One of the things that hit me more this season than it did in season 1 is this idea of huge revelations which redefine the characters and their relationships to one another. I’m wondering what kind of conversations you guys must have had with the actors about that, because for some of them, their characters get way more interesting in the back half of the season.
King: Yeah, one of them is a killer and is hiding that, but they all have secrets and parts of themselves that they’re not revealing when you meet them and that they either reveal through their own story or through other people’s stories.
One of the biggest arcs of the second season is Edgar, who’s the victim, but what you learn about him as the people tell their stories and their relationships with him, he goes from being this kind of lovable weirdo to maybe a sociopath. [laughs] I think Zach Woods takes that on such an incredible arc — the subtlety of how he is always the same character, but you kind of feel the sinister side of him come into play as the season goes on.
I imagine that’s something that must have excited the actors, the idea of, “We’re going to almost be different characters, in a way, for the first couple episodes, and then have those layers peeled back.”
Miller: I think it’s a really great opportunity for each of these — they’re all amazing actors. We really choose people who we think have a lot of different skills and a lot of range, because we’re asking them to be funny, we’re asking them to be dramatic. We’re asking them to do two different things and also do 10 different things where we’re going, “This is your character, but this is the film noir version of your character,” and to remember and understand all of that, it’s a big ask.
So you need to have people who really know what they’re doing. And it’s a really fun opportunity where each of them gets their own episode and gets a chance to be multiple things at once and to see a side of them that you maybe don’t see. Like Ken Jeong, you’ve seen him be silly, you’ve seen him be goofy, but this one gives him an opportunity to do that, but also to be grounded and emotional and vulnerable and real and show that kind of range that you don’t normally get to see from someone like him. Or John Cho, where you maybe have forgotten that he started in comedy and is super funny because he is also an amazing and handsome dramatic actor.
Lord: Can handsome people be funny?
Miller: It turns out they can! Only the worst ones, the ones that can do it all.
King: John proves the exception to the rule.
Lord: Who knew?