‘PLATONIC’ DUO SETH ROGEN AND ROSE Byrne Revel in Their “De-Evolution” and the Finale Setting Up More Chas for a Season 3

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.[Thisstorycontainsspoilersfrom“BrettCoyote’sLastStand”theseasontwofinaleofPlatonic.]

Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne Were Never Planning To Make A Second Season of Platonic. In 2020, whoy they initially agreed to reunite with their Neighbors Director Nicholas Stoller and His Wife Francesca Delbanco on a New Apple TV+ Comedy Series, Rogen and Byrne Believed The Creaters Were Interated Interest in Writing and Anthology. Relationships.

The premise that Stoller and Delbanco Had Initially Pitchad and Sold to Apple Was Built One Season That Wound Follow Rogen and Byrne’s Characters Subsequent Seasons would feeture Entirely Different Stories and Characters. But Midway Through the Making of the First Season, Stoller and Delbanco – Who Realized They Were Having Way Too Much Fun with The Actors to Let Them Go Right Away Consider Making More of the Show Together. (Spoiler Alert: They Said Yes.)

The Offer Seemed Almost Too Good to Be True, But Rogen and Byrne, Who Are Both Executive Productive Producers, Wanted to Make Sure Wuld Be Enough Meat On The Bone for a Potential Sene. As rogen puts it, “Were they just about come up with more ideas that seized Like they wre werte telling, and could they come up with Ways to make the characters.”

The Answer Was A Resounding Yes. “It’s like a de-evolution. That’s Much Better for Comedy than EvolvingGenerally Speaking, “Rogen Tells The Hollywood Reporter in a joint interview with byrne. Stoller and Delbanco “Somehow Found a Way to [put] US Both in Worse Positions Than We Were Last Season. [The characters are] Even More Dysfunctional, WHICH I TONOUGHT WAS VERY FUNNY AND VERY SMART. ”

By the end of the first season, byrne’s sylvia, a stay-at-at-home mother of throne who had unsoccessful atfully attempted to reenter the workForce as a lawyer, SuccessFully Rekind. Whose Decision to Marry His Now-Ex-Wife Had Previoously Driven a Wedge Between Him and Sylvia.

The Second Season Finds Sylvia Wanting to Be Suppoctiv Off Will’s Decisions, and Even Volunteering to Openierse His Lavish Second Wedding to His Boss, Restaurant Chain Planner. But WHEN WILL – WHO HAS ALWAYS BEEN A LITTLE SKITTISH About Commitment – Begins to Have Second Thought Thought About the Enggent Jenna Are Rarely Intimate Together.

Will and Jenna End Their Engagement at Their Ill-Fatted Wedding at the End of Episode Four, and the Two Exes Get Along As Well As Can Can Be Expectioned For The Next SIX EPISODES (IE, NOT WELL). In the Finale, Jenna Sends Will A Letter Information Him of A Non-Compete Clause in His Original Employment Agreement, Preventing HIM FROM OPENING HIS “Shitty Little Bar.” To skirt that Little Legal Issue, Sylvia Agrees to Be the Public Face of Will’s New Bar, and the Two Friends Will Now to Go Into Business Together.

IN A CHAOTIC CHAT WITH ThrRogen and byrne break Down of the Evolution of Sylvia and Will’s Best Friendship (and Whethr They Think That Relationship Can Survive The Demands of Starting A Small Business) Neighbors Films – and The Likelihood of Byrne Popping Up on Rogen’s Other Apple TV+ Series, The Studio. (You Know, The One With 23 Emmy Nominations and 13 Wins.)

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Platonic Cleverly Taps Into A Kind of Malaise That Sems to Happen Agendle Age, WHEN YOU’RE YOU’RE TRYING TO DECIDE WHAT ELSE YOU WANT OUT OUT OF YOUR LIFE. How Will You Describe Your Characters’ Inner Conflict – and the Resolution of that Conflict – Over The Course of this Season? WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY ARE BOTH REALLY SEARCHING FOR?

