Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt returns for its second season on Netflix April 15, 2016. Ellie Kemper stars as the title character, survivor of a cult trying to make a new life for herself with her roommate Titus Andromedon (Tituss Burgess) and her employer Jacqueline Voorhees (Jane Krakowski). We got to sit in a roundtable with Burgess and Krakowski to ask them questions about the new season.
Season one actually ended with a lot of cliffhangers. A former wife from Titus’s past returns, and Jacqueline moves back to her adopted family’s Indiana reservation after her divorce. Season two picks up right where they left off, and all episodes of season two are available to binge on the 15th.
Jane Krakowski and Tituss Burgess Interview:
Do you feel pressure to top season one?
Tituss Burgess: “I don’t ever feel pressure to top myself on anything. I do feel an obligation to be as invested and not just go, ‘Oh, well, people like us now, we don’t have to worry.’ But the material is so funny. There’s really not even much time to really think about that I suppose. And also, you can’t control it. Either they’re going to like it or they’re not.”
Jane Krakowski: “I think I felt more of a curiosity of where they were going to bring all of our characters the second season. It’s also a very different feeling to make a show, do all 13 episodes and then present all of them completed. We had no idea whether people would like it or not when it first came out, and we were so thrilled and thankful for the reaction that the show got, especially with the story of us not going to NBC and coming to Netflix. It was so exciting to get that reception and then I think I felt curiosity where now that we were fully making a show for Netflix would take us. I actually think season two is even richer than season one for all the characters.”
Tituss Burgess: “I do too. You go further down the rabbit hole of everyone’s journey and backstory so there’s a lot of answered questions and a lot of new questions. It makes it easy and fun to act because we have such great writers. I trust them completely.”
What did you think when you found out the backstories for season two?
Jane Krakowski: “In episode 13 they had so many cliffhangers. It was wonderful that we start with all of the cliffhangers. We answer all those questions in the first episode, which was amazing for us. This is great for us to be together today because we’re never together. I’m always like, ‘What’s happening in Titus’s storyline?’ When I watched episode one, I actually thought your story with your wife was so beautiful. It was one of the most charming moments we’ve made when they dance. I don’t want to give anything away. I think there’s a lot more heart in these episodes.”
Tituss Burgess: “We’re a lot more vulnerable, that’s for sure.”
Jane Krakowski: “[Jacqueline] really is dealing with not being Mrs. Voorhees anymore. I’m not Jacqueline White. I’m thrilled that we’ve spent a lot of time actually learning about her early years and her childhood and her fighting for her family’s rights, which was a surprise to me that we would grow that storyline so fully this season but we really do. The outcome of that, they try to go Jacqueline into more of a fully formed human being which has been lovely. I feel like Jacqueline grew a lot and learned a lot.”
Tituss Burgess: “I think Jacqueline has to get her money back though someday.”
Jane Krakowski: “I’d like that. I don’t know if it will happen and I also think watching the episodes, they really go into depth for all of the characters. I think all the characters really grow so much through season two which is what you hope for really when you take on a series. You don’t want to stay the same person. I think we also have our continuing humorous throughline but I think they’ve helped us all grow quite a bit.”
How are things in Titus and Kimmy’s apartment?
Tituss Burgess: “They look exactly the same but the dynamic has tightened, I think. They need each other a lot more this season I think than they did last season. I think the lovely thing about Kimmy and Titus’s relationship is that Kimmy really teaches Titus, particularly in that first episode [of season 2] how important it is to be kind and to not be so self-absorbed. It’s a lesson that has been a long time coming. Titus has a hard time being open or letting himself be really seen or considering someone else’s feelings. I think this season a great deal, as you’ll find out in terms of the relationship, he cares about other people and puts other people’s needs before his own and I think that’s lovely. And he’s still as sassy and flowery as he was last season but it’s nice to see him not be so self-involved.”
Since you’re playing a character named Titus do people ever mistakenly think that’s really you, or is it maybe closer to you than we realize?
Tituss Burgess: “I don’t think I’m — do you think I’m like him?”
Jane Krakowski: “No. I mean, I think there’s adorable elements of you. There’s a clear difference.”
