After its massive success on Peacock, it’s no surprise that The Paper is already returning for Season 2 a year after its premiere.
Creators Greg Daniels, who worked on The Office, and Michael Koman have helped shape the show into more than just another workplace sitcom.
Importantly, they wanted to give the characters something to fight for in this season.
“We actually didn’t know going into Season 2 what was going to happen, but in the writing process, we were very influenced by a book called Bad City, which is about the LA Times investigation of some wrongdoing in USC.”
For the paper, that wrongdoing comes from a golf course called the Glass Club.
They are major advertisers for the TTT, which creates a conflict of interest when reporters try to expose the Glass Club for misconduct.
This throughline provides a strong overarching structure for The Paper Season 2 and a formidable challenge for the team.
“We wanted something that Ned could launch into with tremendous ambition and hit a wall and still have to recover,” Koman added.
Speaking of Ned, Koman also spoke on how exciting it was to dive deep into the Ned and Mare romance this season.
“I love anything with Ned and Mare, just because I love Domhnall and Chelsea act together,” he remarked. “It’s just one of those things that we’re just very lucky to have. They act so beautifully together.”
In addition to mentioning a surprising romance that emerged this season, Koman shouted out another duo that he loved seeing.
“Oscar and Kimberly, who works at the toilet paper company, find out that they’re both fascinated by the ‘single ladies of Toledo,’ the show they call the friendship struggles of some other people in the office, and they come together to watch their soap opera.”
Surely enough, there’s plenty of friendship and relationship drama this season to fuel that “soap opera” for Oscar and Kimberly.
In particular, Nicole and Mare’s friendship begins to crack and crumble as Mare pursues a relationship with Ned.
Koman, who’s “personally curious to what’s gonna happen to the characters,” said about Nicole and Mare, “We didn’t fully get to hear what each one of them is thinking about the other one, and so I want to hear that.”
Daniels agreed with his co-creator and added that part of the fun is getting to “know and love the characters, then putting them in odd pairings and seeing how they influence each other.”
He even teased that this approach is influencing how they’re thinking about writing Season 3.
“We just started the writing process for Season 3 actually,” Daniels shared.
But no matter how silly the pairings get in this sitcom, Daniels and Koman always keep these characters’ humanity in mind.
“I think the type of comedy that we like the best is moments of behavior that are grounded,” Daniels stated.
In particular, he’s interested in looking for “situations where the joke isn’t necessarily a line but is the way the person says something, or their look, or their complete frazzled inability to make a decision.”
Koman echoed Daniels’ sentiment, saying the humor comes from characters’ behavior that feels “true for them” and that this approach is something they “aim for” in their writing.
True to their word, The Paper Season 2 is a testament to just how silly — and caring — the reporters at the Toledo Truth Teller can be.
The Paper Season 2 premieres on Wednesday, September 9 on Peacock.
Make sure to check out our review of the newest season when it drops!
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