‘The Flight Attendant’ Creators Explain Why Season 2’s First Episodes Feel “Lighter”

Last season of The Flight Attendant saw Kayley Cuoco’s Cassie escape back to America after waking up next to a dead body, avoid being murdered by an assassin, and learn that her best friends had some seriously dark connections. That’s a far cry from Season 2’s protagonist, a woman who brings the nice doughnuts for her AA meetings. But as great as Cassie’s new life may seem, nothing is as perfect as it looks on the surface.

“She’s done all the things that you’re not supposed to do in your first year,” executive producer Steve Yockey told Decider. “She moved across the country, she started a new job, she started a new relationship with someone else who’s in recovery. Those are all very conscious things on her part because she wants to get on with getting better.

“We went out of our way in those first two episodes to make the show feel lighter because she’s really working hard to sell the success of her recovery. As we move further along, we peel back the layers, find out maybe things aren’t going as great as she would like us to believe.”

Cassie isn’t the only character who’s going into Season 2 with a new perspective. Last season Cassie’s best friend Annie (Zosia Mamet) was someone who always knew what to do. But after Cassie’s life-threatening situation led to Annie utilizing her mob contacts, Season 2 witnesses this steady character’s slow internal spiral.

“When we came up with Season 2, she’s kinda a different Annie. She had the carpet pulled out from under her and she’s unsure. She’s unsure about her relationship, she’s unsure about her job, and she’s going to have to find her feet in the relationship with Cassie,” executive producer Natalie Chaidez said. “‘How does my friendship change now that I don’t have to fix all her problems and she seems to be living this perfect LA life?’ By the end of the season, in all of those areas, we’re going to see her try to figure things out.”

Though Cassie and Annie may be different, this season feels exactly like the quippy thriller fans fell in love with in Season 1. The complex discussions about recovery are still there as is the always sharp writing. Also still around are the show’s on-point nods to classic cinema.

“Everybody in the writer’s room started off watching Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much, the 1950s version,” Yockey said. This season also references Rear Window and several episodes from the seven-season series Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

“We would use Hitchcock and De Palma for our directors as reference points,” Yockey said. “Some of them leaned more Hitchcock and some of them learned more De Palma, and you could kinda feel that when you’re watching.”

The first two episodes of The Flight Attendant Season 2 premiere on HBO Max Thursday, April 21. Next Thursday, April 28, will see the premiere of two more episodes. After that, The Flight Attendant will switch to a weekly release schedule.