In an interview, Natasha Rothwell discusses her new dramedy spin-off from 'Abbott Elementary', diving into the creation process, tackling complex themes, and finding personal connection in her character Mel.
’s beauty lies in how it captures the desire to truly live. In the show, a near-fatal experience pushes Melissa outside of her comfort zone, making her realize that it’s time to stop being afraid and start pursuing her dreams. Rothwell, who also co-created the dramedy, has done exactly that, too: overcome her fears, in this case by crafting a worthy leading role for herself.
AVC: Talk about the process of establishing the dramedy’s tone because there’s a bit of everything: workplace comedy, romance, drama, coming-of-age.Well, my true north was authenticity. We are nuanced, complicated people, and I wanted the character to experience and express the full range of emotion because that’s life. To try to categorize it is so Hollywood. I’ve been a victim of that because before it was just like, “She’s Kelly fromand everyone’s like, “She can be serious.
AVC: There are a bunch of unexpectedly hard-hitting scenes, including a fight you have with Conrad Ricamora’s character or when Mel says she doesn’t want a full-length mirror because she doesn’t want to see her full self. What was it like to navigate the more emotional moments as a writer and performer?Yeah, it was hard because there’s so much that you want to say, and I didn’t want to let this opportunity slip away. And I say that very pointedly because there may not be a season two.
AVC: How did you craft Mel’s relationship with both her ex, Alex, and coworker, Terrance? And are you a fan of rom-coms?To me, the rom-com part is a Trojan Horse to get people to have deeper conversations. I love rom-coms, but I wanted to write this show because some of them negatively affected my expectation of what life was supposed to be like with the “I need to have a man in my life to actually start living to be happy and to be fully realized.
AVC: I know you mentioned that four seasons is the dream, so do you have ideas for the show’s future already?Yeah, I definitely have ideas. I work with my co-showrunner, Vera Santamaria. We four seasons of the show before we even got the green light for season one because I didn’t want to go into this and not have a sense of where it was headed. If we’re lucky, we’ll get to tell the story. It’s exciting to have this rich world and the characters because there’s so much to pull from.
Natasha Rothwell The Abbott Elementary Dramedy Spin-Off Authenticity Emotional Depth
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