When “The Flight Attendant” first debuted on HBO Max in November of 2020, critics raved over the performance of its lead, Kaley Cuoco. As Cassie, “The Big Bang Theory” star had found the perfect follow up, a borderline alcoholic party girl who finds herself in the middle of a murder set up with the FBI hot on her tail. Over the course of the first season, however, Cuoco had a quick-witted co-star who stole almost every scene she was in, the indomitable Zosia Mamet.
The “Girls” veteran plays Annie, Cassie’s longtime BFF and a workaholic lawyer who does not have the patience to keep up with her friend’s eye-rolling shenanigans. By the time the first season ends though, Annie has unexpectedly found a boyfriend (Dennis Akdeniz) and reaches a breaking point, determining she can no longer represent the Mafia (as dangerous as that decision may be to her physical well-being). But, according to Mamet, the ladies’ relationship is the “true love story” of the series and one of those friendships where, “you would genuinely help that person bury a body and there would be no judgment, and there would be no questions asked.”
Set a year following the season one conclusion, the first episode finds Annie and Max (Akdeniz) visiting Cassie in her new home in Los Angeles and as they ponder joining her on the West Coast (Note: Cassie’s massive Venice bungalow seems utterly impossible to afford on a flight attendant’s salary). Annie is also interviewing at a new law firm and before she knows it, is wound up in more of Cassie’s clandestine dramas. But, Annie is also there when Cassie needs her the most. Particularly in a scene in episode 5 that is arguably one of the most grounded and moving of the season so far.
“Annie has been put through the wringer by Cassie and we see that really tested in season one,” Mamet says. “But I also think Annie has come to realize, she’s come to admit to herself that she’s not even remotely close to perfect either. And she sees how hard Cassie is trying, and everybody f**ks up in life, and that’s what your true friends are for. Those moments where you hit rock bottom. They’re going to be there for you, and they’re going to be there for you without judgment. And I loved that scene so much because I felt like it could have been very easily overwritten or Annie definitely could have come to it with baggage from season one of like, “I can’t believe you’re putting me through this again.” But to me, it was just so human and so real that at that moment when she knows her friend needs her most, she’s just going to give her what she knows she needs most, which is love and comfort and support. And I think that’s what you do for your best friends.”
In an interview condensed and edited for clarity, Mamet discusses Annie’s crisis of confidence and, yes, why her co-star Akdeniz continues to appear in the series as shirtless as possible.
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The Playlist: I just finished watching the first six episodes of season two. Where did you think Annie was going to go this time around? What were you expecting?
Zosia Mamet: It’s funny, we’ve been asked this question a lot and I wish that I had a really great answer, but the truth is I had no idea. Dennis and I talked about that a lot at the end of season one. And I remember talking to the writers about it when we weren’t sure, but we were hopeful [it would get a second season]. And we were like, “Oh geez, we got to do this again.” And we left so many of the characters in such a cliffhanger which I think was one of the greatest aspects of the ending of season one is that it kept people wanting more. But yeah, no, before I read the scripts, if you were like, “So, if you had to guess, what’s your best guess of where Eddie’s going to be?” I was like, “I have no idea, and I cannot wait to see what the writers come up with. And this is why I am not in that writer team.” Because that’s going to be on them, and then I’m going to show up and say those lines.
The interesting thing about this season is clearly Cassie’s going through a crisis, but in many ways, Annie is too.
Oh, 1000%. I mean, look, I don’t want to pick children here. I love our first season, but I really love our second season. I feel like the ante was upped in every single way. I feel like the thriller aspect of it, we just went more and bigger and louder. I hope we’re wittier and sharper and funnier, but I also loved so much that the writers and our entire creative team made a point to crack each character open more this season, delve many layers deeper into everyone’s personal storyline. Obviously, the mind palace is a really tangible manifestation of what happens when you are dealing with your own internal demons. And we see that, like you said, very overtly with Cassie in this epic way, but I think it’s really happening with everyone.
