How to Build an Internet Boyfriend

Noah Centineo became the year's biggest star in a single spin move—here's how it happened.

Chances are that before August 17, you didn’t know the name Noah Centineo. (Unless, maybe, you’re a dedicated Fosters fan? Good for you!) But that Friday, starting at midnight, he became Peter Kavinsky, the lead love interest in Netflix’s hit (see Rotten Tomatoes score of 96%) YA rom-com To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, and later Jamey in Netflix’s Sierra Burgess Is a Loser, released last Friday. Your internet browser history hasn’t been the same since.

Just look at the guy’s Instagram: After the premiere of TATBILB, Centineo gained one million followers on the platform in just 24 hours. (Today, he has a casual 9.6 million.)

“Teenage heartthrobs from 20 years ago have usually been a little more shallow,” says Susan Johnson, director of TATBILB. “I think now we expect more, and Noah certainly delivers that.”

It’s these genuine, personal interactions and Centineo’s openness with fans thatTATBILB and Sierra Burgess casting director Tamara-Lee Notcutt credits for The Centineo Effect.

“He puts stuff on his Insta stories that is dorky and clearly not curated,” Notcutt tells me. “He’s running around with uncombed hair and toothpaste on his face. He’s very open with his life, and I think that’s what makes him appealing.”

“Plus, he’s very cute and funny and sort of unaware of all of that at the same time, so he’s not using it for evil,” she adds, laughing.

Jenny Han, author of the 2014 bestselling young adult novel on which TATBILB is based, wanted her characters to feel authentic—she didn’t want Peter Kavinsky to be defined by one characteristic. And while Peter was intended to be a “good-hearted guy,” Han believes Centineo brought his own kindness to the role.

“He himself has a lot of sweetness and tenderness to him that he brought to the character,” Han says. “And that’s why people fell in love with both the character and Noah himself.”

Shannon Purser, Centineo’s Sierra Burgess co-star, thinks “this idea that guys have to be macho and aggressive and jealous to be a love interest” is unhealthy, calling this trend “toxic masculinity at work.” “It’s a sad expectation for men and not the kind of person people should want to be with. I do love that we’re seeing more kind and sensitive male love interests. We can all raise our bars a little bit higher.”

We may still be in the Honeymoon Phase of this Internet boyfriend relationship—the memes, the selfies, the puppies are still coming—but things are starting to get pretty serious. Aside from taking reign of Netflix rom-coms, Centineo confirmed via an Instagram story that his next project is a Fosters spin-off series Good Trouble, which premieres in January 2019. In short: he isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. And neither is the Noah Centineo content.

But there’s nothing like your first time. And thanks to Netflix being, you know, Netflix, you can relive the moment you locked eyes with Peter Kavinsky over and over again: Just the two of you, never once arguing over where to go for dinner or why he leaves his dirty socks on the floor when the hamper is right there. That’s what they call true love.