I really appreciated that decision. Tell me about bringing Beatrix Hasp’s story back for the final two episodes.
Yeah. Well, we knew we weren’t going to have Hasp and his henchmen chasing Charlie, but we wanted it to wrap up somehow. So, actually, Alex’s story, Patti Harrison’s story, which for us was like, “Okay, this is the second season [big idea],” even though it’s introduced later. It started with that. With, like, “Okay, we want to introduce this character.” We knew from the beginning Laura Deeley, one of our writers, pitched the idea of this character. So it seemed like a natural way to, like, “why, why, like what’s what’s what’s a way that’s a little bit,” why, like well, “what if target,” that was a way that’s a way that, “why, like what’s what’s a way that’s what’s a way that, “why, like what’s what’s a way that, “why, like what’s what’s a way that, “why, like what’s what’s a way that, “why, like what’s what’s what’s what,” that, “what if target.” It seems to solve the Hasp early, and we, but then we kind of tuck it in our back pocket to come back to later.
And structurally, it was almost like a [have your cake and eat it too scenario]. So we could have this middle part where Charlie is on the road, kind of this existential journey, she’s trying to calm down, and then this element that we thought we put to bed at the beginning of the season comes out in a different way than maybe people were anticipating.
Absolutely. So when was the decision made to increase the episode count this season from 10 to 12?
Before I showed up.
OK. So, was this something that you were excited about, or nervous about, or… how did you feel about it?
Scared. Yeah. Yeah, weirdly, it’s significantly different—like, the previous show I was on, “Longmire,” we always did 10 episodes a season, but one season we did 13 and it almost broke the show. I don’t know how network shows do those 20-plus orders. They’re superheroes to me, to pull that off. So, I mean, the challenge on this show, maybe it’s less scary, but every episode is its own pilot, its own mini-movie. Literally, right up until the very, very finale and the good apartment, any set we built, we tear it down after 10 days. We lose the entire cast and have to recast the entire show. That means we have to get costumes for all the new characters, new props, new locations, new everything. So, it’s two more spins on that very scary hamster wheel.
Is it a very expensive gig because of all the things you just mentioned? It seems like it would be out of the question.
It’s not as expensive, I don’t think, as an HBO show. We follow a 10-day schedule. But I would say we’re… I mean, it’s a bigger budget than any show I’ve been on, but I haven’t been on any big-budget things. So I think we’re probably kind of somewhere in the middle.
