SPOILER ALERT! This story contains details from the series finale of Somebody, Somewhere on HBO.
The Peabody-winning comedy about a Kansas gal who finds out there’s no place like home ended its too-short run on HBO Sunday. Here, star and executive producer Bridget Everett — together with creators Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen — break down the final episode, and explain why it was important that Everett’s Sam not seem like she suddenly has it all together.
DEADLINE When you started in season one, did you know where you’re going and more importantly, how you wanted it all to end?
PAUL THUREEN We knew that it was going to be a central love story of Sam and Joel [Jeff Hiller]. For us, this being a real first time thing for us, that first season was about finding the rhythm, trusting that the way we were telling the story was enough. When you work with incredible actors, you learn who you want to write for. I think especially that first season, HBO was really pushing us to spend more time with the family, and I think that was a really great way to go.
HANNAH BOS Also, the more we made the show, the more story we had. I feel like we unlocked all these relationships, both on set and off, and we saw the potential of everything in this world. I felt like it just kept creating story.
DEADLINE Bridget, what kind of reaction were you getting when the show first came out?
BRIDGET EVERETT I go on walks in NYC’s Riverside Park a lot, and I was getting stopped, but with purpose and for thoughtful conversation. It just wasn’t something I was expecting. I was seeing it from the perspective of making it and being inside of it and not really thinking about how it was affecting people. I was just like, ‘is anybody going to watch this?’ It wasn’t snarky, it wasn’t, like, a cool show and I was really worried that it wasn’t going to find its way.
EVERETT Originally I thought it should be all scored by piano. It would feel sort of spare and pretty. And then in my recollection, [Executive Producer] Carolyn Strauss thought about horns and then we heard composer Amanda Delores’ pitch and we all responded to it and were really excited by it. So I’ll just say I was dead wrong.
THUREEN I wish I remember the references that Carolyn said, but I think she was spot on with the horn. There’s a little bit of a bounce to it that pushes against the TTC, a touch too cutie. It’s sort of like the horn is both melancholy but also funny. Amanda is just incredible and just gets that tone just right and now I can’t imagine it any other way.
EVERETT Series wide, we were always thinking about ways to cut the sweet, just anything to sort of cut the cutie, cut the sweet, just find a balance.
DEADLINE Bridget, what most surprised you about being a star of your own series?
EVERETT I mean, all of it still doesn’t feel real. Whenever I watch the show mostly by myself, I don’t want any distractions and I want to try to really appreciate that I’m on HBO and that we did this together. I think when I’m away from everybody, that’s when it’s going to really hit and I can reflect back and be proud of what we’ve done. But I don’t know. I don’t really know the right answer.
DEADLINE When did you all start the discussion about the third season would be your final one?
THUREEN We didn’t know it was going to be the final one when we started the season. We just never thought anything would happen. So even when we were writing the pilot, we were like, ‘well, we just have to write the best pilot we can because it’s not going to get made.’ And then when the pilot got made, we were like, ‘this is great, but it’s not going to be a series and get the green light.’ I think we always knew a show like this was about finding the audience, and then when it did, I think we were just getting a second season and then a third season. So we didn’t set out to write this season to say this is going to be the last. We wrote every season thinking it could be the last season.
BOS I mean, we’re really happy with how everything’s landing. To us, these characters are alive. So we ended every season the way we start a season, which is there is time in between and you’re sort of picking up what you didn’t see in the previous season. That’s sort of the way our seasons usually end. We do that on purpose. We sort of float people into the future.
THUREEN We didn’t know it was going to be end when we were writing it. And in a weird way, that sort of fits the feeling of the show. As Hannah says, these characters move on. We didn’t go back and recut it or change it because we knew it was going to be the end. It left in a place where they’re in a new place, but we see a springboard potential for where Sam and Joel are going to go and where that relationship’s going to go. So we decided not to go back and sort of futz with it. Who knows, maybe there will be a Somebody Somewhere movie in two years or something like that. If we would’ve gone back and written the perfect ending, then we wouldn’t have had that.
