Jon Hamm Breaks Down ‘Your Friends & Neighbors’ Season 2’s Bold Twist After That Unexpected Death

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Your Friends & Neighbors Season 2, Episode 6

Season 2 of Jon Hamm‘s Apple TV crime series Your Friends & Neighbors has been anything but predictable, largely due to the addition of James Marsden‘s boisterous and enigmatic Ashe. The darkly comedic series has impressively managed to retain the charisma and novelty of its first season, while also expanding Coop’s (Hamm) world of petty theft with the twist of blackmail, courtesy of Ashe himself. Season 2 has also thrust Coop back into the hedge fund game after exiting the industry on, well, interesting terms. To the surprise of no one, Coop never lost a lick of his charm — or skills — and got back into the schmoozing side of things quite effortlessly.

Episode 6, however, takes everything we’ve learned from this season and tosses it out the snuck-in window. The Apple TV series boldly presses pause on Coop’s entire world in a bottle episode that is blisteringly authentic in the way it examines grief. All the chaos, all the uncertainty no longer matters because Coop’s father (Michael O’Keefe) has suddenly died — and now our leading man is forced to slow down, process, and grieve.

During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Jon Hamm breaks down the sophisticated and unconventional approach to Episode 6, reflects on his own experience with grief, and explains how James Marsden elevated the Apple TV hit to new heights.

COLLIDER: Before we get into Your Friends & Neighbors, I just wanted to say that there’s an SNL sketch that takes place in the 1920s. You’re at a piano. Kristen Wiig does not want anyone to make her sing when she clearly wants people to make her sing. She keeps missing her cue, and it brings me joy. So I just wanted to say thank you for that.

JON HAMM: Thank you. That sketch is called “1920s Party,” and I believe it was written by James Anderson and Kristen Wiig, and it still gives me joy as well. So I’m glad you like it.

James Marsden Perfectly Slipped Into ‘Your Friends & Neighbors’ Season 2

“He brought so much to the part, and he just killed it.”

Image via Apple TV

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Season 2 of the show is just so fantastic. I really didn’t know how it was going to top Season 1, but it really does, and I’m already excited for Season 3. Your scenes with James Marsden are like a dance. He calls you the “suburban James Bond,” which is perfect. What’s it like sharing a scene with him? He has such an interesting energy.

HAMM: James is great. I’ve known James for the better part of 20 years. I consider him a friend. He’s definitely having a moment now with Paradise, and of course the Marvel Universe, and even going back to Jury Duty. I mean, he is great. We were very lucky that he could fit us into his schedule, and he definitely is value added. It was great to have somebody that has the chops, that has the history, that has the experience to be able to walk right into a role and really kind of lean in and knock it out of the park. And that doesn’t always happen, but I was really, really pleased that James decided to spend his summer with us because he brought so much to the part, and he just killed it.

‘Your Friends & Neighbors’ Season 2 Brilliantly Breaks From Tradition With Episode 6

“I was very happy that Jonathan [Tropper] chose to really highlight that moment.”

He really did. And Coop’s going in a lot of different directions this season. He’s got the blackmail, pressure from Jack, his daughter doesn’t want to go to Princeton, you name it. What I really thought was bold and impressive was how the series kind of just presses pause on all of that for Episode 6 when Coop’s father dies. What was your approach going into that as an actor and as a producer?

HAMM: A couple of different things. Stephanie Laing, who directed the episode, really had a very specific stylistic take on it and was like, “do you mind if we do this? I really want to check it out with you first.” And I said, “do whatever you want. Let’s make it a bottle episode, so to speak. When there is a significant upheaval in anyone’s life, everything does kind of recede and go on pause or recede into the background. This is certainly one of those things, and it was a really lovely piece of writing. Stephanie handled it with tremendous skill and style and really was able to bring the difficulty and the upheaval part of what happens when somebody important in your life dies. I was very happy that Jonathan [Tropper] chose to really highlight that moment in Coop’s life and the difficulty, obviously, when you have all this other stuff going on. This takes precedence, but that stuff is also percolating underneath and puts it into very sharp relief. I thought it was a very cool way to bring that series of events about.

What’s interesting is Coop really doesn’t have time to grieve until he’s alone in the car, because he has to go right to being a host at the repast and making sure his sister’s okay. I just felt like I was immersed in his life. Even the camera angles were showing how overwhelmed he was.

HAMM: Having gone through that with both of my parents, the amount of work that you have to do when someone dies is often forgotten about, but it’s a real thing. And it doesn’t get done by itself. It doesn’t go on, you can’t go on autopilot. It needs to be actually managed and handled. And most everybody involved is not in a great place while that happens, so, it’s tricky, and I thought it did a great job of showing that as well.

And then it was really beautiful to have Coop go to the bowling alley and just kind of have that alone time. He also learns a lot about his father. What was it like shooting that scene where he gets a lot of revealing information about his father that was kept hidden. He’s weirdly comforted by it, that at least he had an escape. It was just a really interesting scene.

HAMM: I loved it. Mare Winningham is one of my favorite actresses of all time. She’s a tremendously empathetic energy and person in the world and perfect casting for that. I was thrilled to get a chance to do that scene with her. We had such a wonderful time doing it, and it was wistful and it was sad and it was lovely. It was all of those things, and it was a great piece of writing. I just was so happy we were able to get someone like Mare Winningham to come and do it.

Jon Hamm Doesn’t Want Too Much Creative Control As Producer

“Control isn’t really what I’m seeking.”

Image via Apple TV

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It was so wonderful. What can you tease about Season 3? Because I know you’re filming or you’re about to film.

HAMM: We’re getting ready to start it. I can’t really tell you anything, but I’m very excited for you to see it in about a year from now.

It’s one thing to be an actor. It’s another thing to be a producer. What do you like the most about being a producer of a project as you’re acting in it as well?

HAMM: I think part of it is just getting access to the stuff early and understanding that you have a little more… control isn’t really what I’m seeking. I don’t really like to top-down control things. I’m not about that. I like to delegate and let the people that are good at their jobs do their jobs. But I like having the access to it, honestly, especially when it comes to casting and seeing people. When the idea of casting someone like James Marsden came up, it was like, “oh my God, yes, let’s do that.” And being able to lend my weight or my ability to get to people… that stuff is fun for me. But as for most of it, I don’t have a very heavy hand. I like to let people like Jonathan do what he does best, which is write tremendous television. And I feel like if I started getting my hands involved in that, then I don’t think I’d be value added.

New episodes ofYour Friends & Neighbors Season 2 air Fridays on Apple TV.