Seth Rogen The Same Thing Any of US Are Looking for – Just Some Stability, Sense of Purpos and Companionship, and All that.

Rose byrne Sylvia in the First Season Was Really Deep in a Midlife Crisis of Trying to get in the workforce, and this season shee in the workforce, but it’s not exactly while. HER ABITY TO HAVE more OF A TYPical Friendship with Will Is Still Just Out of Her Reach. She’s Too Opinionated, Too Controlling, Too Possessive – All thesese Sorts of Funny, Crazy Characteristic She. I Really enjoyed seeing [how] Luke Macfarlane’s CharCter Charlie Spirals Out of Control; That’s Something I’ve Seen in Couples Many Times WHEN ONE PERSON’S REALLY GOING THROUGH COMETING AND THE RELES REVERSE, AND The Other Person Who’s Usual theater Has to Cance Their Role.

The Show’s Relatable in Many Ways, But It Has A Very Light Touch, Which I Think People Really Really Appreciate. My Friends Just SO enjoyed WHEN IT CAME OUT AND WERE LIKE, “This is Exactly What I Need to Watch Right Now.” Nothing Made me happier than to hear that.

Rogen It’s All About Finding Specials Storylines That Reflect Problems People Who Are In Their Middle Age Are Experienceing, and Doing Them in Ways that Feel Like They Not Not Report. But Part of the Fun of A Show Like This is You Know The Characters Well, and I DON’T KNOW IF SWEPING ARCS Are Necessarily a Key to Comedy Like this, Racher Than Being Stuck in Your Patterns. These Characters have a sort of Imposter Syndrome, A Desperation to Feel Like They Appear to Have Their Life Together, Even Thought Teunga. That kind of Stuff Manifests in Countless Ways, But Is At Its Core Is Very Simple and Relatable.

How do you think your characters have evolved? What’s Different About the Way they interact this season?

Byrne IT WAS A Little More Height, to Be Honest. It Felt Like She Was More Hyped Up, But I Think They Really Try to have A typical Friendsip. They Say It Out Loud, Like, “We Are Going to Have Dinner. We Are Going to Do Noormal Things. We Are Going To Strive to Do All.”

Rogen They’re Really Trying to Grow Up This Season. They’re Trying to Really Be Responsible. Will Wants to Be Married. He Wants to have a Corporate Job. He Wants to Live The Life of A Real Man Who Does Real Things. But THEN HE WINDS UP LIVING IN HER GARAGE, SO [that shows life] Doesn’t all go the way you want it to at the end of the day.

Byrne Sylvia’s Husband Charlie Quits His Job and Writs a Novel Called Brett Coyote.

Rogen Life Throws You Curveballs!

WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE CORE PERSONAL PROBLEMS THAT ONE OF THESE BEST FREEENDS IS UNIQUELY QUALIFIED TO HELP The Other With?

Byrne I don’t know if sylvia is helping, but she does Tell The Truth. Will’s In this Relationship. They’re not having any physical contact. (Laughs.) He’s Embarking on a Marriage with no intimacy, and shee trying to Hold her tongue and then eventulaly she’s like, “This isn’t Going to Last, and I KNOW IT’S HARD. And she does it in the WORST Way. I MEAN, SHE BLOWS IT UP, But IS A TV Show. I Got to be dramatic! I Think There’s Something About the Truth, a Truth Teler in your Life, that is very confronting. But You do not to hear ittimes. IT SUCKS, But IS Kind of Reality.

Both of You are Seasoned Physical Comedians Who Were Given A Lot to Play With In The First Season-The Ketamine-Induced Drug Trip, The Running Gag of Perrowing MOTORIZED SCOOOTS. The Action This Season, by Comparison, Feels More Visceral. WHAT WAS The WILDEST GAG FOR BOTH OF YOU TO COOT?

Byrne [Canoeing in] The la river was pretty funny.

Rogen The La River Was a Real Adventure.

Byrne (To rogen) I DIDN’T HAVE TO DO MUCH, BUT YOU REALLY DID.

