From executive producer/writer Emily Kapnek (Suburgatory), the ABC comedy series Splitting Up Together tells the story of a couple – Lena (Jenna Fischer) and Martin (Oliver Hudson) – who start to remember what they love and appreciate about each other, now that they’ve split up. As they continue to co-parent their three kids – Mae (Olivia Keville), Mason (Van Crosby) and Milo (Sander Thomas) – and try to find ways to individually relate to them, they’re also trying to figure out what to do next with their own lives.
During this interview with Collider, co-stars Jenna Fischer and Oliver Hudson talked about the appeal of Splitting Up Together, that neither character is the bad guy, getting to know the actors who play their kids, what their first table read was like, and whether they’re rooting for their characters to get back together.
Collider: When this script came your way, did you immediately get what this show and the tone would be?
JENNA FISCHER: I read the script, and then shortly after that, I met with (creator/executive producer) Emily Kapnek and (executive producer/pilot director) Dean Holland. They talked to me about how very important it was to them that we capture the heartbreak and reality of the situation while, at the same time, capturing the comedy. They didn’t want to gloss over the real feelings associated with the complications of divorce.
OLIVER HUDSON: The tone is what drew me to the script, in the beginning. It wasn’t your typical single-camera comedy from a network. Luckily enough, I got the job, and I was just praying and hoping that they were gonna execute it the way I felt it should be executed, because I’m just an actor for higher, and they did. The network understood what we wanted to do, and the marketing team understands how we want to present this show. All in all, tonally, this show is going down the right path because it’s different from things you see on a network. As long as they lean into that, I think we have something really special.
FISCHER: Tonally, it’s okay to feel sad, if something feels sad, and it’s okay to be hurt, if it warrants it. We’re not afraid of those moments.
I love that neither of these characters is the bad guy.
FISCHER: They’re both the good guy and both the bad guy, which is what most real-life situations are.
They also both realize that maybe they both need each other more than they realized.
HUDSON: Yeah. You can’t just freewheel your way through life. You do need structure, and that’s a lesson that he has to learn through her. What’s also great is that we get to see each other change and evolve. When we’re on our own, I get to see how she loosens up, later on in the show. She lets things go and basically says, “Fuck it!” And she gets to see him make dinner and take care of the kids when they’re sick.
FISCHER: Sometimes you think you know the answer to your situation. After divorce, my character thinks the answer is that she needs to date, she needs someone to love her, and she needs these things. Over the course of the season, she starts to realize that she actually doesn’t need that and that she was wrong. She starts becoming a little bit more self-reflective, which I appreciated. That’s what’s so cool to me about this show. It’s complex and we even contradict ourselves sometimes, as characters, which people do.
Were you worried about what kind of child actors you might end up working with?
HUDSON: They found three amazing kids (Olivia Keville, Van Crosby and Sander Thomas), who you’ve never really seen before. They just crushed it.
FISCHER: For all of them, it’s their first big break.
HUDSON: They’re not just in the periphery, and they shouldn’t be because this is a story about a whole family.
This divorce also affects them.
HUDSON: Exactly! It mostly affects them. The goal is to be divorced, but raise great children. That’s really what we’re trying to do, at the end of the day. It’s mostly about them, and it’s secondarily about us.
And their family and friends don’t seem to be shy about telling them how they feel about the situation, which is where a lot of the comedy comes from.
HUDSON: What’s great is that you get to see this alternative relationship, with Bobby [Lee] and Lindsay [Price], that shows it can work in a thousand different ways. Martin could never be Arthur, in that relationship. He could never have a woman like Camille in his life, but it works for them. You never know what’s gonna work. They accept their roles, in their relationship, and they’re happy with that.
When you met the kids and the rest of this cast, did you instantly know that this would work?
FISCHER: I loved the kids, instantly.
HUDSON: We clicked, immediately. [Jenna] had the job and we tested together, and they had to tell us to stop talking and do the scene. There was an instant connection there. I don’t know what it comes from or what it is. You can’t really define it, and it just worked. It was just a beautiful chemistry that happened. And with the kids, we did a lot of rehearsals with them.
FISCHER: We wanted to get comfortable with them.
HUDSON: We did a whole improv with them. They said, “Here’s the situation, just go. Just parent them.” It was Jenna and I, riffing and going off on certain things to get them comfortable with us.
FISCHER: I really liked working with the kids, and everybody. We did out first table read, where we all met each other, and then we had this cast lunch planned for afterwards, to be a first step in bonding. That was really the only step we needed.
HUDSON: Yeah, that’s true.
FISCHER: Lindsay [Price] plays my best friend, and she felt like exactly the kind of person that you want to be your best friend. She was instantly generous, warm and kind, and gives great advice. And Diane [Farr] was like my wise older sister, the minute I met her.
HUDSON: What was great about that lunch was that Bobby [Lee] came 25 minutes late, in his leather jacket and all crazy. It was perfect! You couldn’t ask for a more perfect first cast meeting.
FISCHER: It was amazing!
Do you find yourselves rooting for Lena and Martin to get back together?
FISCHER: Yes and no.
HUDSON: No, because I want this show to continue on. When we did the pilot and we did the scene in the cupboard, it played really beautiful. The best note that I’ve gotten on this show was, “Slow down. Take your time.” In comedy, you never get that note. I always get, “Pace it up!” In this specific scene, they told us to slow down and take our time, which we did, and it was so fun. It was a great scene to do with [Jenna] because we were just getting to know each other. In that moment, I, as Oliver Hudson, was rooting for these people to be together. I was like, “This characters are fuckin’ good together. There’s something really here.”
FISCHER: I’m not 100% convinced that they should be together. I feel like I still need more growth from both of them before I think it’s responsible for them to get back together. So, I’m rooting for them, but I’m not convinced that there couldn’t be someone else.
HUDSON: You see why they were good together. You get to have a window into why they made sense. There are scenes that will show our audience why they made sense and why they were good together, and then you see it shattered because of petty bullshit that goes on.
FISCHER: I feel like I could still be convinced, either way, and both ways could be a happy ending.
HUDSON: They’re gonna get back together because he’s irresistible. That’s it. The end.
Splitting Up Together airs on Tuesday nights on ABC.
