we have to walk because of all the stuff that it could uncover. All of us want Callie to have a normal life. It’s going to take over her life for a while, and we’re trying to balance that. Stef and Lena want her to do so many things, but want to give her a normal life which is a gift she’s not had.

How potentially devastated would Stef and Lena be if they found out what happened between Callie and Brandon?

It would be such a blow to know this information, because we worked so, so hard to get our family back. We feel like we finally got to that point and it would be really hard. It’s a tricky situation when you have non-blood siblings together — and with teenagers and hormones, we understand all of that — but it would be one of those things where we’d be like, “Are you serious right now? How are we going to get past this point?”

Photo Courtesy of Freeform

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