Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen in 'Platonic' Courtesy Apple. Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text When Nick Stoller and Francesca Delbanco started working on the first season of Platonic, they thought they were writing an anthology series. The concept they originally pitched to Apple TV+ was built around one season that would follow Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne's friendship, with subsequent seasons featuring entirely different stories and casts - like a period piece about women's and men's colleges becoming co-ed campuses in the 1970s and a work-wife/work-husband story. Then, about halfway through production of the first season, they realized they were having way too much fun with Rogen and Byrne to move on. Related Stories TV Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne Will Make You Laugh Out Loud in 'Platonic' Season 2 Trailer TV Why Seth Rogen Wants Vin Diesel to Join 'The Studio' Season 2 "They have such amazing chemistry together, and it was such a great experience, that we decided to ask them if they would be open to doing more, and they said yes," Stoller tells THR. "And Apple, rightly so, felt like they were the show's identity. I remember they said, 'Who is going to want to watch a season two without them?'" What that revelation meant for the show's creators - who are also married and have two children together - was that they now had a brand new, and bigger, challenge as they started working on season two. "We had to blow up this neat little bow we'd originally tied at the end of the season," says Delbanco. "We had told a complete story. But it wound up being a great creative exercise - we had to figure out, one chapter of their life is over, so now what are they doing to do? And through that we realized that where we first thought of the show as one snapshot of one time in their lives, we could actually tell stories about these two forever." Fans will get to see the fruits of that labor when the second season premieres on the streaming platform on Aug. 6. The show sees Rogen's Will getting ready for his wedding to Johnny 66 CEO Jenna (played by Rachel Rosenbloom); Byrne's Sylvia serves as his event planner as part of her new career and struggles to balance the work with her own marriage. Here, Stoller and Delbanco preview the new episodes. How did your decision to extend the story of Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne's characters beyond one season affect your plans for the original ending? DELBANCO In our original conceit, we thought that Seth's fiancé would get pregnant and they would announce that at their engagement party. That would have been hard to structure a season two around, because then he has to stay living with her in San Diego - we didn't want him to have to walk out on his family in order to get back to L.A. and have fun again. We were worried about likability. (Laughs) Plus, the odd-couple dynamic is what is so fun about the lead characters, that she has a family and he doesn't. After watching Seth and Rose embody the characters, and their dynamic, during the first season, did that change anything about the way you approached writing the characters? STOLLER We knew them well enough from working with them before that we really were writing season one with their performances in mind. There's still a lot of trial and error that goes into figuring out a show, so I'd say the second season felt easier and smoother. I think we also figured out what makes Luke McFarlane's character funny, and what his dynamic with Rose should be. And we were surprised by how great Rose's physical comedy is. A lot of times those big, juicy, stupid set pieces go to men. In season two, there's a scene where she gets blown backwards by the hose of beer. She gets abandoned on a kayak on the L.A. river. And Seth would pitch it that way, he'd say it's funnier if she does it. Like the special K drug scene in season one. What is your ethos for writing the conflict on the show, specifically between Seth and Rose? As a viewer, it feels like there are certain lines that they never cross when they're fighting. STOLLER Something we discovered in the first season and brought into the second is their conflict is always that they are mad at themselves about something and the other person is calling them out on it. They're not always totally thoughtful about each other's feelings, but what they really get mad about is their own stuff that has nothing to do with the other. I find that really true to life. DELBANCO Some of my favorite scenes when I'm directing are the two of them fighting, because they do it in such a funny way. Maybe this is the admission of a passive-aggressive person, but there's a wish fulfillment for me in the way they just have it out. There isn't a lot of simmering. STOLLER And a lot of the writers room time is spent figuring out what is their core per