As a teenager, Francesca Delbanco had plenty of male friends. But as she grew up, got married and had children, those friendships became harder to make — and maintain.
“We get socialized away from it,” she said in an interview. At house parties and school functions, the women chatted with other women, the men mingled with other men. Her old friendships, “those deep, irreplaceable friendships,” came to seem daring, even taboo.
And this, she and her husband, the writer and director Nicholas Stoller, decided, could be very, very funny. Together they created “Platonic,” a sun-kissed Los Angeles-set series that returns for its second season on Apple TV+ on Wednesday. A mellow and anxious comedy, it stars Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen as Sylvia and Will, old friends who reconnect amid the hassles and busyness of midlife. The show explores what love without romance can look like.
“We’re very pro-platonic friendship,” Stoller said.
I met Stoller and Delbanco, who previously collaborated on the Netflix show “Friends From College,” on a cloudless California morning in their glamorous Mid-Wilshire home, which they refer to as “the house that jokes built.” The living room was gracefully appointed in violet, gray and cream. A fresh baked plum torte was served on matching china. You would never guess that these are people who love a projectile vomiting bit.
“Platonic” was originally conceived as an anthology series, but the chemistry between Byrne and Rogen (both veterans of past Stoller projects, including the “Neighbors” movies) upended that. This twist presented a challenge for the second season. “We really came into the writers room with a feeling of like, ‘Oh crap, what are we going to do?’” Delbanco said. So a few wrinkles were added to the California cool: Will is now engaged; Sylvia’s husband, Charlie (Luke Macfarlane, another Stoller regular), suffers a midlife crisis.
Over torte (Stoller is an obsessive baker), husband and wife discussed love, friendship and having your work spouse be your actual spouse. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
What was the seed of “Platonic”?
FRANCESCA DELBANCO It was a feeling that, in our current lives, my old friendships with men seemed to stand out as unusual. I have two guy friends who I have gone to Las Vegas with a few times. One weekend, Nick was alone with the girls and was hanging out with whomever he was hanging with. They were like, “Where’s Francesca?” He was like, “Oh, she’s in Vegas with her guy friends.” And it was shocking, like the most transgressive thing imaginable.
What made you think of Rose for Sylvia?
DELBANCO Rose is the funniest person alive and a really deep actor who understands that comedy and pathos coexist.
NICHOLAS STOLLER When we pitched the idea to her, she totally got it. She has close friends who are guys and understood the complications of that and what makes it funny.
And she thought of Seth, right?
STOLLER They had worked on “Neighbors” and “Neighbors 2.” She loves Seth. They legitimately crack each other up and really have great chemistry. They just click.
DELBANCO They had that old-friendship chemistry, you don’t have to build it.
Were you worried about perpetuating the trope of the tightly wound hot lady and the schlubby guy who can’t get it together?
DELBANCO Before we had anybody attached, the character was different, he was an E.R. doctor. When we talked it over with Seth, he was like, “This isn’t exactly the kind of guy I play.”
STOLLER He has good instincts, he was like, “If she’s going to occupy a more traditional societal role as a mom with three kids, maybe he should have a cooler job and be a little bit more bohemian.” And it sounds silly, but he’s a really good brewmaster. His life’s a bit of a mess, but so is hers. I don’t think of him as a sloppy loser guy.
What makes Sylvia and Will good friends?
DELBANCO What greater pleasure is there in life than to be so known and so seen by another person? That’s slightly different than marriage. In marriage, you’re not going to be super obnoxious the way you can with a friend. Friends can speak to each other with brutal honesty.
Are they good for each other?
DELBANCO We think they are. We intend for the show to think that they are. With Sylvia, it is good for her to have a person she can say all of her most insecure, worst fears to.
STOLLER With Will, to have a friend be honest with him is really helpful.
Rose and Seth played a couple in the “Neighbors” movies. How is the dynamic different here? How does that change the stakes?
STOLLER They can fight more as friends. He thinks she’s judgmental, she thinks he’s irresponsible. They’re really able to call each other out.
DELBANCO To be candid, the project of this show is a thousand times harder than we thought it would be. We were like, “This is a cool topic and hasn’t had its day on TV.” Once we started writing we were like, “Oh, most TV shows are about murder or sex and we don’t have either.” It is hard to generate tension and story over the course of 10 episodes without those.
STOLLER What ends up happening is you find your way to weirder, more honest stories. Because most of life doesn’t have murder. You’re forced out of the tropes of TV.
What makes you a good team?
STOLLER This is a show that’s about a man and a woman, and we are a man and a women. We’ll be writing and Francesca will say, “A woman would never say that.” I’ll do the same thing. We’re very respectful of each other. My joke is that we both are very, very passionate and also don’t care. If one us really doesn’t like something, it doesn’t go in. People are always like, “How do you work with your spouse?” I’m like, “I don’t know, it’s pretty easy.”
DELBANCO I am nervous to reflect on it too carefully because I’m always like, “What if it ruins it?” It just works. We don’t divide labor, which is probably stupid and inefficient, but it is just the way we work. We write everything together. We are both at every production meeting.
How did you differentiate the second season from the first?
DELBANCO The second season was challenging, because we had tied everything up with a neat little bow. We hadn’t saved a whole bunch of moves. We did them fighting. We did them getting back together. We did them betraying each other. We did all these things. Now what are we going to do? It was hard, but in retrospect, it was fun because it had to be weird.
How weird can you be while also keeping the story real? I am thinking particularly of a tragic Season 2 golf accident?
DELBANCO That is the tension of the show. That is the area we most like to work in, which is grounded and real, with crazy comedy set pieces.
STOLLER The goal is to make people laugh out loud.
What’s the pleasure of working with the same actors over and over?
STOLLER I’m just lazy. When you know actors’ moves, it’s easier to write for them, even if they’re playing a different character.
DELBANCO And it’s fun to go to work every day and hang out with your friends and have that be your job. We love them. It’s fun to go to work and be together.
Alexis Soloski has written for The Times since 2006. As a culture reporter, she covers television, theater, movies, podcasts and new media.
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