“Platonic” Season 2 Q&A Reveals Banana Phones, Boundary Issues and the Secret to Great Comedy
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The minds behind Apple TV’s “Platonic” – co-creators Nicholas Stoller and Francesca Delbanco, and star Seth Rogen – sat down to discuss Season 2, revealing the challenges of writing a strictly platonic friendship and the fun of on-set chaos. The Q&A was moderated by Los Angeles Times reporter Yvonne Villarreal at the Culver Theater on September 29.
The show was inspired by Delbanco’s real-life difficulty maintaining intense platonic friendships with men into adulthood. The creators noted that the world often finds such relationships “weird,” fueling their desire to explore the dynamic between the show’s star characters, Will and Sylvia (Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne.
“Platonic” Season 2 picks up with the pair of best friends, Will and Sylvia, as they contend with new midlife hurdles, including work, weddings and partners in crises. The duo tries their best to be each other’s rock – but sometimes rocks break things.
In this week’s Screen Gab, the ‘Platonic’ bosses discuss mining the tension of new love interests colliding with old friends in Season 2, plus streaming suggestions for your weekend.
The show’s main challenge is building tension without relying on a “will they/won’t they” romance, since the leads can never hook up. Instead, the focus is on how their intense friendship impacts their other relationships. The real question is: Can these highly codependent friends maintain their personal boundaries?
Rogen talked about his character Will’s poor boundaries, saying he personally has better boundaries and finds Will’s habit of constantly asking for advice, only to get resentful when he receives it, highly relatable. Rogen also shared his philosophy on on-screen comedy, arguing that humor won’t just happen by accident.
“In order to make something really funny, you really have to try to make it very funny and it won’t just happen by accident. You have to push the comedic parameters of the scene,” said Rogen speaking about his co-star, Rose Byrne.
The Apple TV+ series, which dropped its fifth episode on Wednesday, aims to dismantle tropes about relationships between men and women.
A story from the set revealed how Rogen pushed for Will’s massive, phallic banana phone case and his balding, “saddest look a man can have” mullet.
During the discussion, they also talked about how the hilarious pet name “Panini” was born from a writers’ room session to find the most embarrassing pet name possible. Rogen confirmed it made him deeply uncomfortable, saying, “I’d rather be buck naked in a scene [than] have to do baby talking to a vote.”
Looking ahead, the team is excited to explore the catastrophic potential of Will and Sylvia entering a business partnership, which will provide fresh ground for conflict and comedy.
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