Posted in: Peacock, TV | Tagged: Laid, peacock

Laid Showrunners on Original Series Differences, Hsu, Mamet & More

Laid showrunners Nahnatchka Khan and Sally Bradford McKenna spoke with us about changes from the original series and much more.

Laid showrunners Nahnatchka Khan and Sally Bradford McKenna are well-established in the TV industry with over 20 years of experience each with a wide range of live-action and animated projects. Khan had her start in animated series like Disney's Recess and Pepper Ann before working on live-action shows like Fox's Malcolm in the Middle and NBC's Good Morning, Miami. Her more recent creative ventures took her to successful runs, creating ABC's Fresh Off the Boat and NBC's Young Rock. Bradford McKenna started on the megahit NBC sitcom Will & Grace becoming the supervising producer in the series final two seasons. She would have stints on Fox's Back to You, CBS's Gary Unmarried, ABC's Don't Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23, The Goldbergs, Fox's The Grinder, Sun of Zorn, and Ghosted. The two's latest project is the Peacock dark comedy series Laid.

Based on the Australian series of the same name created by Marieke Hardy and Kirsty Fisher, the series follows Ruby (Stephanie Hsu), who finds out her former lovers are dying in unusual ways and must go back through her sex timeline to confront her past to move forward. Khan and Bradford McKenna spoke to Bleeding Cool about what influenced them from the Fisher and Hardy series, defining Hsu's Ruby, her chemistry with Zosia Mamet's AJ, casting, and future.

Laid Showrunners Nahnatchka Khan & Sally Bradford McKenna on How Star Stephanie Hsu Brings the Peacock Series to Life

Bleeding Cool: What was your takeaway from the Australian version of 'Laid' when you started developing the series for Peacock?

Khan: [Sally and I] both binged it, and we loved it. They did such a great job and wanted to bring it forward into 2024 and like take a lot of the elements they did so well, like all its awkward humor, and uncomfortable tone, and keep it going.

Were there elements from the original series you felt were not translated to the American version? What changes did you make to differentiate more from the Peacock series?

Khan: The elements we wanted to enhance were the fucked up rom-com of it all and have Ruby be a little more narcissistic, a little less self-aware, and wanting to achieve this romance that she's only seen in movies and TV but doesn't exist. So, we're bringing that forward a little bit more. Those were the elements that kept the deaths going. Have the deaths be more shocking and surprising, and continue in the series.

How did the casting come about? Was there any talent already penciled in from the get-go?

Bradford McKenna: No, we'd already had the pilot written when we started. When this started becoming real, Stephanie Hsu was number one on our list from the creative and executive side. We were so excited at even the possibility she might do this. When we heard she was in it, we were thrilled. She's been incredible from the beginning. She's also an EP on the show, so she's been invaluable with writing, production, and post.

Can you speak of the chemistry between Stephanie and Zosia and why they work so well together?

Khan: That's such a huge question mark. We have no idea how that happened because they had never met before. We all met on Zoom for the first time, so we watched them meet, and they instantly clicked. When we got them in the same room, like they had that energy with each other, we're like, "These people have known each other for the longest time." All these little things we had that we were going to try, "It's like you guys have been best friends for a long time!" We didn't need any of that because they had this physicality and the way they interacted with each other. It's on them, and they're such great performers. We got lucky.

Has there been any overlap creatively as far as the stories with the original Australian version of the show with the Peacock series? Has there been any potential long-term plans Peacock wants to expand beyond the scope of that world since the original series only ran for two seasons?

Bradford McKenna: We hope so. There was stuff from the original we were like, "We need to repeat and recreate this, tweak and enhance it, and do more with certain things they did." The pilot script, especially, was the closest to their pilot, plot-wise. We went from there and certain things they had in the first seasons maybe would be like a little joke, and we would turn into more of an episode or a cliffhanger. [Laid] Season one ends in a place where we leave ourselves very open for another season.

Khan: We also have a twist in the middle of our season, one that is new, leading us into a season two that is dramatically different. Beyond that, who knows? Season two, for sure, would be fun.

Laid also stars Michael Argarano, Andre Hyland, Simu Liu, and Chloe Fineman and premiered December 19th on Peacock.

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