The A Million Little Things crew is heading into uncharted territory in season 3. The Nov. 19 premiere picked up in the immediate aftermath of Eddie’s accident. Eddie survived the hit and run, but he’s been paralyzed. Meanwhile, Rome and Regina mourned the loss of their child in different ways, and Maggie started the next chapter of her life in Oxford.
HollywoodLife got the EXCLUSIVE scoop from A Million Little Things boss DJ Nash about what’s next. While it may seem like Alex’s father is the one who hit Eddie, DJ teased that everything is not what it seems. The mystery behind who hit Eddie will extend throughout season 3. Plus, he weighed in on Maggie’s unexpected new roommate, how Darcy will fit into the group, and more. Read our Q&A below.
First off, I’m so sorry to hear about your dad. I saw the ending of the episode, and my thoughts are with you. When it comes to A Million Little Things, Eddie has survived the accident, but things have changed dramatically for him. Going forward, how is he going to adapt to what his life is now?
DJ Nash: I will say that you could not have started this interview better. I met the most amazing man I’ll ever meet in my life when I was 30 seconds old. My dad was blind, and he never let the fact that he couldn’t see keep him from being the father we needed him to be and he wanted to be. We’re going to watch Eddie go on this journey. He’s in a wheelchair now, and he is not going to be the dad he thought he was going to be. He is not going to be the husband he thought he was going to be. It’s at first going to tear him apart. It’s going to be so hard for him, and we’re going to watch him take this journey to redefine who he is. You saw after Jon died this group of friends redefine the promises they make to each other and to themselves. As I said to everyone in teasing the story, Katherine and Theo’s life will never be the same. That’s absolutely true. Doesn’t mean negative. Doesn’t mean positive. It just means it’ll be different, and that’s what we’re going to watch.
Eddie’s whole life has been turned upside down. There was that moment when the doctor gave him oxycodone, and he didn’t want to take it. There’s a fine line there with his past addiction struggles, and he doesn’t want to get wrapped up in that world again either.
DJ Nash: That’s not a question. That’s a statement, and I agree with your statement. Yes, it is challenging. I think all of the things that he would normally be facing are made more complicated because certain remedies and reliefs aren’t available to him.
So, is the man in the truck at the end of the premiere Alex’s dad?
DJ Nash: Yes.
My next question is, Alex’s dad was also waiting outside the bar Eddie was at but is he the same person that hit Eddie?
DJ Nash: Well, I will say it looks that way. It definitely looks that way.
Is there a reason why you did not show the exact car that hit Eddie? The show just panned to Alex’s dad calling 911.
DJ Nash: You’re a very smart viewer. I mean, something happened in the first season when we put Constance Zimmer in the pews of that church. Our fans learned that just when you think it’s something, it’s not, which is sort of the message of our show. And then just when you think Rome is going to take his life, it’s Jon. Just when you think Eddie was having an affair with the mother of his guitar student, it’s Delilah. I think our show does what life does, which is just when you think you know something or someone, you don’t. We saw Mitch, PJ’s dad, be very violent and angry, but it really was coming from a love and protection he had for his son. At the beginning of the pilot, Katherine’s very unlikeable. And yet, by the end of his first season, you fall in love with her. So in a similar way here, we’re watching a situation. It might be that the Reverend out of anger hit Eddie, but maybe it’s not. We’re following the mystery of who it was. If it was the Reverend, which does appear like it might be, why would he do that? Why would he seek out revenge? What is he hiding?
The Reverend clearly has an emotional tie to Eddie. Will we continue to see him in season 3?
DJ Nash: The death of Alex affected Lindsay, Eddie’s sister, tremendously. And it’s now affecting Eddie so much so that he just couldn’t let it go. It brought him to almost drink. It brought him to, in an indirect way, with fate and ending up in that wheelchair. I think as he tries to come to terms with how fair or unfair he feels the world is there’s a man who’s lost his daughter and has been struggling with that for years. When these two finally meet or encounter each other or confront each other, I think both those things will lead to a very, very moving scene.
I think Darcy is such a great addition to the show. What can you say about how Darcy and Gary’s relationship is going to continue as Maggie starts this new chapter at Oxford?
DJ Nash: What I can say is that I love this writers’ room. Especially now during COVID, the ability to come to work, even if it’s over Zoom, is really exceptional because we all push each other and care about the show so much. I think the decision to make Darcy initially Catherine’s friend, so that she wasn’t just another girlfriend Gary was bringing into the group, has a really interesting domino effect on this. So she does initially feel close to the group because, in some ways, she’s Katherine’s best friend that we didn’t know about. Floriana [Lima] herself is so likable both on camera and off, that she naturally fit into this group of characters. As writers, we’re torn. Obviously, we’re telling a Maggie and Gary love story, but it seems as though at least these next few chapters, Gary’s attention is somewhere else. We’re going to see how that plays out for him and how Maggie’s story plays out. There’s a twist where they are thrown into each other’s lives very, very suddenly.
When Maggie arrives in London, she meets her new roommate, Jamie, played by Chris Geere. They get off to an interesting start. Where does that relationship go? Could he be a potential love interest?
DJ Nash: What I will say is one of the most thrilling things about being in season 3 of the show is that we have access to people like we haven’t had before. Chris Geere was the actor we had in mind when we wrote the part, so the fact that we got him is just incredible. He’s funny, and he’s also playing the emotion in such a beautiful way. We just couldn’t be more thrilled that he’s joined our family. In terms of what’s going on for Maggie, I think from the very beginning of our series, we have loved the sort of unusual way people meet other characters. Whether it’s Gary and Maggie in a cancer remission group, whether it’s Constance Zimmer coming into a chapel and complimenting Eddie on his eulogy, or Darcy being friends with Katherine first, there’s kind of an interesting way in which we introduce the characters and how that initial introduction continues to comment on the relationship throughout his journey. With that in mind, Jamie and Maggie meet in very unfortunate circumstances. They’re not supposed to live together. He thought he was having a male roommate. She thought she was having a female roommate, and she inadvertently breaks up their relationship when she walks in the door. The result of that and how that forms their relationship is something we’ll continue to follow throughout the season.
Rome and Regina are still in the immediate aftermath of losing their baby. While Rome is ready to get the next baby thinking this is their second chance, Regina is not ready. How will their approaches to accepting what has happened impact their relationship?
DJ Nash: It’s so interesting because in some ways, they’re in exactly the same place. They’re both dealing with the devastating loss of their child. It’s the way in which they’re dealing with that are so very different. Rome’s decision to go try and get that Lenox baby was sort of his response. How do I fix this? How do I erase this? Whereas Regina is appropriately feeling like: how do I mourn this? I think the loss of this baby, in some ways, is analogous to the death of a child. I’ve been married for 21 years now. I feel like we’re going to make it. I think the only thing that could potentially challenge our marriage would be if we lost a child. I think what they’re dealing with is so painful. A year ago, Regina was all set to have a life without kids. And now because of Rome, she’s feeling this void. So there’s a certain amount of anger, and there’s a certain amount of hurt. I think from Rome’s perspective, they could have had that baby. So there’s a certain amount of anger, and there’s a certain amount of hurt from him. I think what they’re going to be challenged with this season is deciding if that’s going to bring them closer together or will it not?