Annie is certainly having that. We meet her in season one and she is this very together badass who’s working for the mob and taking it all in stride and keeping the love of her life at bay because she doesn’t want to let people in. And she just sort of doesn’t miss a step. And then, we leave her at the end of season one having made these sweeping life choices and deciding to make these big changes. And a year passes, and [she’s] not really any better off. And I think she’s totally losing her mojo. She has no idea how she wants to proceed. She is crippled with anxiety and insecurity and indecision. And I think the journey that I got to play that was so fun in season two, was her just finding herself again.
Her losing her mojo is exactly what came to mind. But, in that context, when Cassie is at her lowest point there’s this wonderful, dramatic, very grounded, real scene, where she just accepts her friend for who she is.
Well, I think, I mean, that’s one of my favorite scenes, getting to work with Kaley at any point is a joy. We obviously love each other in real life as well and have had this epic friendship blossom. And so, getting to work with someone that you have that real-life connection with just takes it even deeper, but I think the writers do a truly exceptional job and it was one of the things that drew me to the series. I had this wonderful opportunity to spend six years on a show, [“Girls”], that was really at its core about female friendship, and Kaley and I joke about the fact that Annie and Cassie are the true love story of “The Flight Attendant” because I think it’s true. I think there are those friendships, especially ones that you’ve had since you were little, where you would genuinely help that person bury a body and there would be no judgment, and there would be no questions asked. And obviously, Annie has been put through the wringer by Cassie and we see that really tested in season one. But I also think Annie has come to realize, she’s come to admit to herself that she’s not even remotely close to perfect either. And she sees how hard Cassie is trying, and everybody f**ks up in life, and that’s what your true friends are for. Those moments where you hit rock bottom. They’re going to be there for you, and they’re going to be there for you without judgment. And I loved that scene so much because I felt like it could have been very easily overwritten or Annie definitely could have come to it with baggage from season one of like, “I can’t believe you’re putting me through this again.” But to me, it was just so human and so real that at that moment when she knows her friend needs her most, she’s just going to give her what she knows she needs most, which is love and comfort and support. And I think that’s what you do for your best friends.
I do too. I think it really popped me.
Oh, good, yay.
Annie was always hesitant in season one about her relationship with Max and this time around she’s really being tested because obviously, he asked her to marry him. Why do you think she’s so commitment-phobic?
I think she’s someone who has spent her entire life being really good at compartmentalizing, and she’s put herself in extremely dangerous situations, but the reason she handled them so well, was because she knew how to keep her heart protected so that she was never in danger of getting hurt. And I mean, I think we all do this on a spectrum. Obviously, Annie is at the extreme end, but I think we make choices all the time to protect ourselves. That’s in our innate human nature, to want to protect ourselves from pain or disappointment or sadness or hurt. And I don’t think Annie’s ever had a real relationship before Max, because I think she knew how to handle her life on her own. And it was so much easier to not necessarily let anything real into her life in terms of a relationship than to open herself up to that and be vulnerable to potentially getting hurt. And obviously, we see her make a crack in the door in season one when she admits, I mean, it takes him literally almost dying and getting hit by a car for her to admit that she loves Max, but she does. And then clearly, she knows that she doesn’t want to lose him and she wants to be with him. And so she in her very lawyerly way accepts a proposal that is not an engagement ring, it’s worn because that’s the finger it fits her. I mean, there are so many caveats.
There are.
I mean, poor Max, if they ever had a prenup, I feel bad for Max. But I think Annie’s a really beautiful person. And that’s the thing that we really uncover in season two is, she’s such a badass on the one hand, but it’s because she’s kept so many of her real feelings at bay. She’s buried them deep and she hasn’t allowed herself to recognize or process them. And now, she’s being forced to do that in so many ways. And she has this deeply loving, exceptionally patient support partner who finally, as any human being’s limit, is basically like, “O.K., I’m done putting up with your s**t. You need to decide if you want to be with me or not.” And Annie’s forced to face that fear and I won’t spoil it, but we hope she overcomes it because Max is pretty great.
