‘Dirk Gently’s Season 2: Hannah Marks and Jade Eshete Interview on Dirk’s Narnia

Dirk Gently's Hannah Marks and Jade Eshete
Hannah Marks and Jade Eshete in scenes from ‘Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency’ season 1 (Photos © Bettina Strauss / BBCA)

BBC America’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency stars Hannah Marks and Jade Eshete say the second season of the entertaining and more-than-occasionally bizarre series will feature fantastical characters and storylines never before explored on television. Hannah Marks (‘Amanda Brotzman’) and Jade Eshete (‘Farah Black’) were paired up to discuss the show’s much anticipated second season at the 2017 San Diego Comic Con and while they didn’t give away anything that could be considered a spoiler, Marks and Eshete did talk about what fans of Dirk Gently’s can look forward to when season two premieres this fall.

This is quirkiest show on television

Hannah Marks: “Oh, you just wait!”

It must be incredible getting those scripts. What was it like each time you read a new one?

Hannah Marks: “I had to read them probably three times every time we got a new script because I wanted to make sure I was understanding everything that was happening. Max (Landis) is so complex and layered in his writing, and it’s an honor to get to do his material. But, you definitely have to read it a few times.”

Jade Eshete: “Yeah, I just finished reading the last episode of this season…”

Hannah Marks: “I haven’t ready it yet – no spoilers!”

Jade Eshete: “I won’t do it! But, what I will say about reading the scripts is there were times I literally had to stop myself. I would see things as I’m turning a page, I would see something on the next page and go, ‘No! Wait, wait, wait, stop, slow down. You’re only on this page, don’t…’ You always feel the need to jump ahead because it’s so exciting.”


Hannah Marks: “Also, Max writes with this giant font, so it’s like…this is a bad example…but, ‘The person is human SHISH KABOBED,’ or whatever.”

Jade Eshete: “Shish Kabob is in a huge font.”

Hannah Marks: “So, you have to scroll ahead. It’s really thrilling reading the scripts.”

You can’t tease anything about the next season?

Jade Eshete: “We can talk about certain things in the next season.”

Can you talk in abstract terms about what the most bizarre, quirky thing you found yourself doing in season two was?

Hannah Marks: “I can’t. Everything in my storyline is a spoiler, but I’ll talk around it. I have a scene partner who also has an actress who plays her hands. And one of the actresses that played one of her hands missed her flight, so I’ve been shooting with a character who has one hand. Just for an example of the type of world that we’re working in right now. Super unique and always with a new kind of creature or character this year.”

Jade Eshete: “Yeah for me, I’ve got to talk around it, sorry, there was one scene where it’s a huge amount of people, the largest amount of people that I think we’ve ever worked with on Dirk Gently. The things that transpire within this group of people are pretty gnarly. That’s the only thing that I can say. The things that happen there and how it ends are kind of I would never have thought that I would be doing those things. (Laughing) It makes no sense to you, I’m so sorry.”

Hannah Marks: “Yeah, it’s stuff I’ve never seen on a television show before, especially the fact that we go to this world called Wendimore. That’s the main thing that we can talk about which is basically Dirk Gently’s Narnia. Totally magical land with fantasy creatures, which is not something that we had last year at all.”

Jade Eshete: “Exactly. Last season was kind of more the body-swapping, time travel. This season it’s more magic, fantasy.”

Hannah Marks: “We change genres completely.”

Dirk Gently is a hard show to explain. How do you describe it to anyone who hasn’t caught onto the series yet?

Jade Eshete: “I would say what Dirk means for me… I thought about it this morning. If I wasn’t on this show, would I watch this show? Is it a show that I would necessarily tune into? I think about my friends who run the gamut, actors, non-actors, whatever, and now that it launched today on Hulu, all my friends are like, ‘I’m watching it on Hulu! It’s so awesome!’

They’re all from all different walks of life, loving the show. They’re seeing what I saw from that first pilot episode was Dirk, I think, gives people the permission to celebrate their weirdness, celebrate their oddities. These are things that I think we try to hide and not really embrace. And so, I think Dirk pretty much showcases that stuff and says here are all these weirdos and they’re the leads of this show – and they’re amazing. I think it gives them this confidence. I don’t know. I feel like people are really empowered after watching Dirk. So, that’s what I would say for people who haven’t really seen it as yet, that’s what they will really connect with because that’s what I did.”

Hannah Marks: “Yeah, like Jade said. We just watched a YouTube video that this fan made that said, ‘All the lead characters on Dirk Gently are losers and I love it!’ That’s really cool that we are totally the outcasts. We would normally be the side characters on any other show, but in this show we get to save the day. And in very broad ways, everyone is very imperfect.

But beyond that, the show has made me grow as a person and discover new things about myself. I hope anyone watching it will also see that. Beyond that, I do think we are the weirdest show on television – especially second season. I can’t even tell you how…I wish I could tell you. So, if you want to watch something that’s truly different and original and subverting all the tropes that you would normally see, then I think this is the show.”

Jade Eshete: “And I think too something that’s really exciting about season two is that we’ve got so many new characters coming into the mix, and the same way that you fell in love with the characters that were introduced in season one, their storylines and characters are so interesting that you immediately are immersed.”

Hannah Marks: “The show has so much heart, too. So much heart.”

More on Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency Season 2:
Samuel Barnett and Elijah Wood Interview
Fiona Dourif and Mpho Koaho Interview
Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine Interview
Max Landis and Robert Cooper Interview