Phoebe Tonkin is a certified millennial icon.

Let's be real: if you grew up in the 2000s, you were almost certainly obsessed with her. Whether you spent your childhood trying to manifest mermaid powers because of H2O: Just Add Water, or your teenage years glued to the screen watching her play Hayley Marshall in The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, Phoebe has been a staple on our screens for years.

Fresh off her highly acclaimed, AACTA-winning run in Boy Swallows Universe, Phoebe is back with yet another Aussie project. This time, she explores the messy, nuanced world of modern romance in the new Paramount+ series Two Years Later. 

The show dives headfirst into the anxieties of thirty-something dating in a post-pandemic world — a landscape defined by app culture, lingering isolation, and an intense craving for genuine human connection.

Watch: Interview with Phoebe Tonkin | The Spill. Article continues after video.

Playing Emily, a very complex woman navigating an unconventional relationship experiment, Phoebe told Mamamia that she found herself drawn to a story that subverts the classic tropes of the traditional romantic comedy.

"Everyone is flawed in so many ways, and no one is perfect," Phoebe told Mamamia. "This idea of exploring a character that is incredibly flawed and complicated and messy was relatable. People want to see pieces of themselves on screen — not always, but a lot of the time."

For Phoebe, the appeal lay in the story's maturity and its willingness to let its characters carry real baggage. 

"I like this idea of an anti-rom-com," she said. "These are not 20-year-olds. They're 30-something-year-olds. They come with baggage and family history that leads into how they interact with their intimate partners.

"I just found it really interesting and important. I love being able to tell stories in Australia that are universal and have international appeal in their themes, but still feel innately Australian. That's what I like to watch myself."

While the project features plenty of lighthearted, hyper-relatable cultural markers from the early 2020s — including nods to famous TV shows that briefly united a locked-down planet — Phoebe was most compelled by the story's willingness to look at the deeper, psychological hangover of that era. 

"There's a couple of lines about Squid Game in the first episode and Tiger King. It's like the whole world was watching these 23 shows at the same time," she laughed. "This show really touches on the aftermath and the consequences of what that period did to a lot of people. It was a lot of loneliness and isolation."

Because the narrative hinges so heavily on the central romance, creating an authentic, palpable bond with co-star Brenton Thwaites was paramount. 

"We had a two-week rehearsal period beforehand, which was very luxurious," Phoebe explained. "The writer, Pete Bridges, and [director] Emma Freeman, and the producers, and Brenton and I, pretty much sat in that cottage for two weeks and read the scripts and talked about pieces in the script that we related to or didn't relate to, and explored all the themes together."

Returning to film in Australia has become a comforting pattern for Phoebe, who continues to be drawn back by the distinct cultural and professional energy of local productions.

"I think the calibre of Australian talent is so high — between the actors, the DPs, the directors, the writers, producers, everyone," Phoebe explained. "Whether the project is big or small, I find the energy on set is always universally the same in Australia. Everyone's got the same goal, and everyone's passionate about what they do — it's never a job for anyone, and that's why I love working here." 

Beyond acting, Phoebe has long cemented herself as a fashion icon. Honestly, both her bridal looks — a Chanel lace look and a Magda Butrym gown — live rent-free in my head. When it comes to her own inspiration, her process is highly visual, deeply historical, and inextricably linked to her acting work. 

"It's a combination. I love Pinterest, I'm along with everyone else," she admitted. "But a lot of the references — I love how Michelle Pfeiffer used to dress in the late 80s, early 90s, or even how her characters looked."

"I make a lot of mood boards for my characters — which maybe the wardrobe designers don't love, or maybe they do, I don't know."

For Phoebe, clothing is a vital storytelling tool rather than just aesthetic dressing. 

"For Boy Swallows Universe, I had a very clear idea of how I saw Frankie in my head, and costume for me is super, super important," she explained. "Even if it's about the lack of thought in the costume — like, 'this is a character that doesn't actually think about fashion, and how do we look at that with this character? Where is she shopping? How dirty are her clothes?' All of that is so important for me when I'm building these characters."

When she isn't working, Phoebe splits her time between Manhattan and Australia. Yet, no matter how much time she spends abroad, the pull of the Australian coastline remains unmatched. 

"Probably the beaches. Definitely the beaches," she says of what she misses most when away. "Usually I wake up, go for a swim in the ocean, get a coffee — a great coffee, Australia does great coffees — and that kind of lifestyle, you don't really get anywhere else. It's very specific to Australia, and everyone's barefoot, and it's so relaxed and nice."

Though generations of fans still stop her on the street, Phoebe admits that no matter how much time passes, it's those early, hyper-nostalgic roles that people clock the quickest.

"It's either The Originals, Vampire Diaries or H2O. I love all those projects. They're all incredible," she said. 

As audiences prepare to dive into the heavy emotional baggage of Two Years Later, Phoebe believes its willingness to dissect the invisible strings of family history and personal baggage is exactly what will set it apart. 

"A lot of the times in rom-coms, it's about the present, and it's about them at that time," Phoebe concluded. 

"But we really explore Emily's home life and her relationship with her parents, and we really explore Ryan's upbringing and his relationship with his grandparents and how they came to raise him. All of that really informs who you become as an adult, and definitely how you relate to your partner," she said. "You bring all of that, especially when you first start dating someone, into the relationship. And so I think that's what makes this show really unique and relatable."

Two Years Later premieres on Paramount Plus on June 4.

Feature Image: Getty.