EXCLUSIVE: Raphael Bob-Waksberg & Kate Purdy Preview Season 2 of Undone
Tomorrow, April 29, the second season of Amazon Studios’ hit animated series, Undone will be released. We got the chance to sit down with the creators, Raphael Bob-Waksberg and Kate Purdy, to talk about the new season, family, and so much more. Check out what they had to say below.
How far into season one, did you both start to shape season two?
Purdy: “We started the second season while we were finishing up for on season one, but we had completely written season one and were in production and finalizing the shooting of that. There were a lot of conversations in terms of what would season two look like. And Raphael and I sat down and broke a spine for the season and that remained the spine, but a lot of the specific elements changed and shifted and evolved over the course of writing the season and producing it.”
A main theme surrounding this season is generational trauma, how did you settle on this being one of the main themes?
Bob-Waksberg: “I think it is something that we are all dealing with, whether we know it or not in various capacities. I think it is really interesting to unravel those mysteries. In some ways there’s a bit of a wish fulfillment to go, ‘Oh, this thing that’s going on with me that I assumed was something in me, but oh, if I look back, it actually is from my mother and father and his mother and the trauma that she felt.’ I wish in the real world, we could follow the clues that cleanly and ask our ancestors, ‘Why am I the way I am?’ It’s so messy, but things that are messy are some of the most exciting things to make television about.
It’s something that everybody can relate to in some respect, even though the specifics of this family’s generational trauma are so specific to them, I would like to think that it is a universal enough theme that people watching can go, ‘Oh, this is kind of like my relationship with my mother, even though she didn’t have this experience like that. And I don’t experience it like that.’ I also have mysteries in my past, and it’s really exciting to explore those conversations”
I think one of the most effective aspects to the season is how it pairs together Alma [Rosa Salazar] and Becca [Angelique Cabral] and how this journey becomes much more of a family affair this season, that digs, what made you decide to focus on their story this season?
Purdy: “I think the family is such the heart of the show and those relationships are the heart of the show. We knew that we wanted to continue exploring that specifically, because I think as far as you go with the sci-fi elements or the fantasy adventure elements, that always coming back to the emotional reality and the relationship between these characters is what’s going to ground you and carry you through emotionally. We always wanted to make sure that we kept that center to the storytelling. And I think Becca and Alma played by Rosa and Angelique, they’re so fun to watch together. They have such a great dynamic. They play so well off of each other. It was really quite joyful to have them together as these characters and as actors playing through the adventure of this story.”
Bob-Waksberg:: “Yeah. I always felt like the show was sometimes secretly a show about sisters and that relationship and that even in the first season, the very first conversation of the first season is these two sisters hashing it out in a bar. The very last conversation in the first season is the two sisters sitting together, waiting or hoping for something else to happen. And so it was really fun in the second season to center that a little more explicitly and to allow their relationship other places to go and other things to talk about. But that relationship, I think, is so fascinating and interesting. They both have experienced similar traumas in their lives and the ways in which they react or spin against that or out from that are so different. But also they have this joint wound, I think is so fascinating.”
The series title, Undone, how did that play into the story this season?
Purdy: “What I love about the title Undone is that it has multiple interpretations just like the way the show does. You can go to it saying ‘Oh, she’s on undone, like she’s crazy.’ Or you can say she’s undone and that she’s emotionally opening herself up and she’s allowing herself to feel all these emotions. Or you can say she’s undone or it’s undone because actually the removing of all the societal constructs that we are conditioned by are unraveling and she’s finding true freedom. That’s ultimately the arc of the show and what she’s going through potentially. You can take that title and it’s loose enough, but specific enough, that you can find your own interpretation of it. I feel that holds for both seasons in terms of what it can mean. Did she undo the timeline? Is she undoing her relationships or building them? Yeah. So I think that’s why it holds for me.
Bob-Waksberg: “I have even another interpretation, which is about the story, that the story is undone. One of the things I like about the title is that there’s a almost frantic, negative connotation to it of becoming unraveled. But also I think there’s something very hopeful about, this is undone. We are all each of us unfinished people. Our stories are still continuing and even, I don’t know how many seasons we’re going to go. Maybe this is it for us. Maybe we have a few more, but that even when we finish our story, there’s still more to tell and more to experience. There is still something else that is happening. And I find that very encouraging and optimistic.”
What are you both hoping fans get from this season?
Bob-Waksberg: “I hope they love it. I hope they get to call Amazon and say, ‘Give us more seasons.'”
Purdy: “I hope they love it, too. I hope they like it as much as they liked the first season, and that they feel like it went to exciting and fun places. It gets pretty emotionally heavy and complicated later on. But I think early, early episodes are joyful and playful. Even though they’re emotional complication there, too. So I hope it’s a ride and there’re waves of realization that happens. I’m hoping they enjoy the ride.”
Can you talk Season 3, have you already started planning Season 3?
Purdy: “There is no plan yet for season three. I think we’ll see if we get another one or not, but in the meantime we feel like we’ve brought the story to a really interesting place and we feel like we’ve told the story if that’s the end. And if not, we feel like there’s a lot more to explore and tell.”
Make sure to check out the new season and let us know what you think!
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity