From co-creators Ed Helms, Michael Schur, and Sierra Teller Ornelas, who also serves as showrunner, the second season of the Peacock comedy series Rutherford Falls sees its residents dealing with major changes to the small town and the Native American reservation that it borders. While Tribal Casino CEO Terry Thomas (Michael Greyeyes) is focused on progress, there is no shortage of bonkers shenanigans when it comes to best friends Nathan Rutherford (Helms) and Reagan Wells (Jana Schmieding).
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Helms talked about the common ground he shares with Nathan Rutherford, why he wanted to do a holiday episode, and how he felt about his Halloween costume. He also speaks about how often he breaks and laughs during scenes, and why painting themselves into a corner with the storytelling is fun to figure out if they get to do another season.
Collider: You’ve previously talked about being someone who brings a lot of yourself to your characters. How are you and Nathan similar? What do you think dinner conversation would be like, between you and Nathan? What is your common ground with him?
ED HELMS: Well, I think that our common ground is that we both mean well, and we stumble a lot. I think Nathan’s maybe a little bit more clueless than me. At least, I hope he is. But I often feel quite clueless, moving through the world. In that way, Nathan allows me to exorcise those demons and try to figure out how to move through this world, as a flawed human being.
One of my absolute favorite things this season is that you have a Halloween episode. I love holiday episodes so much that I’ve been known to watch a holiday episode of shows that I’ve never seen any other episodes of, and Halloween is my favorite holiday. How did that come about? How did you decide on that costume?
HELMS: I was in the writers’ room for this whole process and I agree with you that holiday episodes are just always a blast. It’s such a point of relatability for everyone. Back on The Office, I loved our Christmas episodes, our Halloween episodes, and Thanksgiving. They’re just so fun, and we just wanted to tap into that, for this season of Rutherford Falls. Halloween is particularly special because it gives everybody an opportunity to express themselves in a new and different way through these costumes. It also lets them step outside of themselves a little bit and just look totally ridiculous and silly. A Halloween episode is inherently funny. The visuals are just funnier. You’re starting from that place, and in particular, Nathan’s storyline actually has a lot of pathos, but it’s really funny because he’s dressed up like a giant corn on the cob.
What happened to that costume, once you were finished? Did you hang onto it for a Halloween party in the future or do you hope to never see it again?
HELMS: Truthfully, that costume was a little bit claustrophobic for me because it was hard to get in and out of. Anytime I feel like I can’t get out of something easily, and that took two other people to help me get out of, I get a little panicky, but I was able to push through it and make it work. That costume, I’m pretty sure it was just a rental for that day, and I’ll never see it again.
I find everything and anything that Michael Greyeyes does on this show to be hilarious. Is it ever hard to be in a scene with him without breaking, especially since he is often so serious in his humor?
HELMS: Yeah. Michael Greyeyes is such a genius actor and he brings such an intense level of commitment. It reminds me a lot of how, on this movie, Cedar Rapids, that I did, I would just watch John C. Reilly work and he was so funny, but it was because he was so committed and so serious. Michael Greyeyes is the same way. I break constantly. I laugh all the time, at everybody. I ruin a ton of takes and it’s very annoying. I’m very annoying, in that way, but it’s my process. Being opposite Michael Greyeyes, as an actor or as a comedian, it’s just such a privilege to have a front-row seat to whatever he’s doing. He’s so mesmerizing to watch.
Have you had conversations about a possible third season of Rutherford Falls? After everything that happened in Season 2, what would you like to see next?
HELMS: It’s hard to get into a Season 3 without spoiling a lot of Season 2, but I think anytime we approached the end of Season 2, the same way as the end of Season 1. We’ve tried to paint ourselves into a corner that’s impossible to get out of, and then, if we get another season, that becomes the fun of the challenge. It’s like, “Okay, so we created this dead end for these characters, or for this story, so how the hell are we going to get out of it?” I think we did that again. So, the end of Season 2 is really, really, really fun. I have no idea what Season 3 would be, but I know we’ll crack it. I just hope we get a Season 3. It’ll be so damn fun if we can do it.
If you do, you need to do another holiday episode.
HELMS: Yeah, we need more holiday episodes. It’ll be all holiday episodes.
Rutherford Falls is available to stream at Peacock.