He is! And so I have two follow-ups. First, you talk about her fear. But also I was surprised in the season in a good way when the mystery is thrown into her and Max’s hands she’s into it. What do you think has changed in her that’s made her so willing to be like, “O.K. Cassie, I’m ready to jump in into whatever crazy adventure you’re on?”
I think it’s because it’s so much easier to deal with other people’s problems than your own.
Ah, good point.
So I mean, to me, Annie has these very real issues. One is whether or not she’s going to truly say yes to marrying this man and what she wants to do with the rest of her life, and who she is which are terrifying, intangible things to define. That takes a lot of soul searching and internal work and trust. And it’s so much easier to be like, “Oh my God, murder and espionage? Yeah, I’ll jump on that bandwagon. That’s something that I can make a checklist about.” And there are very real concrete things that I can do even though it’s putting her life in danger. And it’s more of the shenanigans that Cassie got into in season one, I think she’s so much more excited and ready and willing to do that because it keeps her from having to deal with the very real much scarier problems that are facing her.
Number two, and my follow-up about Max was, clearly in this season, and I’m not complaining, he’s shirtless quite often. Is that an in-joke from the writers or him? Can you explain it? Does it need to be explained?
Honestly, I don’t know, but it was certainly a joke between me and Dennis, where I literally would be like, “So Dennis, you’re going to wear clothes today?” And I mean, I also was like, “I don’t want to get naked, but I would like to at least be asked and say no. No one’s ever asking me to have my shirt off. And that’s you at every f**ing turn. And I’m going to say no, but come on!” [Laughs.] I mean, Dennis is a fine specimen of a human, and I know no one’s mad about him having a shirt off, but we joked about it constantly where I was like, “Wear pants today? Were there any clothes in your dressing room or are you just fully..?” I mean, the first time Dennis and I ever met was the scene where Cassie comes to Annie’s apartment and he’s in the shower, and literally, Dennis showed up on set fully naked and was like, “Hey, I’m Dennis. This is nice to meet you.” I was like, “Hey dude, I’m Z, what’s up?” And we were like, our industry’s so weird. And we’ve now worked together for three years, I think. And we adore each other and it’s like an old, married couple, we’re also siblings. And we just have the best time and give each other the hardest time, and it’s great. But yeah, I don’t know what that was this season, but they just wanted Dennis to basically be wearing no clothing. Again, there was a scene that we shoot where again, he’s coming out of the shower and he showed up on set. They had to let him down and he’s wearing a barely bare towel. I was like, “Are you requesting this? You are officially in zero clothes.”
I mean, he doesn’t even have an Instagram account. It’s not like he’s even trying to blow up his social media through this.
Oh, no. Oh, Dennis is genuinely the sweetest, most humble human being. I go to him all the time and I’m like, “So what’s your secret? What do you do? You’re a serial killer, right?” Because no one’s actually this nice. I mean, you’re having the worst day and there’s no way he would know, but I’d be having like a crap day, I’d be tired, I’d be in a horrible mood and I’d show up and he would have left special gluten-free, dairy-free candies in my trailer with a note. He just is an actual gem. So he must have a deep, dark secret because no one’s actually just that nice.
Maybe it’s just the Australian in him, who knows?
It probably is because they’re just sweeter, better, more attractive humans than we are, but with cooler accents.
With cooler accents! So, before I let you go, as noted, I’ve only seen the first six episodes. I’m not asking you to give anything away for the rest of the season, but does the season end with any cliffhangers? Is it like season one in the sense that some things are left unresolved or did you feel like it wanted to be its own chapter and close things?
I think there’re definitely cliffhangers. I think our show wouldn’t be our show if we didn’t leave you guessing. I think there are some things that I hope will satiate our audience. But there are certainly also large questions left to the main.
Oh, you’ve answered that very well, because now I’m even more curious than I was before.
Oh, my gosh.
Beautiful tease.
Thank you.
“The Flight Attendant” debuts Thursday on HBO Max
