[This story contains mild spoilers from season two, episode six of Loot.]
Maya Rudolph’s Loot is as much about a woman coming into her own identity post-divorce as it is an office comedy, thanks to the characters at Molly Novak’s (Rudolph) charitable organization, The Wells Foundation.
When Molly, the ex-wife of tech giant John Novak (Adam Scott), puts all of her energy into philanthropic efforts, she eventually forms an unlikely friendship with the no-nonsense executive director of the foundation, Sofia Salinas (Michaela Jaé Rodriguez), and grows closer to her employee cousin Howard (Ron Funches). And she unexpectedly develops feelings for another member of the staff, single dad Arthur (Nat Faxon).
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In season two of the Apple TV+ series, the personal lives of these characters come more into view as Sofia reluctantly lets her guard down (and breaks a personal-professional boundary by engaging in a romance with a contractor, played by O-T Fagbenle), and Howard, Arthur and Molly’s assistant Nicholas (Joel Kim Booster) demonstrate how to show up for one another outside of work. All of which peels back the layers of who these once-distant co-workers really are — leading to some hilarious storylines, like Sofia being a closeted Taylor Swift fan.
Below, Rodriguez, Faxon, and Funches chat with The Hollywood Reporter about the relationships in season two of Loot, and where they’d like to see their characters land down the line.
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Workplace bromances and romances are a big theme this season. Are you all Team Molly and Arthur, and do you think their relationship could survive the offices of the Wells Foundation?
MICHAELA JAÉ RODRIGUEZ Yes! I say yes, strong heartedly. I’m rooting for both of them.
NAT FAXON I’m also rooting for them. They provide each other with what each of them needs right now. Arthur can provide Molly with some sort of stability and grounding. Molly can provide Arthur with a little stepping outside his comfort zone, and seeing the world and opening himself up to new experiences. They just have to find the right time where they’re both riding on the same track, because they keep missing each other. But ultimately, I think they both can give each other what they both need.
RON FUNCHES I strongly disagree. I’m anti-Team Arthur and Molly. I have to keep it real as her cousin in the show that she could do simply much better. I know this because I know them both very well, and I sit next to Arthur every day, and so I know that she could do better. He already had a marriage that fell apart, I’m assuming on his end. So, already red flag. No (laughs).
Sofia is very much against mixing business with pleasure. How do you feel about your character’s stance?
RODRIGUEZ Sofia: I wish you luck, girl. We love seeing her squirm a little bit. I hope she gets through her insecurities of being alone and tries to find out what it’s like to have someone in her space. Even in the workplace, she creates this bubble around her, and all of her colleagues burst it in the right way. I love seeing them pop her bubble, and we get small glimpses of that more this season.
O-T Fagbenle guest stars in multiple episodes as a love interest for Sofia. What was it like working with him?
RODRIGUEZ O-T is so fun. He’s a great partner to work off of. When we first met, it was already kismet. We talked about his life and mine, and that added a little bit more to the chemistry, even though we already had it. I was very thankful for that, and it lends itself to the scenes. He’s a great actor. Great is actually not the word. He’s a fantastic actor, like every single last one of the people that I work with.
Ron, your character has a bromance with both Arthur and Nick, what is it about these guys that connects them so personally?
FUNCHES For Nat, our relationship on screen pretty much mirrors our relationship off screen, where we like to really talk trash to each other. We make fun of each other. Our sports teams are natural enemies. We like to show each other love through making fun. But I know when I’m on stage and when I’m working with him, I can trust him to be there. When I improvise a line, I can trust him to come up with an extra tag for me. It’s a fun environment. And it’s the same working with Joel. It’s just a bunch of people who really respect each other’s art and their comedy and, in turn, it builds this natural chemistry and we just truly enjoy each other’s company.
Howard experiences some financial troubles as a newly single man this season, which leads him to a new business venture to creating his own wrestling league. Ron, you’re into wrestling in real life. Did you have any input on how that storyline played out?
FUNCHES Oh, absolutely. It very much married part of my real life. One of the writers I’ve been friends with for over a decade, Aniz [Ansari]; we met at a pro wrestling show in Reseda, California, and we just talked about wrestling for years. I’ve been trained before in wrestling. I had a match before. So when the writers found out that I basically had a secret skill, they were like, “We should bring that into the show.” It was a dream come true for me to be able to showcase my love of wrestling and how much Joel took to it and was really good at it. The writers were hopeful that we could do some of this stuff, but even they were like, “Well, for the majority of it, we’ll use stand-ins.” But for the most part, Joel and I just ended up doing it because we were trained. We had great trainer, Chavo Guerrero, who did [Netflix’s] GLOW, so it was really, really fun. One of the best experiences of my professional life.
There’s a funny subplot in episode three where Arthur and Howard try to figure out if Sofia is a Swiftie. Are any of you Swifties in real life?
FAXON I, by proxy, am a Swiftie fan, because I have daughters in my household. So, I am in it to win it, and I really truly respect her. I fully love the message and the love that gets spread around at her concerts.
FUNCHES Oh yeah, I just like talent. People who are the great songwriters of our generation and doing great stuff. How could you not? You find yourself singing “Karma,” she just enters your mind. Even if you don’t know that you’re singing her, you find out years later like, “Oh, that was Taylor Swift.” She’s a great artist.
RODRIGUEZ I think we like to keep those things on lock just so that we don’t blow our cover. You know what I mean?
Without giving away what happens in the second half of season two, what would you like to see happen with your characters in the future, if there’s a season three?
FAXON For Arthur, I do hope that he and Molly can get in sync. It’s been a really fun will-they-won’t-they ride, but I feel like they’re deserving of each other and complement each other well. So I’m hoping that there is a happy ending down the line.
RODRIGUEZ I would love to catch Sofia in even more candid moments where the characters see her do something when she doesn’t expect them coming, like her skipping. We would never expect her to skip down the hallway or be jamming out in her office. They’d be like, “What is she doing?”
FAXON I like that idea. I would like to see Arthur kind of get cool for once.
FUNCHES No. How? How?
FAXON Just sort of like if the writer’s modeled it more after me, you know? Just super cool and chill.
FUNCHES Be realistic (laughs). I want to see Howard continue to grow the relationships that he has within the office. This second season, you get to see more of Howard as the glue around the entire office, doing scenes with Molly, Sophia and Arthur. I really enjoyed that and how the relationships could change, and I’d like to see a deepening of that. Seeing Howard grow more into his confidence with the wins that he’s having with his business and maybe his own relationship. Hopefully, we can even dig deeper into the family. I really enjoyed the first season and the episodes that we saw some of the extended family. I’d like to do more of that.
Loot releases new episodes Wednesdays on Apple TV+
