Anna Konkle & Maya Erskine Are Both New Moms

In a twist their on-screen counterparts probably would have loved, real-life besties and PEN15 creators Anna Konkle and Maya Erskine have become new moms together. In a joint interview with Vogue, the pair revealed they’d given birth a few months apart from each other earlier this year. In February, just days before her due date, Konkle surprised fans by announcing she was pregnant — just like her co-star Erskine, who'd announced she was expecting in November.

Konkle told Vogue she’d welcomed a daughter whom she’d named Essie Wunderle Anfanger with fiancé Alex Anfanger. “The middle name comes from my dad’s side of the family, in honor of him,” Konkle told the magazine. “The Wunderles were known to have strong, forward-thinking women and my great-great-grandfather, also a Wunderle, went from selling sweets from a street cart to having a large factory where candy corn was invented. Hopefully, she’ll appreciate the name instead of resenting us for giving her something difficult to spell.”

Konkle managed to keep her pregnancy largely a secret, revealing it to fans over Instagram at the nine-month mark. "It only took me nine months to post, but the family is expanding any second now," 34-year-old Konkle wrote in February, adding that she was due “any second now.” She and Anfanger, who recently starred in the short-form comedy series Shark Lords, which aired as part of the anthology TV series Cake, have been dating since at least 2015, according to their social media channels.

But Konkle wasn’t the only PEN15 creator to surprise fans with a pregnancy or a birth. Vogue has revealed that 34-year-old Erskine gave birth to a baby boy shortly after speaking with the magazine for an interview that dropped May 7. Erskine revealed she was expecting her first child with fiancé Michael Angarano, who played drama teacher Greg in Season 2 of PEN15, in November. According to Vogue, the couple have named their son Leon Frederick.

"When 2 becomes 3," she wrote while sharing a photograph of herself and Angarano in which her bump was clearly visible.

Angarano, who has also starred in This Is Us, shared news of his and Erskine's engagement over his own Instagram account, captioning a picture of himself hugging Erskine from behind, "and then there were 3... also, we're engaged." The actor shared his heartfelt appreciation for Erskine in a sweet end-of-the-year tribute.

"I feel very lucky to have spent 2020 with you @mayaerskine," he wrote when posting a short video clip of Erskine and himself laughing on New Year's Eve.

While filming for the second season of PEN15 was cut short by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, fans can expect to see the next seven episodes of the second season to drop sometime in late 2021. In September, Konkle told W "COVID stopped us in the middle [of filming]," and revealed the next seven episodes "probably won't be out for a year now."

In the meantime, Konkle and Erskine are enjoying living out one of the ultimate best friend fantasies in their real life: twin pregnancies and being new moms together. Shortly after Konkle announced her pregnancy late last week, Konkle and Erskine shared a few pictures of themselves comparing their bellies in their Instagram Stories. In a photograph Konkle captioned "Ying and Yang," the friends stand bump-to-bump, People reported. Meanwhile, Erskine shared a photo of herself and Konkle sitting together on a couch with the caption, "BFFs making some future bffs."

Hopefully little Essie and little Leon grow up to like each other as much as their mammas do.