‘Schmigadoon!’ Star Keegan-Michael Key Was Also Rooting for Josh and Emma

Schmigadoon! Season 1 Spoilers Ahead!

Schmigadoon! Season 1 ends its run on Apple TV+ today, leaving us with some sweet songs and swoon-worthy romance. However it could be possible that you won’t be happy with which couple winds up crossing that literal bridge together. Sure the show has been built around helping Josh (Keegan-Michael Key) and Melissa (Cecily Strong) strengthen their love for each other, but you might have been taken with Josh’s chemistry with the local “schoolmarm” Emma Tate (Ariana DeBose). Josh and Emma have a sweet, grounded romance and it almost feels like she gets thrown over just so he and Melissa can have their happy ending.

But is it crazy to even think that? Isn’t the whole point of Schmigadoon! that it’s the story of how Josh and Melissa rediscover their true love? Why were we kind of rooting for Josh and Emma?

The good news is Schmigadoon! star Keegan-Michael Key sort of agrees! Decider asked him if he ever found himself rooting for Josh to end up with Emma, and Key said, “It’s funny because I sometimes wonder what that would have been like. It’s almost like we should do an alternative universe ending and let Emma and her son and Josh go into New York City, and how does Emma adjust to the 21st century? It would be amazing.”

“Actually a little part of me that has a yearning for that,” Key said, adding that “it was remarkably easy” to film the sorrow of the break up scenes. “It was heartbreaking that Ari [DeBose] and I weren’t gonna be able to spend more time together in that regard.”

Of course, Josh comes to the realization that he truly loves Melissa at the end of Schmigadoon! and he expresses that love by finally bursting into song. While Josh might have hated musicals and done all he could to stay away from the show’s big musical numbers, Key said this character trait made Schmigadoon! the “hardest acting job” he’s ever done.

“[I was] jealous as the day is long!” Key said of his singing and dancing co-stars. “This was the hardest acting job I’ve ever done because I’ve got to stand there in these wide shots, where you have my whole body. So you’re watching the ensemble dance, and they’re singing, and dudes are flipping out of the frame and girls getting lifted up and doing the big high kicks.”

“And then you hear, ‘Cut,’ and then Barry [Sonnenfeld], the director, says, ‘Keegan, you can’t tap your foot. You’re smiling. I can’t use the take! He was smiling the entire time,'” Key shared. “‘Well, what am I supposed to do, Barry? The music’s fantastic!'”

“So [Sonnenfeld said], ‘Well, then act better.'” Key said, “So it was a really delightful challenge to have.”

Where to stream Schmigadoon!