“At the end of the season, as writers, we do this thing where we want so badly to get another season that we do a thousand cliffhangers so that Ted [Sarandos] and Bela [Bajaria] are just like, ‘Well, we got to know what happened, so let’s just pick it up,’” Running Point co-creator and executive producer Mindy Kaling explains at the show’s season two premiere. “At the beginning, it’s just like digging ourselves out of the hole of what we created, which is really fun.”
Kaling, along with fellow co-creators Ike Barinholtz, who also joined the show as a guest star this season, and David Stassen, who served as the showrunner, gathered the cast of Netflix’s Kate Hudson-fronted basketball comedy at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood Wednesday night.
Loosely based on the life of longtime Los Angeles Lakers owner Jeanie Buss — who recently sold her controlling stake to L.A. Dodgers owner Mark Walter — Running Point’s second season finds Isla Gordon (Hudson) as she leads another season of the fictional L.A. Waves basketball team. Brenda Song, Drew Tarver, Scott MacArthur and Fabrizio Guido, Chet Hanks, Toby Sandeman and Uche Agada return to fill out the main cast.
“There’s such growth with Ali this season. We’re getting to know a little bit more about her personal life, [her] marital issues. I also really love that you’re getting to see Ali’s character interact with the brothers [more],” Song says of her character’s evolution in the second season.
“It’s so much fun in second seasons, third seasons — when you’ve laid down the groundwork and see these characters play off each other — because they bring out different parts of each other,” she adds.
Guido notes that he feels almost protective of Jackie, the newest sibling in the Gordon family, as a character. “I love Jackie so much. I just wanted to make sure that he didn’t completely change,” says Guido. “I want to continue for Jackie to show up with the heart that Jackie has and for his loyalties to be in the right place.”
MacArthur reiterates Song’s thoughts about getting to explore more in this new season. “We’re really lucky that Netflix and Warner Bros. are behind the show because you do really settle in [during a second season],” the actor says.
“Season one of any show, you’re really learning how to jam with each other, and the writers are learning how to jam with the actors,” he continues. “[In] season two, you can drop in, you can relax a little bit more, you can trust the character, trust the writing, trust yourself.”
Season two also brings some new additions — Ray Romano joins the fold and Justin Theroux returns as a series regular after recurring in season one — which means new dynamics for the team and front office of the Waves. Barinholtz and recent Traitor Lisa Rinna are among a slew of guest stars for season two, including Octavia Spencer, Nicole Richie and Scott Speedman.
“My agent told me Mindy Kaling is offering me this role, and I knew her actually a little bit. I know how funny she is and how good all the stuff she does [is]. I hadn’t watched the first season, so before I said yes, I said I’d watch a couple of [episodes]. Then I got so into it that I just watched them all,” Romano explains of how he was cast on the show.
“I decided this is going to be the year of yes, so I said yes to this. Sometimes it’s a good thing, and it ended up being a good thing,” he continues. “I also read the book, The Power of No, so now I’m right back where I started.”
Barinholtz teased his guest spot on Wednesday’s carpet. “He’s a very desperate loser, but he’s one of my favorite characters I’ve ever played,” he says.
When asked how he’d cast his longtime friend and collaborator Kaling, he joked, “She would be cousin Benny’s mistress. Oh, you think I’m the biggest loser? You’re sleeping with the biggest loser. What does that mean for you?”
While nothing’s been confirmed for a potential season three, Stassen teases what fans can expect should that happen. “More family fights, more antagonism, more double crossing, more basketball,” he lists. “And maybe Isla walking into some glass doors again.”
