Many of us were rocked by the news that Catherine O’Hara had succumbed to cancer earlier in the year, as the legendary Canadian comedian had been getting quite a career second-wind thanks to “Schitt’s Creek” and the equally the acclaimed Apple TV series “The Studio,” where she played a former head of a studio (loosely inspired by Sony Pictures‘ former studio head Amy Pascal) helping to mentor her frazzled replacement, played by Seth Rogen.
Speaking with The Sunday Times, Rogen, who produces, co-writes, co-created, and co-directs the series with longtime creative partner Evan Goldberg (high school friends who wrote “Superbad” in their teens), as the two creatives explain the void left after the sudden death of O’Hara leaving the duo a little “anchorless,” and how the second season of the show won’t ignore her death (what that means is little unknown, for the moment).
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“It has been an unbelievable challenge,” Goldberg admits. “Obviously, emotionally, dealing with the loss, but also when it comes to the show itself. We wrote it for her to be there. We had it all set, and the shock waves permeate throughout the entire new season. It’s been difficult. You worded it better than we could — she was the anchor, and now the anchor is gone.”
“If anything,” Rogen adds, “we’re acknowledging the idea that we are a little anchorless. But, honestly, that is a part of life and what we all experience. And so while we try to not dwell too much on heavy themes in this show, they will be there in this second season. We are not ignoring it.”
While O’Hara didn’t win her Primetime Emmy nomination for “The Studio,” she posthumously won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role on Television (Rogen accepting the award on her behalf with a heartfelt homage to the actress), but had previously won an Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy back in 2020 for her fantastic work on “Schitt’s Creek.”
What exactly the second season is going to look like is a little unknown at the moment, but having another producer pal or Rogen’s stressed exec Matt Remick trying to pick the brains of other studio heads (real or fictional) isn’t hard to imagine after a cameo made by Netflix‘s Ted Sarandos in the first season. We also have to imagine the second season will attempt to include current headline events happening within the industry, such as the Ellison family buying up Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., which feels like a good bet that could be parodied on the Apple show.
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