Lyonne co-created Russian Doll and is also the show’s co-executive producer and showrunner. Speaking toVariety in 2019 when the show premiered, she discussed how meaningful it was to her. “[Nadia] was a name and a character who has been following me at attempts and stabs at writing for the better part of a decade,” she said. “And then, speaking as an actor, how incredible to get to craft a role from a lifetime of experience followed by three months in the writers’ room? Each moment on set, you know exactly why you’re doing the things you’re doing.” That same care has gone into Russian Doll Season 2. In a 2022 interview withEntertainment Weekly, Lyonne referenced a major aspect of the 1986 movie The Neverending Story—“saddling up with a book in the attic and letting that world take you away on a journey”—as an example of how she’d like people to experience Russian Doll’s disorienting magic. “I do have this dream that people get to do that with this show,” she admitted. “It’s for sure a puzzle box. With my whole heart, I hope that people watch it all and see where the game goes and lands. I can’t believe we pulled it off.” Here’s what we know so far about Russian Doll Season 2.
When is Russian Doll Season 2 coming?
The second season of Russian Doll is premiering on Netflix on Wednesday, April 20, 2022. Presumably, all of Season 2 will drop on that day, per Netflix’s usual release schedules. Although the series initially premiered and wrapped in 2019, production was delayed on the series due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and they started filming in March 2021.
Is there a Russian Doll Season 2 trailer?
Yes, and as might be expected considering what a twisted show this is, it’s a doozy! The official two-minute trailer, which arrived April 7, indicates that after Nadia spent Season 1 stuck in some sort of GroundhogDay-like time loop, she graduates to full-fledged time traveler in Season 2. (Or, as she says she prefers to be called, “time prisoner.”) There are glimpses of her in 1980s New York and what appears to be World War II Europe, and while it seems that Alan (played by Charlie Barnett) is once again her partner in the supernatural, other friends also appear to be along for the ride this time around. (There’s a shot of her waking up in a graveyard alongside her “sweet birthday baby!” friend Maxine, played by Greta Lee.) Plus, we’re shown that trains play a big part in the Season 2 storyline, as do some pieces of gold (which are maybe connected to that gold medallion Nadia wore in Season 1?). Before that, a brief teaser/Season 2 date announcement arrived on March 7, 2022; it didn’t reveal much, but it did ramp up the intrigue. It begins with a series of disorienting scenes that make it look like Lyonne is falling, followed by flashes of shady characters; it ends with her in a bar about to take a drink. “When the universe fucks with you—let it,” she says, in Nadia’s typical irreverent voice.
What is Russian Doll about?
Russian Doll is one of the most unique new shows to emerge in recent years. Lyonne stars as Nadia, who dies in a freak accident on the day of her 36th birthday. However, rather than entering the afterlife, the death instaed pushes her into a time loop, and she and her friend Alan (who she meets during one of her bizarre deaths, only to learn he’s stuck in the same loop) are forced to re-live the day over and over again—dying in a different way each time at the end—until they figure out what’s going on. Although this sounds morbid, there’s dark humor involved; a cat named Oatmeal is a recurring image, and her starting point each day is her birthday party. Plus, the show reveals plenty of meditative, sobering thoughts about memory, mortality and how to move on from trauma. Nadia especially is a fierce, funny character who’s easily relatable. “By the time we stepped on set, Nadia is not me, and her life is not my life,” Lyonne told Variety. “As much as any of us draw on personal things in the arts, I knew who that person was and why she was making the choices she was making on a deep, deep level, even from things that had been omitted.”
Are there any Russian Doll Season 2 spoilers?
Lyonne let it slip toEntertainment Weekly that Season 2 occurs four years after Season 1. According to the outlet, her character Nadia and Alan “must sift through their pasts via an unexpected time portal located in one of Manhattan’s most iconic locales.“Netflix adds a layer of intrigue in their own synopsis of the season: “At first they experience this as an ever-expanding, era-spanning, intergenerational adventure but they soon discover this extraordinary event might be more than they bargained for and, together, must search for a way out.” What that means in practice is being kept under wraps—on purpose. “It’s definitely a wild ride. It is deep, and deeply off-the-wall,” Lyonne told Entertainment Weekly. “I genuinely think the joy of the game is to watch it with fresh eyes as much as you can in order to be taken by the story.” However, Lyonne did add that things on the show might even be more over-the-top than in Season 1. “We all pushed ourselves to the limit of what we thought we could make happen visually and through the storytelling.”
Who’s coming back from the Russian Doll Season 1 cast?
Although Russian Doll’s plotlines are still a mystery, we at least know some good news about the show’s cast for Season 2. Lyonne is back as Nadia—and she’ll be joined once again by her fellow time traveler Alan, played by Barnett. According toNetflix, joining them once again is Lee as Maxine, who threw the fateful birthday bash Nadia is trapped in; the pair’s friend Lizzy, portrayed by Rebecca Henderson; and Elizabeth Ashley as Nadia’s therapist and family friend, Ruth.
Who’s new in the Russian Doll Season 2 cast?
To its already stacked cast, Russian Doll has added a trio of heavy-hitting stars. Sharlto Copley—who was in the 2010 A-Team film and also starred in the TV series Powers—recently joined the series, as has Carolyn Michelle Smith, who appeared on the sci-fi TV series Colony. However, perhaps the biggest (and most intriguing) new Russian Doll cast addition is Annie Murphy, a,k.a. Alexis from Schitt’s Creek. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Lyonne characterizes Murphy’s character as a “core component and the heart of the season,” an “ally” to Nadia and “definitely one of the good guys.“Among other things, Murphy’s character will help Nadia reconcile “the nature of mortality,” Lyonne adds. Next, Annie Murphy Reveals Her Favorite Alexis Rose Story, Plus Her Idea for a Schitt’s Creek Spinoff!
