The following contains spoilers for Season 1 of The Afterparty.

If you’re a fan of Chris Miller and Phil Lord’s The Afterparty on Apple TV+, you’re about to be very happy. Not only are you about to read how they plotted out and pulled off the amazing murder-mystery comedy series, but Apple also just announced the series has been renewed for a second season!

If you’ve seen the season finale, you know Ben Schwartz’s Yasper was Xavier’s (Dave Franco) killer. According to Miller, figuring out the series meant starting from the end: “I started at the ending, figuring out who did it, why and how, and then how it could sort of obfuscate that information. I think that's the only way I know how to do something like this is to go like, "Okay, what's the ending? And then how do I work backwards from that?" Then make something out of it that way.”

But just because they had the ending figured out, that didn’t make writing the rest of the series any easier. Miller explains how the writers' room was a constant challenge and a Jenga tower:

We used to curse the show a lot in the writer's room as this sort of Jenga tower, because you would come up with a fun idea for a certain episode and then you say like, "We can't do that because in episode two, she's over here at this time having this scene with this other person. So, they can't be there doing this other thing." And you're like, "Ah." If you do one small change, it knocks everything over. So, we have to be like, "Okay, well then we can change episode two. But then that means we also have to change episode six." It became this complicated string of things. You couldn't just sort of pitch an idea or have a new idea for a scene because everything was so interconnected. We'd just go, "Ah, Jenga tower."

the afterparty Dave Franco and Zoë Chao
Image via Apple TV+

RELATED: 'The Afterparty': Xavier's Posthumous Music Video Is Comedy Genius

As far as who they wanted to play the killer, Miller revealed why they cast Schwartz in the role:

“You really don't want it to be Ben because he's so lovable and sweet and fun and silly. He doesn't seem like he has the gravitas to be a killer. But then that's the fun secret about him is what a good actor he is and how he does have that gear and how when you see it, you're like, "Oh my gosh, I didn't realize he could do this." But because most people are like, "Oh, he's Jean-Ralphio or Sonic the Hedgehog." They don't see that he actually has got real acting chops. And so that seemed like too fun to pass up.”

While you might think Schwartz told his friends and family where it was all going…you’d be wrong. Miller said that when he told Schwartz about the role, he asked him not to tell anyone. And he took that to heart. Miller said:

“At the very beginning, I emailed Ben and said, "Here's this show, here's the concept of the show. Your episode is a musical and you're the killer. Please don't tell anyone. Also, can you sing?" And he really didn't. He didn't tell his girlfriend, he didn't tell his agent, he didn't tell anybody. The whole time, the entire shoot, never let anybody know that he was the killer. It was incredible.”

Something else Miller and Lord were impressed by was all the people on Reddit trying to figure everything out. According to Lord, “Everyone on Reddit has gotten just about everything. We'll see if the final episode, which has some real stumpers, if it stumps anybody, but I doubt it. The wisdom of crowds being what it is.”

the-afterparty-ben-schwartz
Image via Apple TV+

Miller went on to say, “The Reddit community is very, very active and diligent and freeze-framed and had timed spreadsheets and maps of where everybody was, where and when, and would highlight inconsistencies in things that they caught. They caught all of it. There were a lot of people looking for clues where there weren't any, which was delightful. A lot of different and outlandish theories, but all of the stuff of like, Yasper with the two phones, Yasper coming in from one direction and in his story and another direction and the other story, the open closet door, all of the hidden codes and clues and a lot of other little tiny details that you were like, "Oh, look, I freeze-framed this and I noticed this thing." Nothing got by those guys. They really were scouring each frame in a way that was really impressive.”

One of the other things we talked about was the future of the series. According to Miller, Apple has been thrilled with the success of the first season, which explains why they greenlit Season 2. Miller went on to tell me they’ve been working on Season 2 for “several months” and “we are going into production relatively soon.”

In addition, one of my favorite things about The Afterparty is how each episode has its own unique visual format and film genre to match the teller’s personality. One episode is a musical. Another is animated. While another episode is told like the lead is in an action movie. Miller talked about that aspect of the series and how it’ll continue next season.

“What great about this show is that you get a chance to take each character and do a deep dive into what makes them tick. What's their story? What's their emotional arc? It's so fun you get to tell each episode is a chance to just be like, let's dive in on this character and tell a complete story and go in thinking one thing about them and leave thinking another thing about them. That was the goal of the show was to make you stop and think for a minute that people are more complicated than you think and maybe deserve a little empathy. So, it was like making a bunch of individual movies where you had to dig deeper than just some glossy surface stuff. That's what got us excited about making it in the first place beyond all of the murder mystery complications and clues and who done it stuff, is telling a bunch of character pieces. That'll be the same in Season 2.”

the-afterparty-ben-schwarz-sam-richardson-social-featured
Image via Apple TV+

RELATED: 'The Afterparty': Theories For the Most Likely Killer, Ranked

I followed up by asking if each Season 2 episode would be a different genre. He said, “Yes.”

But the big news for fans of The Afterparty is even though Miller directed every episode of the first season, he told me that's not the case in Season 2. He told me, "We are going to produce. And it's another Detective Danner mystery, and it's going to be a lot of fun."

Considering how complicated the shoot was and how long they spent figuring it out, I can understand handing off the next season to someone they trust. Miller explained some of what they went through making the first season:

“One night we shot Anique and Zoe running into Chelsea in the hallway from the romcom point of view. And then we took a break, ate a meal, and then it was re-lit as a thriller and we shot the same moment in a different episode. Everyone was performing a different scene of the same moment on the same day. That happened a few times. And that was really crazy for the actors to wrap their brains around and crazy for the entire crew because the costumes are different, the lighting, the lenses, the camera work, all sorts of details of the performances were different. Everyone had to keep track of that in their minds on the same day. It was a lot, but everybody did great.”

Look for my exclusive conversation with Ben Schwartz tomorrow.

the-afterparty_O3Pm6K
Image Via Apple TV