When The Afterparty first premiered in 2022, it was clear the show was something special.
With an all-star cast including Dave Franco, Zoë Chao, Sam Richardson, Tiffany Haddish and Ben Schwartz, the show was the perfect cozy mystery. A whodunit that took influence from a range of well-known genres, to keep fans hooked from the very first episode.
The unique storytelling format, which saw the same events leading up to the murder, retold each episode from the viewpoint and distinctive style of different characters created a perfect debut season and fans were hooked.
But, could the magic be recaptured for a season two? The short answer is yes, The Afterparty Season Two may actually be even better.
We know, it’s a bold statement to make, but The Afterparty Season Two follows the same distinctive format that viewers fell in love with the first time, experimenting with even more unique and fun themes for some very memorable episodes.
“I loved the Jane Austen episode,” Zoë Chao, who returns for Season Two told WHO. “I am an Anglophile at heart, for better, for worse. I grew up watching Merchant Ivory films and Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility is my favourite movie, so I love period pieces. And the wigs and the costumes do so much for you as an actor.”
Zoë Chao, Sam Richardson and Tiffany Haddish return for Season Two alongside an incredible new cast that includes John Cho, Anna Konkle, Poppy Liu, Zach Woods, Paul Walter Hauser, Elizabeth Perkins, Ken Jeong, Vivian Wu, and Jack Whitehall.
“I inherited another family,” Zoë explains. “We thank [creator] Chris Miller all the time for all the new friends we have. And it was such a natural chemistry with Poppy [Liu], who plays my younger sister, and Vivian Wu and Ken Jeong who play my parents. It felt very organic, and I feel very connected to them to this day.”
As Zoë once again returns to screens as Zoe, their shared name isn’t the only similarity between the actress and character.
“In Season 1, there are a lot of eerie overlaps,” she explains. “I’m also an artist. My parents are both visual artists. My sister’s an artist.”
“Zoe goes to Rhode Island School of Design, and both my sister and my dad taught there,” she continues. “Brett, her estranged husband, goes to Brown [University] – I actually went to Brown… So it was wild the coincidences that occurred when I signed on to the project. It was almost disturbing.”
Whilst the first season followed Detective Danner (Tiffany Haddish) as she solved the murder at a high school reunion, the second season is taking the action to a family wedding…and another murder.
“It did sort of affirm the genres I love,” Zoë said when speaking on the distinctive format of the show. “I love Hitchcock. Film noir. And it just kind of blows my mind that we get to be in 10 different little movies this season.”
“Sometimes you had to rewatch a movie or yes, there was always a helpful comrade on set … and always a million ideas. But I think it’s really helpful that I came up in the theatre, where it’s championed when you make big, big choices and you go for it. So it’s nice that I found a show that kind of also allows us to take big swings and asks us to do a lot of different stuff.”
Where to watch The Afterparty Season Two
Stream The Afterparty Season Two now on Apple TV+ with a 7 day FREE trial. Subscribe here.
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