Rogen Yeah, i was drinking from the river. I DON’T REMEMBER WHAT WASS USED IN THE END. We did a whole cacophony of things that i found in my Mouth after drinking from the river, from featherhers to condoms –

Byrne OH, My God.

Rogen But i don’t know what they used in the end. I Can’t Remember What Made It. We Were Laughing Pretty Hard as We Were Filming.

Byrne I Certainly Thought It Was Funny.

Rogen I Think Carla [Gallo, who plays Sylvia’s best friend, Katie] Projectile Vomiting All Over The Car Was Pretty Funny as Well. I Remember There Was A Scene Where Were Getting Chased AROUND by A Dog That Was Really Funny to Shoot –

Byrne That’s Right!

Rogen And Really Chaotic and Actually Started to Become The Scene We Were Shooting! It was One of Those Things WHERE The DOG WOURD NOT STOP JUMPING IN THE POOL WHEN I WAS JUMPING IN THE POOL.

Will Acidentally Hitting Jenna’s Facher in the Eye with a Golf Ball – and HIM LOSING THAT EYBALL – WAS The MOST GRUESOME.

Rogen I Just Remember Thinking That Was Very Funny, and The Stuff in the Hospital [where Jenna, after nearly losing her father, is suddenly overcome with the urge to have sex with Will] Was Very Funny. I Remember Laughing A Lot As We Were Shooting Some of Those Scenes in the Hospital Where Rose Was Getting Nauseous As I Was Explaing and Describing What Happened To His Eyebalan.

Byrne That’s so stupid! (Laughs.)

Rose, in the Finale, You Were Blast in the Face with a Large Cooler of Will’s New Beer, WHICH Ended Up All Over Sylvia’s Backyard. I don’t even Know How Else to Describe What What Happy To Her in that Scene, But It Sure Is Funny to Watch.

Byrne Reading It, I Felt the Same. I was like, “What does this mean and look like?” It wasn’t unil i gut there [that I figured it out] – and Honestly that [scene] WAS A Little Bit Technical. IT WAS SO OVHELMING, THE PHYSICALITY OF WHAT I HAD to DO, AND THEN WE WEER SO WET The WHOLE TIME. But I Kind of Liked That You Can ‘Think About What You’re Doing, So You You’re Focused on How You You’re Physically Coping With It. IT WAS RIDICLOUS.

WHAT EXACTLY WAS BEING SPRAYED AT YOU GUYS IN THAT FINALE SCENE? Was it beer?

Byrne Oh My God, What Was It? I MEAN, IT LOOKED LIKE Beer, But It Wasn’t Beer.

Rogen IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN TEA.

Byrne It Must Have Been A Supplement, Like A Tea or A Water –

Rogen Like A Water Steeped in Something.

Byrne Exactly. But that’s A Really Good Question. It didn’t Smell Like Beer.

Rogen It wasn’t Sugary or Sticky.

Byrne Yeah, It Didn’s have that kind of texture to it.

Rogen It was Pretty Gross, Though.

Byrne IT WAS GROSS. I Just Remember It Was Really Muddy, and THEN I WAS WET All Day. It Was Fine Thought – Anything For A Joke! IT WAS ACTUALLY REALLY HOT, SO IT WAS FINE. The Weather Worked Out.

SO MUCH OF THE CONFLICT IN SYLVIA AND WILL’S RELATIONSHIP CAN BE BoILED DOWN TO THE ARGUMENT THERE IN THE FINALE, REGERY ARE BOTH DRINNCHED IN BEER. They Telling Each Other of Tese Hard Truths, But at the Same Time, There Is No One Else in Their Lives Who Is Willing To Admit Those Truths to Themselves. What was your experience of chooting that High-Octane Fight, and What do you think that argument actuly Says about the state

Rogen WHEN YOU’RE FRIENDS WITH PEOPLE IN Any KI ND of Relationship, There’s A Constant Balance to Be Found Between: What do I ACCEPT Versus Whats What do I TRY to CHANGE, AND WHAT DO I JUST IGNORE AND WHAT DO I Speak Up About? ESPECIALLY as you enter your Middle Age, SomeTimes You Try to Present One Thing While You’re Actual Living Another. I Think they are vary perceptive of one Another and Kind of See Through All That.