Tituss Burgess: “I’m certainly very much an introvert and I don’t enjoy attention as much as people may think I do. I think some people, when they meet me, are expecting him, but he’s fake. He’s not real life. I think the only thing we might share is our sense of humor and a love for theater, but I very much care about people, unlike him.”
Are Titus’s ambitions the same this season? Does Jacqueline have new ambitions?
Jane Krakowski: “I think Jacqueline definitely, through the influence of Kimmy, and I think all the characters do try to grow to care more about others than just themselves, which is a big leap for Jacqueline. Absolutely, I think she’s trying to stand on her own two feet this season and trying to not only have her own identity but to use her identity to help others. I think in her humorous way, she succeeds in a few ways, and also fails with a little heartbreak. She tries and I think that’s the biggest growth we can get. Love is in the cards for a lot of the characters as well.”
Tituss Burgess: “I don’t know that Titus set out to find that but to have a successful relationship is probably the biggest ambition on this season that he has. He also still really wants to be famous. There is a one man show that he does.”
Jane Krakowski: “It’s unbelievable.”
Tituss Burgess: “So he’s still pursuing that and he gets a job, you’ll find. He’s still very much desirous of that life but then you see him at odds, because he’s so comfortable in this new relationship so it’s actually quite interesting to watch that play out. He’s at a little bit of a crossroads by the end of the season so that’s interesting to see what he chooses.”
Jane Krakowski: “I think also one of Jacqueline’s biggest ambitions this year, instead of running away from her family roots and to change, is to help them. To make change if she can for them.”
What did the Emmy love mean to each of you?
Jane Krakowski: “It was crazy awesome!”
Tituss Burgess: “This is the honest truth. My dream was to be on a comedy, a series regular on a TV show whose writing I respected. Awards season was not something that I had factored into the realm of possibility. I was and still am reeling from having this beautiful job that I get to go to and work with all these wonderful people that I just wasn’t even thinking about that. When it was time to do the Emmy campaign, I was like, ‘What are you talking about? What does that mean?’ When I got the call, I was just in shock. A larger dream was dreamed for me outside of myself obviously. Winning a Tony is something I felt much closer to than even being nominated for an Emmy award so it really blew my mind. Very exciting, and if it never happens again, it happened.”
Jane Krakowski: “I also think the release and the reception we got for the show granted us season two. So we’re all so thankful and I think the Emmy nominations for the entire show gives you more time on the air. That’s the best that we could ask for and it means we all got to come back and we get to play these great characters that I know we all love so much that we get to make it longer. So the day I think we got the call, it was like not only do people like the show but this kind of reception and now we’ll definitely have another season, hopefully even longer. I think that stuff really does help for the longevity of your show. We’re so thankful for that. It was so wonderful to come back for season two, because a lot of that had all happened after we had finished filming, and just high five the crew and all the creative teams and give them hugs and say, ‘Oh my God, people got it. We made this and people liked it.’ That’s a wonderful thing to get to do.”
What do you think they got?
Jane Krakowski: “I think it’s Ellie Kemper’s, Kimmy’s optimism. Happiness through adversity. I think when you describe the show to people before it came on, people were like [Makes crazy noise]. Then when people saw it, they saw what was in the creative genius minds of Tina and Robert Carlock. What was lovely is that they gave us the chance. They didn’t just go, ‘Oh, that doesn’t sound like what I want to watch.’ They gave us a chance. What I find really lovely is that we found that one of our largest audiences is young girls, preteen and teenage girls. I actually quite like, even though she has had the 15 years of tough times, coming out of it she’s such an optimistic character for young girls to look up to. And I think that’s amazing that we still have that. There’s a great innocence in Kimmy. To see that girls are reacting to that is lovely. It makes me sort of hopeful for our future generations of girls. They’re happy to have a light and happy role model.”
What has it meant to you, Jane, to have three successful comedies, with this, 30 Rock and Ally McBeal?
Jane Krakowski: “Again, a little bit like Tituss, maybe I would do more in the theater and I don’t know how I’ve been on TV for almost 15 years now and I couldn’t be more thankful. I get teary eyed because I still say it to Tina and Robert now, I don’t know what good luck bestowed on me the day I went to Broadway Video to audition for the role of Jenna. I’ve had 10 years of employment from them and comic moments and comic expansion of just me as an actor that I never thought I would have in my life. I’m just so thankful.”
