[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for the second season of Emily in Paris.]
From show creator Darren Star (Sex and the City, Younger), the Netflix original series Emily in Paris is back for a second season with twenty-something ambitious marketing executive Emily Cooper (Lily Collins) trying to feel a little less like an American outsider and immersing herself more in French life, all with the hope of gaining some respect from her still skeptical co-workers. With a best friend and roommate (Ashley Park) who’s ready to have fun at a moment’s notice, the romantic at heart tries to focus on things other than her feelings for her off-limits neighbor, which leads to a new romance and an unexpected but life-changing choice.
During this interview with Collider, which you can both watch and read, co-stars Collins (who’s also a producer on the series) and Park talked about what they’re most excited about with Season 2, being there for each other as much as their characters are, the show’s incredible wardrobe, all of the singing Park gets to do as Mindy, shooting the fashion show at Versailles, and the possibilities for Season 3.
Collider: First of all, congratulations on being Netflix’s most viewed comedy series of 2020.
LILY COLLINS: Thank you!
ASHLEY PARK: Thank you!
The first season of this show was really an introduction to these characters and this world, whereas the second season feels like it goes much deeper into every aspect of the show. Setting all of the weirdness of shooting during COVID aside, what did you guys most enjoy about getting to explore and do this time around?
COLLINS: Honestly, being back together again was, first and foremost, the most exciting thing, for a lot of us, including the crew. Our French crew are so incredible, and most of the same crew from Season 1 came back. It really felt like getting the family together again and being able to laugh together and reintroduce ourselves to these characters, who I think bring so much joy to us in the job, as well as hopefully with an audience. That was so fun.
PARK: Whenever you return to a place, we got to feel like locals this time, especially because there was no tourism. When we did have time off, instead of trying to do as many different things as possible and doing new things, we were exploring, but we also have our favorites. We have certain cafes that we went to and certain restaurants. This season, for me, I also got to get to know, very closely, some French friends and some French people, which is really helpful too.
One of my favorite aspects of this show is the friendship between your characters. What do you guys love about Emily and Mindy, as friends, and what do you love and most respect about having each other to work with?
PARK: Oh, my gosh! How long do you have love? A 10-minute interview? Good luck!
COLLINS: How amazing is it to be able to experience things like this with a best friend?
PARK: Absolutely.
COLLINS: It’s so calming, knowing that you have a confidant with you, to be vulnerable with and to be anxious with and to be creative and fun.
PARK: And who understands and is literally experiencing what you’re doing, at the same time. Especially the first season, what was so magical for me, even when I watched it back, is that what you’re seeing with Emily and Mindy on screen is very much what happened to us in real life. As we were getting to know each other, doing these scenes, we were new friends and we were just sisters right away. Very much how you see Emily and Mindy find a soul sister in one another and a center and rock for their life in Paris, we don’t live in Paris. We’re foreigners in that way too. We were able to be that for each other, in a way that was even more important and moving and cool and awesome in the second season, especially with the way the world was.
When you’re a part of a show that deals with fashion on a level that this show deal with fashion, what’s it like to see what the wardrobe is that you’re going to wear each season? The outfits are just insane and really deserve their own picture book.
COLLINS: I’ve been a huge fashion admirer, since I was little. Patricia Fields and Marylin Fitoussi together are two geniuses who come with their own strengths, and then together, the language they create with fashion is so otherworldly. To be able to collaborate with them, as an actor and a producer, and my fellow actors getting to do the same thing, is such a treat because it is a character, in and of itself. Each character has such a specific language within that fashion. You can walk into wardrobe and go, “Okay, that’s for Samuel [Arnold]. That’s for Bruno [Gouery]. That’s for Ashley. That’s for me. That’s for Cami [Razat].” Everyone has their own spin on their look and it really helps dictate the feel of each character. I get to experiment and experience fashion in a way that’s different from my everyday looks. You’re definitely creative and artistic, in that sense.
PARK: Absolutely. Going hand in hand with what we said about being able to share something like that with like your best friend, first of all, we love our individual fittings because it’s truly like being in a candy shop or Christmas, just all of the different ideas that everybody brings to the table and picking out what outfits are for what. But my other favorite part of the fashion is when Lily will say, after a fitting, “Oh, my gosh, look at these different looks.” We get to share them with each other and we get to show up to set and be like, “Oh, my gosh, that’s what you’re wearing today? That’s what that looks like on.” It’s just like the most fun
Clearly, not everything is wrapped up by the end of the season, which leaves plenty of possibilities for a third season. Lily, without revealing anything, how do you feel about the personal and professional predicament that Emily is left with, at the end of the season?
COLLINS: When I read it at the table read, my jaw dropped. I was like, “Wait, what?! What is happening? What is this decision?” It’s never easy for Emily. There are so many pros and cons. It’s very empowering to be given those decisions. Those are very good decisions to have to make. Honestly, either way, I’d be so happy to enter into a Season 3, if we got to do that, with one of the two choices. It’s open for adventure and it’s open for new experiences. I love that Emily is unapologetically work driven, but she’s also a romantic at heart. She can be both things. This is one of those meta moments where it’s like, “Okay, where is your heart telling you to go?” I don’t know. I hope we get to actually make a choice and get to go to a Season 3 to find out.
PARK: I’m so curious. This morning, I was like, “Are you sure you don’t know? Can’t you just tell me for yourself, what you think it is?”
COLLINS: She’s like, “You really don’t know?” And I really don’t know.
Ashley, I love that we get to see so much of your singing talents lately, with both Emily in Paris and Girls5Eva, which was just delightful. What have you enjoyed about getting to include that as an aspect of Mindy and have you had a favorite performance moment?
PARK: Oh, gosh. I think that Mindy feels her most vulnerable and she self-expresses through singing in a way that is very unique to her. That’s also where I feel a sense of my soul coming out in the real world. I really love getting to sing on this show. Especially in the first season, it was really important to me that the music feels like it propels the story for forward and it brings this friendship closer together. It shows a different side of Mindy, and we really explore that a lot with this season. I got to sing a lot of my dream types of songs. Especially at a time when live singing and performances were not able to be had in that way, I was very happy to be able to do it and to have a friend in audience, always.
Lily, what was it like to experience the Versailles fashion show and how it was all staged and shot? It was just so incredible to look at.
COLLINS: Oh, my God, when they said, “We’re going to Versailles in the finale,” I joked and said, “Great, so we’re going to the moon in Season 3?” That’s the pinnacle of what you would hope to get to do, but you never think you’re gonna have the Hall of Mirrors to yourself. It’s so surreal.
PARK: And then, you go and it’s set dressed like that.
COLLINS: With the whole opulent show, I cried the first time they came down the runway. With the music, the boldness of the show, and all of the incredible models that walked out, it was just so beautiful and unexpected. They didn’t tell us what was gonna happen because they wanted to capture the real reactions, especially because it’s a shock, as to what happens, for even Emily. [Kate Walsh], Philippine [Leroy-Beaulieu] and Bruno were all surprised by what we saw, so it was really cool to see it in real time. I just found it to be so beautiful and fun. I was crying.
PARK: It was the spirit of the show too. I wasn’t in that scene and I was like, “Can I just come to set, please?”
COLLINS: So, Ashley came that day, just for fun.
PARK: I was there, taking pictures of people.
COLLINS: It was fun. It was a feast for the eyes.
Emily in Paris is available to stream at Netflix.