Editor's note: The below interview contains spoilers for Episode 8 of The Resort.From showrunner and executive producer Andy Siara (Palm Springs), The Resort is a comedy-mystery series unlike no other. The premise may start off in a familiar place: married couple Noah (William Jackson Harper) and Emma (Cristin Milioti) decide to vacation in the Mayan Riviera at the Oceana Vista Resort for their anniversary. The two have clearly been out of touch for some time, and the trip itself may or may not make all the difference. When Emma stumbles upon an unsolved mystery connected to the disappearance of two guests at a now-defunct resort on the same island 15 years ago, the couple wanders down a rabbit hole consisting of bizarre twists and turns, unanswered questions, and lots of intrigue and danger. In addition to Harper and Milioti, the series also flashes back to that fateful trip in the past, in which Skyler Gisondo (The Righteous Gemstones)'s Sam finds himself unexpectedly connecting with another resort guest, Violet (Nina Bloomgarden), while on a trip with his parents and girlfriend, Hannah (Debby Ryan). The series also stars Nick Offerman, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Gabriela Cartol, Dylan Baker, Becky Ann Baker, Ben Sinclair, Michael Hitchcock, and Parvesh Cheena.
Ahead of the finale's premiere on Peacock this week, Collider had the opportunity to speak with Siara about some of the most pivotal reveals in "The Disillusionment of Time." Over the course of the interview, which you can read below, Siara discusses how Luis Guzmán came to be cast in the role of Illan Iberra, where this episode was filmed, and what it means for the audience not to see what Emma glimpses in the whirlpool. He also talks about how he feels about where the characters end up, whether that final scene lends itself to any second season potential, and if he'd be willing to tell more stories in The Resort's world.
Collider: I would love to talk, at least in part, about Luis Guzmán in the role of Illan Iberra. How did all of that come together, him being a part of just that one episode?
ANDY SIARA: It was always a very, very important role, from this early series bible that I wrote a few years ago. At that point in the season, both timelines are going to meet the author of this book, and who was the best actor to play the author? It just came out of discussions with the directors, Daniel [Garcia] and Rania [Attieh], and Alton, my co-chair writer, and then Manuel Alcalá, who is one of the producers and writers in the show, too. Who can best capture the energy of what we need this character to be? We didn't want the full-on trope-y pretentious writer type. The biggest thing to me was that every sentence [of his] contradicts the previous one in a way, and that when we leave this place, it's like... is it real? Is this Pasaje thing real, or did he really just send the kids off to the jungle to die?
In terms of talking about who would best capture that energy, it just was like, "Oh, Luis Guzmán's the guy." We just sent him the script and see if he'd want to do it. He luckily said yes. He was an awesome dude to work with. We talked a lot about Punch Drunk Love and obviously, he's incredible in that. He's incredible in anything that he did. He's also in the DNA of the movies that also inspired the show, in some ways.
Where was this finale episode filmed? Pasaje, once the group reaches it, feels like it's part of the world, but not quite of the world. Was it a combination of location and set piece? How was that created for the show?
SIARA: I always knew that this penultimate episode was going to be all parties venturing into the jungle. The finale I always wanted to be all underground. There was just me and Ben Sinclair, and we wanted to make sure in the first four episodes [that] we were setting up imagery that will pay off in the finale in a way, and how we bring this Pasaje to life. I'd say this conversation started with us and our fantastic production designer, Brett Panzer, and the three of us throwing around ideas. Then, when Ariel Kleiman came on, he directed the last two episodes, those conversations continued to evolve.
We landed on this final room where they find Sam and Violet, and this whirlpool. In one of in the first ten minutes of the show, there's this overhead shot of Emma in her Jacuzzi with these jets swirling around. She's at a point in her life where she wants to go into the water and underwater. I just wanted to make sure we paid off that image where it's the same overhead shot of a much larger Jacuzzi. She's the kind of person that, eight episodes ago, would go into the water. Then she decides to not go into the water. That whirlpool imagery kept on popping up in just the making of the show.
Once we settled on that, Brett and his incredible team built that entire room. The other parts that had always been there, and I knew I wanted to make sure we get at some point [were] Noah and Emma needed to part ways and Noah needed to do what he couldn't do in the first three episodes of the show — which is just let her go, because she's on her own journey here. We called it the waiting room, where they part ways. I knew we needed that kind of thing. We found a cave that was a little too covered in bat shit, so we decided to shoot parts of it, but then really with our actors, we built that part of it. Then the other most important piece was this tunnel that Emma's character crawls through and then gets stuck in. That obviously had to be built, because we can't get cameras down into a very, very tight tunnel like that.
Knowing that those were the pieces and knowing that cenotes are an actual thing, but they're not everywhere. There are caves — but caves with water in them, that's a slightly more unique thing, and pretty unique to the Yucatan, but we're filming in Puerto Rico. Knowing we have these pieces that we need to build, me and the producers, location scouts, went looking around everywhere to find the best thing that could capture this feeling, that could have the wonder and awe that warrants the finale and warrants something that is maybe outside of time. This is not something that has been found before either, or not found by the public. I never wanted it to be a giant hole in the ground. I wanted it to be a small entryway, a small hole that sometimes is probably covered up and sometimes not.
