Everything's Gonna Be Okay's cast talks filming the new season through quarantine

When Everything’s Gonna Be Okay first premiered on Freeform back in January 2020, the series was an immediate charmer with a winning ensemble; our review called it “a deeply funny comedy teeming with heart, wit, and a refreshing level of humanity.” Fifteen months and the bulk of a pandemic later, the return of Everything’s Gonna Be Okay won’t just feel refreshing, it’ll feel downright necessary, its title alone a welcome reminder after this bummer year. But notably, the series’ second season isn’t just going to ignore what we’ve been through; creator and star Josh Thomas decided to fold quarantine into the narrative—without making it the point.

“I feel like not setting it ‘now’ [would have] felt like a weird lie or something,” Thomas told The A.V. Club during a recent Zoom call. And while you may hear mentions of masks and social distancing in the new episodes of Everything’s Gonna Be Okay, Thomas was clear that season two’s story is not one of quarantine-induced anxiety and isolation, but one of self reflection and rediscovery. “I mean, I’m always trying to find ways to lock our characters in a room,” he jokes, “that’s like all I ever want… so I really wanted to do [this].” In the video above, Thomas and his co-stars Kayla Cromer, Maeve Press, and Adam Faison discuss what it was like returning to the show under strict COVID safety guidelines, and share how this time of self-reflection will fundamentally change their characters in the season going forward.

The second season of Everything’s Gonna Be Okay premieres April 8 on Freeform with two new episodes. Episodes will be available the next day on Hulu.