Here's what to expect when 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' returns for its second season

Here’s what to expect when ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ returns for its second season

Alex Borstein as Susie Myerson, left, and Rachel Brosnahan as Midge Maisel in "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel."

July 28, 2018 5:40 PM PT

Following a first season in which it earned a Golden Globe for best musical or comedy TV series and 14 Emmy nominations, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” is going “big” with its second season.

The producers and cast of the series took a break from filming the dramedy and gathered Saturday at the Television Critics Assn. press tour in Beverly Hills to discuss what’s in store when the drama returns for its sophomore outing.

For the uninitiated, the series is set in the late 1950s and revolves around Miriam “Midge” Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan), a Jewish housewife who embarks on the world of stand-up comedy after her marriage hits the skids. The series also stars Alex Borstein, as Midge’s comedy manager and mentor of sorts, and Michael Zegen, who plays Midge’s on-the-outs husband.

The series hails from “Gilmore Girls” mastermind Amy Sherman-Palladino, who also serves as an executive producer with husband Daniel Palladino.

While a premiere date has not yet been announced for the second season, here’s what we learned about what to expect:

Go big or go home

“Season 2 is big,” said Sherman-Palladino. “We feel like we’ve got, for the first time in our career, the support from the brass, the actors — we have all of the pieces to go big or go home.”

Sherman-Palladino also acknowledged the sophomore outing carries added pressure in the wake of the awards recognition and acclaim from its debut. But they’re also managing the built-in pressure.

“We have such an amazing group of actors, and when you have a group of actors of this caliber, that means the stories and the scripts and the dialogue have to be of a certain caliber or we’re doing a disservice,” she said. “So that is a self-imposed nausea that’s always there.”

Nothing good lasts forever

While Midge ended the first season on a triumphant note as she found her footing as a stand-up comedian, don’t expect it to be all fun and games. “Good things can’t last long,” Brosnahan said.

The series will explore how Midge and Joel navigate co-parenting as they figure out the parameters of their relationship.

“They will never be able to be without each other in some capacity, and [that] creates a dramatic tension,” Brosnahan said.

And Joel will grapple with seeing Midge succeed in a way he couldn’t.

“He’s kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place because on the one hand he loves Midge and he saw that she was really talented, but on the other hand, it’s a big blow to his ego that she’s really talented,” Zegen said.

Time doesn’t stand still

The series will have a “bit of reflection of the politics that are going on” in its 1950s setting through Midge.

“We are dramatizing a woman’s struggle at a time when she wasn’t supposed to have that voice or make those changes,” Sherman-Palladino said. “Women are still trying to break out of that box — hooray for no progress from the ’50s.”

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