Russian Doll season 2 makes its grand entrance on April 20, over three years after Netflix dropped its first season to cheers and accolades in 2019. But it’s been even longer for Natasha (series creator Natasha Lyonne, Orange Is The New Black) and Alan (Charlie Barnett, Arrow), who find themselves once again “time prisoners” four years after the events of the fateful time loop that brought them together. Only this time, it seems a train station is the culprit instead of a bathroom, and their travels span much longer than a day.
The trailer for Russian Doll season two revealed that the show will hop back to the 1980s, though whether that’s the only time period – and whether New York is the only location – has yet to be determined. What is clearly evident is that both protagonists must delve into their past and their lineage to uncover why they are trapped by time once more and how they can move forward in their lives yet again.
Lyonne and Barnett spoke to Screen Rant about the importance of Nadia and Ruth’s relationship this season, the change in Alan’s outlook, and how the two protagonists remain intrinsically intertwined.
Russian Doll. (L to R) Charlie Barnett as Alan Zaveri, Natasha Lyonne as Nadia Vulvokov. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix u00a9 2022″”>
Screen Rant: I already loved the Ruth and Nadia dynamic, and we get to see more of that this season. How would you describe their bond and trajectory?
Natasha Lyonne: This season? Yeah, I guess I was thinking a lot about how, obviously, Nadia and Alan exist in somewhat of a sci-fi high concept existence, being that they’ve died and come back to life so many times. But under that, they’re incredibly human characters, hopefully.
Nadia is hitting 40 and, like most of us, dealing with the idea of becoming the caretaker for the parent. Ruth is not her birth mother, but all the same. It’s sort of a present reality she can’t really show up for, because she’s used to being the kid in need. How oddly convenient that a wormhole appears just in time to be able to escape and find a way to spend time. She thinks she’s dealing with it, and yet, she’s still circumnavigating the true “showing up” [part] of that human relationship.
But I think, for both Nadia and Alan this season, they find that whether they like it or not – whether they’re getting on the bus willingly or being dragged kicking and screaming – they will come to face some big truths about who they think they are and the nature of freewill and acceptance.
Speaking of Alan, he had to mourn the end of the only romantic relationship he’s really known last season. Now that some time has passed, what is his new outlook on love and life?
Charlie Barnett: He comes into a place of dating and experiencing new women in his life. I think, without giving any spoilers along the way, he pushes those boundaries as well.
There is a freedom that comes with getting to live – gosh, it’s so hard not to say things without saying things – through other skins, so to speak, that he kind of takes advantage of in a lot of ways. And life always presents itself, so those things usually come crumbling down in order to expose a better you.
Yeah, I think you get to see Alan come in from a happy place and end up a little more in front of his own self; maybe a little more rooted in his own existence. And I think that goes for both of them. In a weird way, they are experiencing so many things connected. I guess this intrinsic experience of living and dying and finding out that you’re the only two people that are experiencing it at the same time really connected them so deeply that they are in almost different worlds throughout the whole season.
There’s this beautiful relationship that Nadia gets to explore with Ruth, and I as well with another one of my members of my family. But we are still – as much as we get to check back in and find this safety net on the train – almost tied. And that’s the beauty of the show, and what I really think that a lot of audience members take from it.
You don’t have to relate to these people. I don’t have to understand Alan, and I don’t have to be like Alan; I don’t have to be like Nadia, but I know what they’re experiencing. I take that, and I know what it’s like to be in that place. I relate.
Russian Doll Season 2 Synopsis
Russian Doll. Natasha Lyonne as Nadia Vulvokov. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix u00a9 2022″”>
Set four years after Nadia (Natasha Lyonne) and Alan (Charlie Barnett) escaped mortality’s time loop together, season two of Russian Doll will continue to explore existential thematics through an often humorous and sci-fi lens. Discovering a fate even worse than endless death, this season finds Nadia and Alan delving deeper into their pasts through an unexpected time portal located in one of Manhattan’s most notorious locations.
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.
Check out our interview with star Chloë Sevigny as well.
All seven episodes of Russian Doll season 2 premiere April 20 on Netflix.
