Loot Cast and EPs Tease Season 2 and Share Their Love for Each Other

Season 2 of Loot on Apple TV+ is a hoot. Breezy and fun, the show finds excellent footing this time around, diving into matters one year after the eccentric Molly Wells (Maya Rudolph in great form again) moves beyond her nasty divorce from billionaire hottie John Novak (Adam Scott) and decides to helm a philanthropic organization, the Wells Foundation.

Look for new potential relationships to emerge for many of the cast this season, and a gaggle of guest stars, Benjamin Bratt (Poker Face) among them, to keep things interesting. This is Loot’s funniest outing yet. (Fingers crossed on a third season.) In the meantime, in an utterly candid, heartfelt MovieWeb interview, co-stars Michaela Jaé Rodriguez (Pose), Nat Faxon (The Conners), and Ron Funches (Trolls) express their appreciation for each other, while executive producers/co-creators Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard unpack Season 2 highlights. Read on.

The Bolder Vision for Loot Season 2

When asked about the singular distinct vision they had for Season 2 and some of the biggest surprises audiences should expect, EP and co-creator Alan Yang shared: “We love some aspects of Season 1, and we tried to bring those aspects that we love to life even more in Season 2. Some of our watchwords were just bigger, faster, funnier. We liked some of the comedic set pieces we did in Season 1.”

In Season 2, Molly can be found walking—hilariously—in a fashion show, destroying a smoke detector and driving recklessly in a car. “All those things were sort of intentionally designed to let Maya Rudolph shine and bring the comedy forward,” Matt Hubbard added. “At the same time, we really wanted to expand our lens and deepen all these ensemble characters and really find out more about their lives. We just feel like the show is more confident, and it’s just really fun to watch.”

That it is. This season, Loot also leans into cultural topics. The EPs said that while the show isn’t overtly political—“We don’t want to shove anything down anyone’s throat,” Yang noted—they said that hopefully, writing about issues of inequality, social stratification, and money and wealth that people are confronted with every day may strike a chord.

Another coup this season is guest stars, which include Ana Gasteyer (American Auto), O-T Fagbenle (The Handmaid’s Tale), and Benjamin Bratt. Natasha Lyonne, one of the executive producers of Loot, suggested Bratt, calling him “wonderful” on Poker Face. “He came in and he just blew away our expectations,” Yang said. “He’s even handsome in person and so nice. He came in for a costume fitting, then dropped by the writers’ room… and just said, ‘Guys, can I tell you how funny the scripts are? It’s amazing, you guys are geniuses.’ He was just so positive… he and Maya had terrific chemistry.”

Michaela Jaé Rodriguez on Working With Nat Faxon and Ron Funches

Beyond great scripts, successful comedies rely on great ensemble casts. Loot surely has that. The quirky Wells Foundation team includes no-nonsense executive director Sofia (Rodriguez), Arthur (Faxon), Howard (Funches), Molly’s assistant Nicholas (Joel Kim Booter), Rhonda (Meagen Fay), and Ainsley (Stephanie Styles).

Season 2 gives all cast members an opportunity to shine in their own story arcs. Sofia, for instance, finds herself leaning into a romance with guest star O-T Fagbenle, who offers a refreshing, upbeat departure from the often dire character he plays in The Handmaid’s Tale. Meanwhile, Howard’s bromance with Nicholas continues to flourish, and Arthur seems to have moved past his feelings for Molly. Maybe.

Sitting together in conversation, it’s apparent this cast shares a great love for each other. As a way to better understand them, we decided to ask the Loot actors what they appreciated most about their co-stars and tell us about their greatest personal heroes.

“What I think I appreciate the most about Nat is that he is a no-game surfer,” Rodriguez revealed. “He will surf when he needs to, and I appreciate it. Okay, so thank you, Nat, for that. You make me want to surf because I’m scared as crap to do it. And Ron, you are an awesome, amazing connoisseur when it comes to anime and games and wrestling, and I just really appreciate it because we share those things in common.”

“And I would say my biggest hero in my life is my mother. Obviously, we can’t go wrong with that.”

Nat Faxon Chats Up Ron Funches and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez

Nat Faxon has become a recognizable face over the last decade, and his latest turn as Jackie’s husband, Neville, on The Conners, has been well received. Of his co-stars, Faxon shared:

“[Michaela] has a bubbling positivity that is so contagious. It is such a joy to be around. There is just light when she walks into a room. I so appreciate that energy, especially on long, tiresome days on set where you just feel like you want to go home. I think there is a fire that warms both your heart and your humor. And Ron, I so enjoy, just because he makes me look so much better…”

“Because his bar is so low that I can only be up here because of how down there he is,” Faxon added, joking. “And if I had to be serious, I would say I trust him implicitly. He is honest, endearing, and sweet, and I know where I stand with him. I can make fun of him, and he can make fun of me, and we will still be bonded regardless of those terrible things he says about me.”

Insert group hug. As for Faxon’s own personal hero, he said, “I grew up watching comedy and enjoying comedy, so if I was going to say professionally, like who I look up to, I watched a lot of Saturday Night Live when I was a kid. I really loved Mike Myers and Dana Carvey. And in features, it was always Steve Martin, probably in The Jerk, that really inspired me.”

Ron Funches Loves on Michaela Jaé Rodriguez and Nat Faxon

Comedian and writer Ron Funches adds great levity to Loot, playing Molly’s cousin Howard. The actor is given some of the best lines in the show, but he couldn’t pull it off without his co-stars. Of Rodriguez, he says:

“I love that she’s such a great actor… it makes me want to deepen my craft when it comes to dramatic acting and, at the same time, I like how humble she was about coming into a new comedic space and not just being like, ‘Hey, I come from this Emmy award-winning show [
Pose
] and I know what I’m doing… She was willing to learn from some of us, comedically [and], and I learned from her dramatically.”

He recalls a recent Hollywood press event he attended with Rodriguez, noting, “One of the things that struck me is that I love how much other people love her and how much that they get from her achieving and how much that it means to them. [She] carries that gracefully but at the same time focuses on just being herself and not having to represent for a whole group. That is one of the most admirable things I’ve ever seen.”

And what about Nat Faxon? “Nat, oh God. I don’t know. Nat is one of the most talented improvisers I’ve ever worked with. You can tell that he’s skilled both behind the camera and in front of the camera with the way that he can break down a scene and add to it very quickly. There were times when we were doing so well on the show that they would just be like, ‘Hey, we’re going to do this other scene even though we didn’t plan to do it today.’ And to just go from a cold read to adding things to that scene and making it pop – that happened so quickly with Nat.”

“And just as a person… he’s a very, very older, uglier brother to me,” Funches added in jest, “who just gives me good advice and talks trash to me, but at the same time, you can tell that he knows how great I am and basically needs me in order for his career to continue to survive. I think that’s very substantial.”

Not to be forgotten: “Oh, my personal hero is Lucille Ball. I love her. I’m a big fan. She was the reason that I survived when I was a young person in Chicago – having that type of viewpoint. I loved her just comedically and what she stood for as a person. Lucille Ball is probably one of my biggest heroes.” The hilarious second season of Loot is available now on Apple TV+ and you can watch it through the link below:

Watch Loot