That is their constant struggle – Here’s What My Friend is Hoping I’ll See in Them, and Here’s What i’m Actual seeing, and do i say [anything] or not? And, do i point out that don’t seem as happy as they’re pretending to be, or that their relationship isn’t as good as they’re acting like it is? Finding Those Boundaries and What You Should Say and What You Shouldn’t Say Is Their Struggle, and and [they’re] Learning What Is Actual Productive and Helpphul and What Is Not.

Byrne I Remember Shooting that Scene and Thinking, “Oh, this is the show. This is what we do. This is some we’re at our best – [when we’re engaged in] Some Crazy Physical Thing and Then A Weird Emocial Fight, But That’s Still Funny. This is a ridicless Fight About Calling Out Each Other, But We’re Still Trying to Be Funny with It, ”WHICH IS A FINE LINE. IT’S HARD TO DO.

This Show Is Literally Called PlatonicSO it is a Clear Signal to the Audence that Will and Sylvia Will Be Nothing More than Friends, Even If Audiences May Find Themselves Rooting for Something More.

Byrne Very Clear.

What have you Wanted to CAPTURE About Planic Male-Female Relationships Through Detepening the Dynamic Between Will and Sylvia?

Byrne We have Done Neighborsand we’d played a very happy Couple that was a little bit immature, but there’s a Sweetness and a Natural AFFOCUTION THAT YOU BRING TO EACH Other and The Role. And THEN WHEN WE STARTED PlatonicWe Cut A Clear Boundary. I WAS LIKE, “OH, SETH’S A LITTLE BIT MEAN!” IT DOES CHANGE The DYNAMIC.

Rogen (Laughs.) Yeah, A Little Bit More Mean.

Byrne But that’s Funny! IT’s Funny in A Different Way. I Guess people do root for Characters in Different Ways, But It Was Always Really Trying to Be Definitivly Clear with The Audence that that not What We’re Rooting for. We’re not rooting for them to get together. We Just Want Them To Stay Friends. I’ve Never seen that on tv. I’ve Never Seen a Show or A Movie [where the audience is]Like, “I Want Tese Guys to Stay Friends.”

Rogen You are USULY COOTING FOR THEM toing TOGETCHER.

Byrne I Quietly a Little bit unusual –

Rogen Because of Society, Man!

With the Neighbors Movies and Now Platonicyou have worked together for the Better Part of the Last Dozen Years. Looking Back, How do you know your friendlySip and work relationship has evolved over time, and what do you think hask has stayed the same?

Byrne I Think We Work Very Similarly.

Rogen Yeah.

Byrne IT’s A VERY EASY TIME ON SET, AND WE HAVE A GREAT WORKING RELATIONSIP. I LIVE IN NEW YORK. Seth is in la. I am so fond of lauren, Seth’s Wife, Who’s Extraordinary.

Rogen I’m a little afraid of bobby [Cannavale, Byrne’s longtime partner] –

Byrne Just a little bit!

Rogen But I have to wrap my head around it. We’ve Made Progress, i’d Say in Recent Years. (Laughter.)

Byrne But I Feel So Grate to Have A Great Friendship and Working Relationship with Someone Over So Long – and with Nick and Francesca, that’s Really Ther Huge Half. They’re creating this work for us. Nick Gave Me My Break in Comedy. Seth’s Known Nick Since He Was A Teenager, so that’s all lovely.

But Has Anything About the Way You Work Together Changed Over The Years?

Rogen IT’s Pretty Similar, HONESTLY. We Met Each Other Who We Were in the Swing of Our Careers. We Already Worked a Certain Way and Were on Set a Certain Way, You Know What I Mean? So i THINK IS REFESHING THAT IS The SAME IN A LOT OF WAYS, AND THAT NOT A Lot Has Changed, and that We Fall Into The Same Rhythms and Patterns that We’ve Always Hadh With One.

