Diesel La Torraca‘s real-life growth spurt has Ginny & Georgia fans worried that Austin will be recast in season 4 — but are there any actual plans to bring in someone new?
Ginny & Georgia, which premiered in 2021, follows a young single mother who moves her family to Wellsbury, Massachusetts, after running away from her past. The Netflix series stars Brianne Howey, Antonia Gentry, La Torraca, Felix Mallard, Sara Waisglass, Scott Porter and Raymond Ablack.
Concerns about Le Torraca’s future on the show started when Austin appeared significantly older in season 3 — despite there not being any time jumps between episodes.
Season 2 wrapped up filming in early 2022, but production on the third installment started two years later following the dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. While some viewers thought this meant Austin could get recast, creator Sarah Lampert had different ideas.
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“Anyone who works on the show will tell you I am fastidious about the details. I am just specific with so many things. Then things like Diesel growing five years [older], I’m like, ‘Whatever.’ Because you can’t control it,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in June 2025. “We can’t recast. Diesel is Austin.”
Keep scrolling for a breakdown of the drama — including what how Ginny & Georgia will address La Torraca’s appearance in season 4:
The Key Players
La Torraca has played Austin since Ginny & Georgia premiered on Netflix in 2021. The actor was 8-years-old when he started filming the show, which was the same age as his character. By the time season 3 premiered in 2025, Austin was still in second grade but La Torraca was 14.
The Gist
The third season, which premiered in June, picked up right where things left off, with Georgia being arrested for murder in full view of her kids, Austin and Ginny. It was an emotional moment, but some viewers kept getting distracted by the fact that the two-year hiatus between seasons 2 and 3 resulted in La Torraca looking all grown up.
“They really threw some glasses on this grown 14 year old kid and said go on Austin be 9/10 years old
. Here for it,” read a reaction via X, while someone else joked, “Austin look like he married with taxes to pay and two kids of his own.”
The audience poked fun at the ways the show tried to make La Torraca look younger.
“The Ginny and Georgia directors trying to hide the fact that 9 year old Austin is 6ft tall now by making him sit every scene he’s in and wearing a blanket,” wrote an X user.
La Torraca joined in on the fun with a TikTok video of him and costar Connor Laidman. “Y’all think I grew up,” he captioned the video, which showed how much Laidman grew as well since the last time his character, Zach, was seen on the show.
Why It’s a Big Deal
While some fans poked fun at La Torraca’s evident growth spurt, others were worried what that meant for Austin. La Torraca addressed the concern while telling Teen Vogue in June the creative ways the show disguised his obvious growth spurt.
“Well, honestly, we kind of ignore it a little bit!” he said. “It’s kind of just like … there’s a 14-year-old sitting at the table with Harry Potter glasses on that’s supposed to be 9. And that’s OK! In some shots, I did have to bend my knees a little bit to look a little shorter than [Antonia], or they got her an apple box a few times, but for the most part, we’ve kind of just kept the show running.”
La Torraca continued: “Playing a 9-year-old for six years when you are growing … I’ve grown with him, but I’ve also kind of departed from him because I was 8 when we started, now I’m 14. There are a lot of differences in the way that he would move and act and speak. I have to heighten my voice register, slouch a little bit [to] feel like I’m actually a shy, insecure 9-year-old.”
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What People Are Saying
According to creator Lampert, there is nothing to worry about.
“There are a few jokes we’re planning to make. We’re aware that he’s growing up and that helps us,” Lampert exclusively explained to Us in June. Lampert acknowledged that viewers will have to “suspend their disbelief” because La Torraca “grew [up] and it’s a TV show.”
The screenwriter teased that season 4 of Ginny & Georgia will “really lean into” La Torraca being a teenager in real life. Ginny & Georgia will also continue to expand La Torraca’s role on the show.
“I think [that] is a really interesting dynamic,” Lampert hinted. “You don’t want to do a big time leap because that really misses emotional storytelling. Because of that, the flashbacks already make no sense in terms of the timeline of the flashbacks. Time is but a construct in Wellsbury.”
What’s Next
Netflix has already renewed Ginny & Georgia for a fourth season. It will pick up right after Georgia found out she’s pregnant with either Paul or Joe’s baby. Austin, meanwhile, is at odds with sister Ginny after she got him to accuse his father of murder to save their mother.
“He was just a little kid. Now with everything we put him through in season 3 and having him enter season 4 as a preteen, he’s entering the chat in a way that he hasn’t before,” Lampert told Us. “Honestly, it serves us because now he’s really a part of the family in a way that he wasn’t before.”
