‘The Other Two’ Creators on Season 3 Time Jump, Brooke and Carey’s Futures After ‘Tough’ Finale Decision

(Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Season 2 finale of HBO Max’s “The Other Two.”)

The second season finale of HBO Max’s “The Other Two” came to a close last Thursday with an episode that shifted from Brooke (Heléne Yorke) and Carey (Drew Tarver) to focus on the other other two that these siblings have been neglecting all season: their super-overbooked, ultra-popular talk show host mother, Pat (Molly Shannon), and their ultra-famous, singer-who-is-not-allowed-to-sing-anymore little brother, ChaseDreams (Case Walker).

Brooke and Carey were finally forced to notice how they had been piling things on to their family members, and ignoring them at the same time, when Pat is admitted to the hospital for dehydration during Chase’s fashion show — an event he didn’t even want to throw because all he wants to do is sing.

Due to the good-natured meddling of Streeter (Ken Marino), the family is offered the chance to go on vacation together to bond and heal. But Brooke and Carey — who both have big breaks coming for them the following week — are left with a tough choice to make between connecting with their family and furthering their careers.

Below, see TheWrap’s interview with “The Other Two” creators Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider about why Brooke and Carey made different decisions at the end of Season 2, and how the recently renewed show (which aired its first season on Comedy Central and had its second delayed due to the pandemic before launching on new home HBO Max) will likely jump ahead for its third season.

TheWrap: How did you decide that Brooke and Carey would both be faced with the same decision — whether or not to go on vacation with their family — and make different choices: her to attend the trip, despite her chance to start working as Alessia Cara’s manager that week, and him to stay behind to begin shooting “Night Nurse,” a role that will finally launch his acting career?

Sarah Schneider: We wanted to set it up that both Brooke and Carey have a decision to make. They both have their things they’ve been striving for all season that both start Monday. And clearly their family needs them, and that needs to start Monday as well. We liked setting it up as a decision they both have to make, and what will they do? Then we liked the idea that Carey made the right decision not to go. Even though his family does need them, he needs this more. And we liked that, in watching it, you sort of understand that that’s right and the family is OK with that. It was a tough decision, but that is unfortunately the way that it needed to go.

Chris Kelly: Yeah, we really talked about that a lot. We really wanted you to be happy for Carey that he didn’t go, which is a tricky thing to pull off, because you don’t want him to seem like a jerk to his family, and that his family is going to be like, ‘You’re the black sheep! We hate you for not coming.’ But we did feel like over the course of the season, yeah, Brooke should probably go. Because Brooke spent all season wanting to be a real manager and we wanted it to feel like she’s in manager drag at the beginning of the season.

She kept joking about Alessia Cara, and she wanted to feel legit and real. And in Episode 9, she got Alessia Cara. So it’s like, I wanted it and I got it. So it’s whether or not she actually stays Alessia Cara’s manager is kind of beside the point — just the very fact that someone like Alessia Cara said, ‘You got me. I want you. You’re my peer.’ That was sort of all Brooke needed, so she can go be with her family. But I think we like that Carey was like, ‘No, f— it. It’s my turn.’

SS: And we like that Streeter got to come, not just because Streeter’s there, but he actually, finally, after two seasons of posturing as a member of the family, he actually stood up and was a member of the family by giving this trip that he’s been planning for Pat to the family. He’s recognizing that that’s the most parental, familial thing that he could do. And that sort of what earned him the spot there, when he saw outside of himself and saw what the people he cared about needed for themselves. That truly selfless act is what finally gave him acceptance into the family.

TheWrap: You guys just got your Season 3 renewal on Friday. Where do you see things going in “The Other Two” Season 3, given where the Season 2 finale left everyone, especially with Pat overwhelmed by her talk show and Chase still wanting to sing, despite the fact Brooke won’t let him anymore?

SS: We sort of purposely left it a little open across the board because at the end of the first season, we really pigeonholed ourselves. Chase is in college and Pat has a talk show. So we immediately had to deal with both of those things in a very concrete form, and that was challenging. So in Season 3, we liked the idea that it could go any number of ways and leaving it open.

CK: I also don’t want to tie ourselves to this answer I’m about to give, but I also think we talked a lot about a little bit of a time jump because, obviously, the finale ends with it being March 13, 2020. So I can tell you now, Season 3 will not be like the real-time COVID. This is not going to be a very special COVID season by any means. But we did talk a little bit about maybe doing a time jump or something… Case Walker, the kid who plays Chase, has gotten older.

I’m not really sure. I think that’s kind of what’s nice about the way we ended Season 2, is Pat could still have her show — or not. Anybody could be in any place. The world is about to change so drastically that we can sort of make any decision we want, really.

TheWrap: What about Brooke and Lance’s romantic future, which was left very open-ended after she decided to shut things down before even giving him a chance to tell her he had broken up with his girlfriend after he and Brooke screwed up their friendship by masturbating in front of each other?

CK: I think at the end of Season 1, she kind of did fall for Lance a little bit and wanted to get back together and he said no. I think she didn’t want to make the same mistakes again. So she was like, ‘I’m going to preemptively do what you did to me.’ But I also think there was her being genuinely excited throughout the season that they were friends again. At the beginning of the season, she’s like, ‘I don’t want to be your friend. I don’t know how to be your friend. I’m attracted to you. We have a history. How could I be like a platonic friend to you?’

I think she was so proud that she thought she was. But I think she’s also f—ing pissed that that got ruined. So we’re not really sure. I mean, we just love Josh Segarra. So he will be on the show in some way, some form, but we’re not exactly sure what to do with them.

SS: We just think that Brooke is such an over-the-top, strong-but-wrong, big character. And he grounds her, knows exactly what she needs, knows how to support her and lift her up when she needs it. So we just like the two of them as a pair.