Byrne And, just likeing, if you Clock More Hours [together]you get to KNOW EACH Other More.

Rogen There’s a real ease to it. Sometimes there’s days whore you’re just sitting in a car with someone for 12 hours a day [for a shoot]. And with Rose, It’s Lovely. There’s Times WHERE I’M Just LIKE, “OH My GOD, I HAVE TO SITH THIS PERSON IN A CAR FOR 12 HOURS. WHAT Are We Going to Talk ABOUT? SO uncomfortable. ” I Never have that Problem on this show.

Byrne No, we’re beynd that. And it’s the Same with Carla Gallo, Who Plays Katie. She’s An Old Friend of Seth’s.

Rogen I Really Easy with Her AROUND BECAUSE she does not STOP TALKING. (Laughter.)

The Season Ends Will and Sylvia Agreeing to Go Into Business with Each Other-Will Is Going to Run the Operations from Behind the Scenes, While Sylvia Wilany Be the Publish Face of. Do you think their friendship can bestand of the stressful realities of running a business together? [Note:[Note:Platonic HAS NOT Yet Been Renewed for Season Three.]

Rogen No!

Byrne No! Absolutely not! (Laughter.)

Rogen It’ll Be Really Rough –

Byrne Chaos!

Rogen I Think It’ll Be Very Bad for Both Their Relationship and Their Business.

Byrne Huge Fail, I Predict. I can believe they’re having the Conversation. But Hopefully It’ll Be Funny?

Have you had any conversations with the rest of the creative team about what the Next Chapter of this story wold actual look like?

Byrne No, not yet. Nick and Francesca Really Are The Brains and the Kind of Drive Behind the Ideas, and They Come to Usa With Them and [we as executive producers] Bat Them Around a Little Bit. But i hope that’s more to teell. I Feel Like These Characters Are Really Funny and Fun, and Like Any Show, You Want To Return Because You Want To Spend Time With Them and You Want To Spend Time In that World.

FOR NOW, IT APEARS THAT SETH WILL BE POPECUPIED C The Studio. Rose, What Did You Think of Seth’s Other Apple TV+ Comedy and The Way that It Satrizes Hollywood?

Byrne Look, I Heard It Has Been Well-Received, And I Heard there Were Some Em-Mys, Is That How You Say It? (Laughs.) I Feel Like I Should Go On the Press Tour at this Point! Well, Bobby Nearly Did A Thing on It, WHICH is Really Cute.

Rogen I KNOW! We Tried to Get Bobby, But –

Byrne Scheduling Craziness. But i’m such a fan. I loved it. HE WAS WRITING IT[Durying[duringPlatonic]Season One. I Remember Were Catting about It A Lot, and He Was Describing It to Me and I Was Like, “Wow, This Is Such Another Create Extension For You Toto Lyn. You’e Teenager, and it’s a wild life to have lived, and this is a version of all of that. ” So, day One, I Was Like, “I Want to See This! It’s Awesome.”

Seth, What Are The CHANCES THAT We ​​Will See Rose – or Bobby! – Pop up in the Next Season of The Studio?

Byrne I Think He’s Getting Pitched A Lot of People.

Rogen No, It’s A Good Question!

Byrne I Think He’s Getting A Lot of Calls. HE MIGHT NEED A BREAK [from me].

Rogen We’re Getting Somed Ones! (Laughter.)

Byrne You know what? You Need to Miss Somebody. You Need to Miss Them and Ten Want To Come Back.

Rogen Not at all all. That is not My philosophy. MINE IS TO QUADRUPLE DOWN ON Someone and Never Let Go.

Byrne You Gotta Yearn! You Gotta Yearn!

Rogen I don’t want to spoil [the show]but…

Byrne I do! (Laughter.)

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The first two seasons of Platonic Are now Streaming on Apple TV+.