We found a couple of different places in the Dominican Republic that fit all the rest of our needs, which is where eventually, they cross this river, and they make it into this giant hole in the ground. That's why Nick's character says, "How the fuck did we miss this?" It's like, how do you miss something this big? The size might be where the kids are, where the room is, where the whirlpool is, but really, it's once they go underground. Then you've now entered into a world, and perhaps everything down there is outside of time. Why is there a raft there? How did no one ever see this giant cenote there? It's an underground world that sends characters on trials in a way. More ideas came as we found certain locations. It's Tres Ojos, I think it was called, in the Dominican. That's where the whole underground river part is, where they're on the boat and the big opening. Once we saw it, that's where more ideas came in, too, of let's make a boat, have a boat that hints at a deeper task here.
I think it's really interesting that the show makes the conscious choice to not show us what Emma sees when she looks into the water. We're left to draw our own conclusions about what she's seeing, but then she also makes the conscious choice to not go in. She might have before, but she's at a point where she's found what she's been searching for, but then realizes there's still more. It's not like this is the end of the journey for her.
SIARA: That, to me, is, for her character, the most important moment of the whole show. If she were presented that in the first episode — or all the way, probably up until the end of Episode 7, she would go in. It's more important to me that anyone who's watching that remembers what every character's actually wanting going into this finale, what they're really looking for. When she said exactly what she's hoping for in that campfire scene in Episode 7, we know she's what she wants and wants to live in. This was always the most important part of my initial pitch for the show and this series. She wants to go back to a moment in her life, whether it's to live in that moment forever or just glimpse it. That's the most important thing. If she could live in it forever, cool. She's pretty much presented with this choice, and she gets the promise of it by whatever she is seeing in that moment, but we understand that it's... for lack of a better term, it's a magical thing.
In that same moment she sees this, she also sees there's a consequence to this choice. The two kids that she's been chasing, been trying to find out what happened to them, they are floating in this thing, unchanged after 15 years. She knows, and we know, that what Violet was looking for this whole time was to go meet her mom who had passed. Now she's looking at Violet, probably assuming that she's living in a memory herself, but has lost 15 years now and who knows how much more she'll lose if she stays in there?
Emma knows she can go in. She can go jump into that pool and get everything she wanted, but in doing that, she's going to lose time. She's going to lose the present and the people around her [that] she has spent her life up to this point with. They keep going, but you are now stuck in time, basically. She decides then, "I can do this, but I will lose time, so maybe it's better to just accept and move forward."
The episode ends with Baltasar and Luna together. Everybody's about to leave the jungle, and then it cuts to the two of them at the resort, having a drink and a conversation and whatnot. What kind of lives do you imagine the other characters return to?
SIARA: Part of that, I wanted to leave that up to the viewer in a way. I feel like we answer it enough, but we shot different versions of Noah and Emma and that final interaction that really leans heavily on both sides of what that answer could be. One end of the spectrum is, "We're going to go back, and we're going to make it work." The other end of the spectrum is, "We're going to go back and get a divorce." We shot various versions of this, and I always wanted it to be something [where] if you're watching this with a friend or a group or a partner, two people might have different takeaways, but both versions are considered at the end. That's specifically how I think of those two. They have to do this in order to get to the next step of their lives, and is their life better spent apart or is their life better spent together? I have my intentions and my takeaway from that, and I think it's more reflective of my life view, but that's not to say anyone who has a different one is totally wrong there. Is the happy ending separating, or is the happy ending them working it out? I think that's up to you to say.
As for Sam and Violet, one of my favorite scenes of the whole show is this final scene with Baltasar and Luna because just in case it's not clear, it's fucked up. Yes. They're all reunited, but there's a moment where Emma asks Violet, "Did you see her? Was it worth it?" Right before she asks, we're seeing a shot of Murray. Long hair, scars, a guy who has not moved on. He has been stuck in time in his own way, and he's 15 years older than he was. He's a different dad, a different man than he was 15 years ago. Because Violet did this, she lost 15 years with Murray, and Sam lost 15 years with his parents, and Emma would've lost 15 years or more if she did the same thing.
The point of the show is it's good to incorporate your past and memories and all that, but you can't ever go back there. If you obsess over it too much, if you get stuck in your own nostalgia spiral or nostalgia pool, then you're losing what is most important at the present time with the people who are actually next to you. It's good to remember and think about and reflect on those who have gone, but also, you still have to move forward. If you don't look at the person to your left or right and are only looking behind you, then the person to your left or right might be gone.
Luna makes a remark about Baltasar potentially being a resort detective. I feel like if there was any sequel potential there, that would be it. Is the book closed on this story, or would you be open to telling more stories in this resort world?
SIARA: I would say that it was very important to me that everything was all wrapped up by the end of the first season. Every character's arc is built around that. I wanted to make sure that story is complete and look at it like a sequel. If Peacock wants to do another one, I know how to do that and have different paths forward and multiple seasons that might include some of the characters, might include a whole new cast and stuff. Specifically, to your resort detective thing, there's a reason there's a lot of Batman references during this whole first season. I think what I told the writer's room early on was: who's one of the most famous detectives? It's Batman, and what is he? He's a rich kid battling demons from his past. It's not until he's able to face down those demons in a dark cave that he can move forward and be his full best detective self. There's a whole way you can look at Baltasar, a rich kid that takes down the demons in the dark cave and now can go forward with his new suit that is incorporating his path and the memories that he can't go back to, but they're a part of him. He can go forward and be the greatest rich kid detective that ever lived.
All eight episodes of The Resort are now available to stream on Peacock.