The timey-wimey Netflix hit is back and it’s trippier than ever.
Natasha Lyonnecan’t wait for your 6-year-old to watchRussian Doll.
It’s a typical sunny Monday in Los Angeles, and the (deep breath!)
Charlie Barnett and Natasha Lyonne in ‘Russian Doll’.Netflix
It’s fully animated."
She’s kidding, of course.
In fact, Lyonne is in her “divorced dad era.”
Charlie Barnett and Natasha Lyonne in ‘Russian Doll’.Netflix
Not that she’s complaining.
The first season, after all, was a resounding success by any metric.
Critics tripped over themselves in an effort to sing its praises.
Natasha Lyonne.Joe Pugliese for EW
It was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards in 2019 ultimately winning three.
It was very moving, because I personally had never felt so exposed," she says.
As Lyonne began planning season 2, Barnett worried his character wouldn’t make the cut.
Charlie Barnett.Joe Pugliese for EW
“I was afraid of, well, ‘Where would Alan go?
Why would anyone want to know anything more?'”
he says adding that he, too, was daunted by the success of the series.
What hasn’t changed is the anthological nature of the pitch.
The other thing that remained the same?
“It always was that season 2 was going to deal heavily with mom.”
(Recognize the MTA announcer?
That was terrifying," she admits.
for pull off the Charlie-Agnes body swap, Lyonne encouraged Barnett to find someone he had a connection with.
In other words, the Chloe to his Natasha.
Barnett immediately thought of Smith, his old Juilliard classmate.
“We were able to call each other out on certain things.
It really helped.”
“Time is what gives life its order.
And its meaning, on some level, is that it is finite,” says Lyonne.
“It was such a crazy undertaking.
I blame Alex Buono, who’s the other director of this season and really my partner this year.
I love him to death, but my God, what a lunatic.”
To get it right, she enlisted the help of Sam Rockwell’s acting coach, Terry Knickerbocker.
These are the ways that we’re used to."
“I’m a Satanist or a Buddhist, or that intersection….
I believe in Beelzebub and the Buddha,” Lyonne says, taking a drag on her cigarette.
“He was very hot, but a terrible drug addict,” she says.
But we never really got a chance to get there, because there’s a lot to do."
Back at the EW cover shoot in L.A., Barnett and Lyonne also have a lot to do.
In between shots, the costars take turns watching the monitor and cheering each other on.
Throughout the day, Lyonne frequently calls out for her “Baby Charlie.”
“I cannot wait to see the growth that comes from season 3.”
But before they can focus on the future, they have to share their past.
“I think a lot of it [is about] identity,” says Barnett.
But, like Alan, he eventually learned to free himself.
It really is."
One might even say they’re a part of her identity.
As she got clean, her interests grew beyond the philosophical.
You know what I mean?
I don’t have to [know the answers]."
“I think we live in a culture that really encourages that.
She continues, on a roll now: “There’s nothing really to be that ashamed of here.
I didn’t create these events.
This is just sort of how it is.
What would it take?
Would it take a time-traveling gear?
Would it take me actually being there to see it all?
Would it take my grandmother kind of signing off?
‘Hey, I’m telling you, kid, you’re all right.
You come by it honestly.’
What would it be like if that was how we were interfacing in the present?”
We’d say that’s a present worth living (and dying, and living again) for.
