Sundance Now

The GLAAD Media Award-nominated series This Close premieres its highly-anticipated eight-episode second season on Tuesday, September 12th, on streaming service Sundance Now. The series is written by and stars Shoshannah Stern and Josh Feldman, who are both deaf, while Josh also identifies as gay.

“Being deaf is a messy thing. Not only does it means different things to different people, for me sometimes it means different things daily,” Shoshannah recently told Entertainment Tonight about creating the sexy and often quite serious series. “So we went about handling our show the same way.”

We caught up Josh and Shoshannah to get their take on what fans can look forward to. 

WHAT CAN FANS EXPECT FROM SEASON 2 — WHAT NEW ADVENTURES ARE IN STORE FOR OUR PROTAGONISTS, KATE AND MICHAEL?

We flip the script at the beginning of the season by having Michael be the more stable one, or at least appear to be, in the friendship, as Kate becomes more unmoored. Michael tries to make it work with Ryan again, but he’s still in denial about a lot of things. Kate definitely takes more risks this season as she tries to find her voice at work, and as a single woman – but risks don’t always pay off. We’re going to see how that affects those around her and shapes her as a woman and human being.

HOW WILL THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN KATE AND MICHAEL EVOLVE THIS SEASON?

A recurring theme we’re going to see this season is family. We’re going to see a lot of both of Kate and Michael’s respective families. When you go through trauma together as Kate and Michael have, it bonds you even more. However, because of how close they are, sometimes they can take that bond for granted, so they definitely find their friendship tested. It takes work to make a relationship survive – even friendships – and Kate and Michael are about to discover that.

YOU HAVE AN INCREDIBLE LINEUP OF GUEST STARS FOR SEASON 2; TELL US ABOUT WHO YOU HAVE AND WHICH CHARACTERS THEY’LL BE PLAYING?

We have Marcia Cross playing Kate’s mother, Millicent Simmonds playing Emmaline, a friend of the family, and Austin Nichols as Shep, Kate’s first love, showing up in Episode 2 alone. Then we have Lisa Rinna, who plays Ryan’s mother, Margaret Cho who plays a new acquaintance of Michael’s, Camryn Manheim, who plays a therapist, and Steven Weber as Michael’s father.

YOU RECEIVED BOTH PEABODY AWARD AND GLAAD MEDIA AWARDS NOMINATIONS FOR YOUR FIRST SEASON; WHAT DO YOU THINK IT IS THAT RESONATED SO MUCH WITH AUDIENCES, WHICH LED TO THE SHOW BEING SO CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED?

(Josh) Honestly, we don’t know! We just wanted to tell a story that was as human as possible.

(Shoshannah) I watch television to get out from behind my own two eyes. I get tired of seeing the world through them sometimes, and I’m always curious about other people and their experience and how they see the world. Sometimes I wish I could step into their body and borrow their eyes for a bit. I don’t think I’m alone in that regard, otherwise, television and film wouldn’t be as successful as it is. I think this is a story that hasn’t been told through this perspective before, and so I’d like to think that’s what people have picked up on.

WHERE DO YOU THINK REPRESENTATION FOR CHARACTERS WITH DISABILITIES IN FILM AND TELEVISION IS HEADING? IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION? OR IS THERE STILL QUITE A WAYS TO GO?

While there’s certainly been an exciting uptick in deaf and disabled characters being seen on the screen, there hasn’t been as much uptick in representation behind the screen. Disability and diversity are still seen as two separate conversations when they need to be one and the same. One in four Americans identify as having a disability, but disabled characters are shown onscreen only 2% of the time, and 95% of those characters are played by able-bodied people. While we’ve made some exciting strides, such as having the first deaf superhero in the MCU played by Lauren Ridloff, a deaf woman of color (in The Eternals, coming in 2020), we also have the situation where CBS All Access cast a hearing actor to play Nick Andros in The Stand, one of the most iconic deaf characters in literature. It was disappointing that the people involved with casting that role weren’t willing to have an open conversation about it.

WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU BOTH BEEN UP TO IN YOUR CAREERS RECENTLY? JOSH, I KNOW THAT YOU WERE PART OF THE SUNDANCE INSTITUTE’S MOMENTUM FELLOWSHIP, IN CONJUNCTION WITH WARNER BROS.

(Shoshannah) I did an independent movie called The Magnificent Meyersons about a dysfunctional family in New York City. Richard Kind and Kate Mulgrew play my parents and Lauren Ridloff plays my girlfriend. I can also confirm that I’m returning to Supernatural for its final season to reprise my role as Eileen Leahy. I have some very exciting things coming up after that and horizons I’m hopefully broadening, but I’m not allowed to say anything about that at this early stage. 

(Josh) My Momentum fellowship has been amazing, it’s been great getting to know the other fellows in my cohort. I’m currently writing a feature and will be shadowing directors with Ryan Murphy’s HALF Initiative so I eventually can start directing.

This Close returns to Sundance Now with new back-to-back episodes on September 12th. Additional back-to-back episodes will continue airing on Friday, September 13th, Thursday, September 19th, and Friday, September 20th.