Alexandra Park, Cariba Heine, and Karissa Lee Staples Discuss ‘Everyone is Doing Great’ Season 2 and the World Expanding [Interview] (2024)

Following its triumphant Season 1 run, the indie series Everyone is Doing Great is gearing up for a Season 2 return with a much bigger world this time around.

I recently attended ATX Television Festival and had the chance to speak with Alexandra Park (Andrea Davis), Cariba Heine (Isabella Baker), and Karissa Lee Staples (Sarah Dinsey) about being more involved this time around, the freedom they feel on set, and what makes the series so special.

Season 2 of Everyone is Doing Great will kick off a little where Season 1 left off, with Jeremy dealing with the consequences of his actions in the finale and Seth struggling to maintain his newfound relationship.

Nonetheless, Season 2 will take a different route, focusing more on Andrea, Izzy, and Sarah. “Season 2 is great in the sense that the girls are coming in hot,” Park said.

“Season 2, we really dive into our female characters’ lives much more in the forefront. The girls had things kind of figured out in Season One, and things were good; they were sort of the representation of what the guys wanted but didn’t know how to get to in terms of having themselves figured out in life. In Season 2, that kind of switches, and we sort of flip it on its head. The girls are suddenly hit with curveballs they didn’t see coming and going through relationships that are challenging. It gets pretty wild,” Park continued.

Filming this time took place in various locations, unlike Season One, with spots like North Carolina, Los Angeles, and Palm Springs, allowing the world to become even more prominent in the upcoming season.

Season 2 will also see Park take on a new role as a writer for the series, tackling the complicated storylines for Andrea and Izzy.

“I wanted to do it because I just love the show. James and Stephen were very encouraging in that sense because they wanted to create a season that is complex and has a variety of voices. So, instead of just being one voice or two voices, we’ve now got the four of us writing, and I was all for it. It was very, very cool, and I wanted to do it very much.”

“Episodes three and five are big Izzy and Andrea episodes, so it made sense for me to write those ones. Then, if the guys had scenes where they needed help with Sarah or Izzy, I would sort of get in there and double-check what they’re doing to make sure that, you know, it’s a reflection of life,” Park continued.

Park’s character, Andrea, had her fair share of emotional moments in Season One, but the end of Season 2 Episode 1, “For Worse or For Better,” poses an entirely new, complex playing field for Andrea. “When we sat down to break the story for Season Two, we wanted to incorporate a more dramatic side to the show..”

“Season One is kind of more just comedy, but we wanted the show to feel full. We wanted to see the struggle in the form of grief, broken relationships, and of real-life stuff that hurts that you don’t see coming. So, that was really important. I wrote a pretty challenging storyline for Andrea, my character, because I wanted to include that in the season. People go through bad, hard stuff in life, so we wanted to round out the show in a sense that it’s got strong comedy, but it also touches on the emotional struggle as well,” Park continued.

Heine says working on Everyone is Doing Great is a dream because she gets to work alongside her friends and really make her character her own, but that aspect of the job also provides its own set of struggles.

“We’ve got the loose script, so you have the opportunity to really fuse and put things in your own words, which is amazing, and I know this world; I know what the characters are going through. I feel like I understand it intrinsically, so it should feel like your work is as good as it could possibly be, and that’s really hard. That’s a really high bar to set for yourself,” Heine said.

“I think the first season, I felt like I was just starting to try and get a roll with things, whereas, with the second season, I feel like we had enough time. There were times that I tried things that I normally would have thought of, but I wouldn’t have actually been brave enough to try the things that I tried in the second season. So, that sort of rhythm that we got into was really fun, and it was fulfilling being able to feel a lot of times, at the end of the scene, I had done everything that I could perceive to do,” Heine continued.

“I’ve never done anything like this before where you do have a loose script,” Staples said. “So, you know, piggybacking off of you [Park], it’s also intimidating in some way, even though the environment was very warm and welcoming. You have to put yourself out there, and you’re like, ‘What if I’m not funny?’ I think that was a thought process in Season One, but in Season Two, obviously, when you have more to play with, and your characters are more fleshed out, you just kind of sit in your work, in the moment, and that’s where the magic happens.”

“I think a lot of sets are not being able to feel like you actually got to play,” Heine interjected.

“Which is ironic, though, because you would think that we didn’t have the time. You get robbed of that with shows that move so quickly, like network shows, and there’s no time. It seemed like you guys [Park and Heine] had the time, but there was still a lot of play. I don’t know how you guys pull that off. I think it’s awesome,” Staples responded.

Park says the series was designed for the actors to have the ability to provide their own essence in the characters and play off one another. “We basically have an outline of each episode, and then it’s kind of Sarah’s such and such, and then the way the play happens is that, like the girls were saying, it’s kind of up to the actor to take what’s on there as like a hint and a suggestion, just like story beats that get us through the scene,” Park said.

“Then it’s up to the actor to create what they will. I think it’s very unique in the sense that when it’s flipped the other way — if I’m in a scene with Cariba, I don’t know what she’s gonna do because it’s not like we’ve got the page. So, you’re surprised in that sense as well, and you’re reacting organically. You have to be very present. It’s a very freeing and empowering way to do things. Obviously, we made certain beats to be hit, but it’s definitely a skill that we’re asking actors to get around. Like Cariba was saying, it’s not the normal way things are done, so you definitely need the talent, and we have that in good amount. It can be liberating once you get over the nerves and the fear,” Park continued.

Heine says while it might be different from other sets, the way they film things makes sense because of how organic it makes everything. “Instead of worrying about what your next line is or your next blocking movement, you’re just engaged. You get a better understanding because it doesn’t matter how you get there; you just have to understand what needs to happen. It’s just a free for all.”

The freedom the actors are given to construct these characters is one of the many reasons Staples said she got into acting to begin with. “It feels like this is the reason why I wanted to do what I set out to do. Not that I’m ever not grateful for work that comes, but when you do TV or TV movies, you don’t even have time to breathe, let alone think about creative play. So, it’s just awesome. This is creatively fulfilling, and this is why I became an artist.”

“Getting to work on something like this where, even between the producers and then obviously the creative team, you know that you’re being looked after, which is such a fear as an actor. You have to be very, very careful, it’s very scary, and we’ve all been burned by things. It’s really nice to be involved with something where you can just breathe out and be like, ‘Okay, now I get to do the thing that I go through so much to do,'” Heine added.

With the added elements of Season 2 and the tone of the series being flipped on its axis, Heine says the comedic and dramatic elements are taken to an entirely new level, something they sought to achieve before filming.

The cast provided a special screening of the first episode of Season 2 while at ATX Television Festival, something Park says is bittersweet, especially after first premiering the series at the festival around five years ago.

“The fact that we’ve done it again and that we were invited back to ATX to be amongst such talent, high energy, and the joy that is this festival is a dream.”

“The first season, we were kind of like deer. We were cutting it together, and we were like, ‘Ehh, we’ve got something we can sort of slap together here,’ and people liked it; we got to such a positive response. So, to now come back with Season 2, which we’re really, really proud of, is enormous. Hearing everybody get it and hear all their reactions in the audience is the greatest feedback that we could ever get. It’s a real privilege,” Park continued.

Red carpet interviews with Everyone is Doing Great cast members:

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Everyone is Doing GreatSeason 2 will release sometime in late 2023 or early 2024.

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