From show creator Armando Iannucci (Veep), the second season of the eight-episode HBO comedy series Avenue 5, that’s set 40 years in the future in a world where space travel is a booming business, finds Captain Ryan Clark (Hugh Laurie) avoiding telling the passengers of the luxury spacecraft that they’re about eight years from their return home. Growing into the leadership position that he was only faking at the start of this journey, Ryan has to keep everyone calm, even though there’s no shortage of wild and unbelievable things going on around him, at any given moment, that could send everything into a tailspin.

During this interview with Collider, co-stars Zach Woods (who plays head of passenger services Matt Spencer) and Lenora Crichlow (who plays the spaceship’s engineer Billy McEvoy) talked about the long break due to COVID, how they got back into their characters once they were back on set, how much they knew about what was going on, the vibe on an Iannucci set, needing to have a high level of energy all season, and the craziest thing they had to do in Season 2.

Collider: The first season of Avenue 5 debuted in January 2020. You got a second season pick-up in February 2020, and then everything shut down because of COVID. Once things finally got going again, and you were back on set, how did you get back into this world and your characters? Was it easy when you have these sets to look at, or did it take a minute to slip back into it?

ZACH WOODS: (Joking) There’s a common misconception, which is that we took the three years off because of Covid. Actually, I reached out to Armando and said, “I wanna gain 15 to 20 pounds between Season 1 and Season 2. Is there a way we could hold production for me to accomplish that body transformation?” And he said, “Say no more. It’s critical to the show. We’ll give you as much time as it takes.” That’s why we held off. But I think the rewards are in the image of a slightly heavier me.

I thought you were gonna be like, “I wanted to go to space first. I had to take some time to travel around.”

WOODS: No, I just wanted to eat Carl’s Jr. twice a week for three years.

LENORA CRICHLOW: A lesser man couldn’t have done it.

WOODS: I care about my craft. Some of these amateurs, some of these idiots, they’re not willing to do something like that, but that’s why they’re amateurs and idiots, and why I’m king of the dramatic arts.

CRICHLOW: That’s how I got back into it. I just looked at Zach’s dedication and body transformation, and I felt so inspired. I was like, “I know where I am.” We all ran off that energy.

As actors, is it easier to get back into a character that’s so specific, or does that make it harder when you have a long break?

WOODS: That’s a good question. I think it’s easier. For me, if you have a really clear point of view, it’s much easier to connect with the character, as opposed to someone who’s a little bit more of a jellyfish. That’s harder to find.

CRICHLOW: If you know the rules of your character, you can break them. But if you don’t know the rules, you’re not sure. Everything you read in the scripts has to go through the filter of your character, and if that is undefined, it’s really hard to grasp. I did this show called Being Human, where I wore the same clothes for years and years, and there was something about that, that was really helpful for me. Having the same costume is quite grounding because it’s so specific. That can help you slip back into that world pretty easily.

How much did you actually know about what the story and the arc would be for Season 2? Did you go into the season having all of the scripts, or did you just know some of what was happening?

WOODS: We didn’t even finish the season, having all the scripts. Armando is such a whirling dervish of comedic energy and ideas. A lot of times, you’ll show up and they’ll hand you pages, and you’ll be like, “Okay, we’re doing this.” It’s very run-and-gun for something that’s such a large-scale production. And then, I think he, in the edit, refines, tightens, and specifies. So, it’s the opposite of having a carefully tracked course. In that way, your character work is done for you because the characters are in this free-for-all, where they’re not exactly sure what’s happening and neither are you. You have to give over to the pandemonium and trust that you’re in the hands of a capable captain, which may not be the case with Captain Ryan, but has been the case with Armando.

I’ve watched this show and wondered if it’s all improvised, or if it’s very exact in its words.

CRICHLOW: There’s something about the way Armando captures chaos, whether it’s on a big scale, or just three people in a room trying to figure something out. It really is complimented by the fact that we’re allowed to improv. Someone will say something in one take and not in another take, so we’re not sure if the scene even makes sense, but it can all be used because he knows how to do that. You can let go, rather than try to wrap your head around whatever it is. You’re just like, “Okay, let’s go with it,” and let your character free fall.

WOODS: Sometimes when a scene gets particularly crazy in between takes, you’ll see Armando dance in a way that’s part Charlie Chaplin in The Little Tramp, and part devil. He’s almost a little kid who has successfully lit a shed on fire and is now watching it delightedly burn. He’s a little bit of an emotional pyro. When the smoke starts filling the room, he’s happy, and it’s fun to see it. He has a wicked appetite.

CRICHLOW: It’s amazing.

From the beginning of this season, things are just at a frantic and frenetic level. What is it like to crank up the energy level like that, and to have it stay so high, throughout the season?

CRICHLOW: It’s exhausting. It’s a high octane show, so you really earn the moments of stillness that are very few and far between, like when there are just two people and you get a bit of relief. I think it’s purposeful like that, where the stakes stay that high and the characters are always a bit on edge. I find, in the best way, that you can use that, but it is tiring.

WOODS: It’s surreal. I often have the thought, “What would my immigrant great grandparents say, if they could see that this is how I, as a grown man, makes a living?” Would they be like, “We’re glad we left Russia,” or would they be like, “Oh, no, our bloodline has become hopelessly debased.” I don’t know.

What is the craziest thing that you had to do, this season?

WOODS: It’s hard to say. At one point, everyone was kicking a man in a translucent ball, down a hallway. That was pretty weird.

CRICHLOW: That was pretty surreal. We were also all rammed into a tiny hallway, to protect our characters from the sun, but we were doing that during Covid. That was surreal. There were eels. In every episode, there’s something where you’re like, “Huh? That happened.”

WOODS: It never occurred to me, before you just said that, but the irony is that the safety of the characters was achieved at the expense of the safety of the actors. In order to hide from the fictional son, the fictional characters went into a real Covid hazard with real people. That’s wild to think about.

It’s the kind of show where you shouldn’t be able to get away with what you actually get away with, and yet somehow, it all works.

WOODS: We might not get away with it. The public may turn on us and we all may be relegated to the Halls of the Canceled.

CRICHLOW: I hope not. I think we do get away with it.

WOODS: We don’t know. We may be canceled imminently.

Avenue 5 airs on Monday nights on HBO and is available to stream on HBO Max.