Tom Blyth Calls Emily Bader the “New Meg Ryan” in Netflix’s People We Meet on Vacation
The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes star says his rom-com co-star has the same magnetic charm that made Meg Ryan an icon and Netflix might just have its next leading lady.
Los Angeles, October 13 EST: It takes confidence or at least a little rom-com delusion to casually compare your co-star to Meg Ryan. But Tom Blyth, the classically trained Brit best known for The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, just went there.
While talking to People, Blyth couldn’t stop gushing about his People We Meet on Vacation co-star Emily Bader, calling her the “new Meg Ryan.” And he meant it. “She’s got that quality where she can be going off the rails and you still are just so enamored by her,” he said. “She’s so endearing… so playful within the language of the script.”
That’s a tall order Meg Ryan isn’t just a person, she’s practically a genre. But Blyth might be onto something.
The Meg Ryan Effect, Reimagined
Ryan’s reign as rom-com royalty in the late ’80s and ’90s (When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail) built the playbook for modern movie love: neurotic but lovable leads, sparkling banter, emotional panic disguised as wit. For years, Hollywood’s been searching for someone who could bring back that mix of humor, self-doubt, and heart.
If Blyth’s right, Emily Bader might be the one.
The 27-year-old actor isn’t yet a household name her credits include Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin and a small part in House of the Dragon but in People We Meet on Vacation, she reportedly delivers that chaotic, lovable energy that made Ryan an icon. According to Cinemablend, Bader’s performance feels “like a throwback and a reboot at once,” grounded and goofy in equal measure.
And Blyth? He seems smitten strictly platonically, but still smitten.
Netflix Is Betting on Sincerity
Netflix knows exactly what it’s doing here. People We Meet on Vacation, adapted from Emily Henry’s 2021 bestseller, isn’t another algorithmic meet-cute. It’s part of the streamer’s larger push into book-based romantic dramas with actual emotional bones (Beach Read, Book Lovers are both in the works).
Rom-coms have been quietly staging a comeback on streaming for years, but they’ve often leaned hard into nostalgia or irony the “we know this is cheesy” kind of wink. Vacation, if early reactions hold, is going for something rarer: sincerity without sap.
Blyth and Bader’s dynamic Alex the introverted bookworm, Poppy the talkative travel writer reportedly feels lived-in, messy, and a little bit melancholy. It’s Before Sunrise for the swipe-right generation: two people circling love while pretending not to.
Blyth, Unbuttoned
For Blyth, who’s made a name playing brooding, morally complex men, this is new territory. He told Harper’s BAZAAR he signed on because he wanted to try something lighter though “light” is a slippery word in a story about two best friends figuring out why they can’t stop ruining their own happiness.
Still, there’s something refreshing about watching an actor known for period grit loosen up. Blyth’s casting almost feels like a soft rebellion against his own image the same way Meg Ryan’s messy optimism used to cut through the cynicism of her era.
And that’s what gives his “new Meg Ryan” comment a bit more weight. He’s not just praising a co-star; he’s saying the genre might have found its pulse again.
A Generation Ready to Believe in Love Again
It’s easy to forget, amid all the superhero crossovers and prestige miniseries, that audiences actually miss this stuff the quick-witted dialogue, the slow realization, the grand emotional payoff that doesn’t require a multiverse.
If People We Meet on Vacation hits the right note, it could be part of a real rom-com revival one built not on nostalgia, but on emotional authenticity. And if Emily Bader is indeed channeling Meg Ryan’s best qualities, she might just become the face of that revival.
That’s not pressure. That’s opportunity.
For now, the “new Meg Ryan” label is both a compliment and a dare. But if Netflix’s adaptation lands the way fans of Henry’s books hope, Bader won’t need the comparison for long. She won’t be the next Meg Ryan she’ll be the first Emily Bader.
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A bi-coastal pop culture critic and former indie screenwriter, Gia covers Hollywood, streaming wars, and subculture shifts with razor wit and Gen Z intuition. If it’s going viral, she already knew about it.
