‘Love Life’ Star Jessica Williams on Going Deep With Mia in Season 2

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Love Life, Season 2.]

Love Life‘s second season has come to a close and with it the story of Marcus (William Jackson Harper) and Mia (Jessica Williams).

Unlike Season 1, this pair closed their chapter of HBO Max‘s anthology series on a romantic note as they geared up for a tropical getaway as a married couple. The path to peace wasn’t an easy one though, as Mia contended with her parents and their chaotic lifestyles as well as a cheating blunder that left things on unsolid footing between her and Marcus for a while.

Ultimately, they regained their road to romance following a period of reflection on Marcus’ part as the series explored life amid the pandemic and beyond. Unlike some romantic interests on the show, Mia got her own opportunity to shine in an episode encapsulating the relationship between her parents (played by Blair Underwood and Kimberly Elise). Below, Williams opens up about diving deep into Mia’s story, fostering reliability for her character onscreen, and more.

(Credit: HBO Max)

How did it feel to dive into Mia’s backstory?

Jessica Williams: Knowing I was going to get to dive into Mia’s backstory was one of the reasons why I wanted to do this season. It’s really cool to show a woman through a male person of color’s perspective. But then actually see her through her own perspective. I like that shift. And also there’s something really cool about Love Life‘s format that it’s able to do that. There’s something kind of spontaneous about it. I was really excited to be able to show this idea that a lot of times, the way that we love as adults is a mirror image, or similar to what we saw modeled when we were kids, it informs our intimacy choices. And so I was really excited to be able to show that.

Despite making the wrong decision to cheat on Marcus, we can’t help but feel empathy for Mia. Is that reliability something you tried to bring to the role as an actor or is it more scripted?

I think it’s a little bit of both. A lot of times what’s nice when things aren’t explicitly explained and [you have to trust] the audience to be okay. She’s going to hook up with this TaskRabbit, but we’re going to trust the audience that they’re still with her and we’re going to trust that they can probably fill in the blanks about what she’s thinking and why she would do something like that.

I think that that’s a really nice relationship to have with the viewer. And it’s giving you the agency to inform your choices. So I was excited to show that idea. I wanted to honor the reason why she did those things and try not to judge her for what she did, especially hooking up with the TaskRabbit while she was in a relationship.

(Credit: HBO Max)

William Jackson Harper’s character Marcus was tailored for him by the showrunners. Was there a similar collaboration between you and the writers for Mia?

Yeah, there was a sense of tailoring with Mia and me this season for sure. It made it so comfortable, especially coming from a comedy background. It was really nice when I first met with Sam Boyd and Rachelle Williams, and Bridget Bedard, they had this idea of Mia, but in general, they were open to what I could bring to the character. I was really honored that they wanted to work with me on it and they wanted to tailor this character around me. It feels good to be trusted and to get that platform on a show because there’s not a lot of opportunities to be on TV and play a character in a rom-com that’s a woman of color.

Unlike Season 1 of Love Life, Marcus and Mia’s story has a positive and definitive romantic outcome for its protagonists. Was that endgame for Mia and Marcus part of what drew you to the show?

I think my initial draw was, I was excited to be a part of the show, I loved the first season, and I was really excited to work with William Jackson Harper.  And my [onscreen] parents hadn’t been cast yet, so we didn’t have Kimberly Elise or Blair Underwood, who I had no idea I would be working with until way after I signed on, which was incredible.

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I think loosely, we all knew that these two were meant for each other and each other’s “person,” and they choose to be together. So I was really excited to show this complicated relationship with the ups and downs and have this character who has her unlikeable moments and other moments when you’re rooting for her.

Speaking of Mia’s parents, what was it like getting to work with Kimberly Elise and Blair Underwood?

It was great. But I think I was the only one who got to work with them, so it was like we were in this compartmentalized space where I really got to just work with them and they really felt like my parents. Kimberly Elise and Blair Underwood are so legendary that it was just amazing to be able to watch them work. And it was one of those things where I’d turn around after they say, cut, I’d be like, “are you guys seeing this?” Are you guys seeing this?” It was just such an honor to work with them. And I had to keep reminding myself, “Okay, you’re an actor. You have to do the scene”  instead of having my mouth agape.

Love Life, Season 2, Streaming now, HBO Max