ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Set up the premiere.
Where are we when we come back?
JOSH SCHWARTZ:It’s pretty much immediate.
Credit: Greg Lewis/Hulu
Was there a theme for season two?
:We definitely wanted to lean into this core concept of kids vs. parents.
Last year, the kids were discovering why the parents did what they did.
Greg Lewis / Hulu
This year, the kids realize they have to take down their parents.
It seems like you’re amping up the romance this season between the kids.
:Everything is amped up this season.
Their friendships are more intimate.
They’re living together.
There’s no parental guidance or oversight.
They’re on their own so those choices and those relationships also get amplified.
I love the relationship between Nico (Lyrica Okano)and Karolina (Virginia Gardner).
It was hinted at in the comics.
What made you wanna go full throttle?
:It was unrequited in the comics.
Well, it was definitely what we wanted to do in terms of the storytelling.
Ginny and Lyrica really responded to it as something they were really interested in exploring.
SAVAGE:They have great chemistry.
There are so few LGBTQ superheroes.
What has the fan response been to this?
SCHWARTZ:The reaction from fans to this storyline has been really powerful.
So, it’s always had a very strong connection.
SAVAGE:The fan art on Tumblr is incredible.
It’s really beautiful.
SCHWARTZ:It actually inspired some of our images we did this season.
SAVAGE:One scene specifically this season.
SCHWARTZ:It’s in episode 5.
It’s in their room and directly inspired by Tumblr fan art so thank you to whoever created it!
What was the biggest lesson you learned from season 1 that you took to season 2?
SCHWARTZ:It was where we were always headed, which was people wanting to see them as runaways.
In the first episode,you introduce the teens' new lair, The Hostel.
Is it basically a sunken mansion?
SAVAGE:[Laughs] It’s in Griffith Park.
It was originally built in the ’20s by a magician.
There’s some graffiti and band posters.
Gert [Ariela Barer] finds a leather jacket.
There’s something for everybody something of a magical closet in the Hostel.
SCHWARTZ:It’s not really a magical closet.
So, everything you’d want from every era is hiding in that closet.
Josh, I think you told me this set is huge.
SCHWARTZ:It’s the biggest set that Marvel television has ever built.
It was such a cool and dramatic recreation of what he alluded to in the comics.
We wanted it to be our equivalent of like the Batcave.
But also, they’re going to be sharing rooms together.
It’s the kids living on their own and sharing close quarters.
We wanted it to feel kind of magical and romantic but also gritty.
SAVAGE:You’ll appreciate it was also very inspired by the house inThe Beverly Hillbillies.
I’m a sucker for a dramatic staircase.
So, tell me what’s going on with Pride and the parents?
Tina (Brittany Ishibashi) particularly comes out of the gate real evil.
That’s not going to sit well with all of Pride.
So that sends her into a lone vigilante path.
For Molly, everything is much simpler and straight ahead.
What can you say about Jonah (Julian McMahon) this year?
He seems even more hellbent on destruction.
He’s more like the parents in some ways than they may realize.
SAVAGE:That is going to change him a little bit as the season goes on.
You tease this cataclysmic event that Jonah is predicting.
Will that continue to get worse?
SAVAGE:It will get worse before they get better.
No, that’s a big part of our storytelling especially for the first half of the season.
Will we learn what’s in the hole by the end of season two?
SCHWARTZ AND SAVAGE:Yes.
Alex’s storyline is really interesting, too, this year.
What can you tease about his arc?
SCHWARTZ:Alex [Rhenzy Feliz] is on a search for identity.
You haven’t yet been renewed for a season 3, but do you know where it would go?
SCHWARTZ:Oh yeah.
That will become very clear as you reach the end of season two.
