Reese Witherspoon’s Son Deacon to Make His Acting Debut in Hit Netflix Show

Deacon Phillippe, the son of actors Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Philippe, stars in the new season of Never Have I Ever. The 18-year-old will make his acting debut as Parker, whose debate team challenges Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan). The penultimate season of Never Have I Ever debuts on Netflix on Aug. 12.

Deacon‘s character Parker is a member of a rival debate team from a rich private school, Netflix said. He has lived a privileged life and coasts through school, so he always has time to party. Deacon graduated high school early last month, so he doesn’t have to think too far back to remember what it was like to be a student.

Witherspoon and Phillippe are also parents to daughter Ava Elizabeth Philippe, 22. Philippe and Witherspoon were married from 1999 to 2008. Witherspoon married talent agent Jim Toth in 2011, and they are parents to Tennessee James Toth, 9. Philippe and Alexis Knapp are parents to daughter Kai Knapp, 11.

Never Have I Ever was created by Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher and was loosely based on Kaling’s experiences. The series centers on Indian-American high school student Devi, who got made her relationship with Paxton Hall-Yoshida (Darren Barnet) official at the end of Season 2. The trailer for Season 3 was released earlier Wednesday.

When Netflix renewed Never Have I Ever for a fourth season in March, the streamer and Kaling confirmed it would be the show’s last. Kaling later told Entertainment Tonight she felt four seasons was a natural number for a high school show.

“They can’t be in high school forever. We’ve seen those shows. Like, you’ve been in high school for 12 years. What is going on here? Also, the actors get older and it starts looking insane that a 34-year-old is playing a 15-year-old,” the former Mindy Project star said. “So there are some things are built-in doing a high school show that felt like, OK this is time.”

Kaling went on to praise Netflix for giving them the opportunity to tell Devi’s story. “The great thing about doing it on Netflix is that we got to tell stories that you wouldn’t necessarily be able to tell in traditional network shows and so we feel good,” Kaling said. “We really told the story of this 15-year-old girl and that felt like the perfect amount of time.”