Adrianna Tate-Duncan - Development

Development

The character of Adrianna was originally scripted as a guest spot in the series' pilot. When Lowndes was cast, she only knew that her character was a singer in the school musical, and as a singer herself, she was excited to sing on television. However, Lowndes was surprised when "they chopped my hair off, and wrote this amazing material for me in which I had a drug addiction and I was dying. I honestly didn't know where it was going." The day after she filmed the drug overdose scene, Lowndes was offered series regular status. Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly reported that the character was upgraded because she created more storyline.

When Lowndes realized her character was a drug addict, she did a lot of research and talked to real recovering addicts in Vancouver and over the phone. She did not "want to make light of it since I didn't have those experiences myself". Upon revelation of Adrianna's pregnancy in the series, Lowndes said that the fate of the baby was still undecided. The actress also explained that Ty and Adrianna had been together before that night at the hotel, as shown in episode "Wide Awake and Dreaming". To create Adrianna's "rough" look during her drug addiction, Lowndes had to sit through "an hour of intense white makeup on my face and red and gray under my eyes to create broken capillaries". For her character's pregnancy, Lowndes said she couldn't wait to wear a heavy pregnancy belly. The actress said that "by the end of the day my back and feet are killing, so I feel like a real pregnant lady".

Speaking about Adrianna's lesbian relationship with Gia, Lowndes said that it was important that the characters act like any other couple on the series. Lowndes said that "there has been a response from people who have come up to me who have been affected by it. This is truly going on in high school and people are confused and I love that we're showing somebody like my character, who is confused." Lowndes was pleased with the direction of Adrianna's storyline when her character began a music career. Lowndes, who is herself a singer, was able to sing in most the latter episodes of the season. The actress said, "it's so exciting, and all different musical styles, as well. It's awesome that we got a third-season pickup and there's going to be a lot more music in the third season as well. That's what I'm doing when I'm not working on 90210, I'm working on my album. So I love it, it's a dream come true."