‘Based On A True Story’s Kaley Cuoco & Chris Messina Talk Season 2’s Sex Club, That Twist Ending & Season 3 Ideas: “They Are As Guilty”
SPOILER ALERT: This post contains details about Season 2 of Based on a True Story.
Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina have a copycat on their hands, but the sophomore season of their dark comedy thriller is anything but a retread.
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In Season 2 of Peacock‘s Based on a True Story, premiering Thursday on the streamer, the duo is back as new parents Ava and Nathan, who have mostly settled into the chaos of parenthood after diving into their serial killer friend Matt’s (Tom Bateman) mind on their podcast.
“I’ve said from Season 1, they are as guilty as Matt is at this point,” Cuoco told Deadline. “They have done a lot of bad things, so they all kind of need each other in a way and no one can ditch the other. They’ve got a lot of dirt on each other. So, we kind of all have to deal with what this new dynamic has become. And chaos, of course, ensues.”
That new dynamic includes Ava’s sister Tory (Liana Liberato), who is now engaged to Matt and helping him recover from his homicidal tendencies, which they treat as an addiction.
But when a new killer begins copying Matt’s crimes as the ‘Westside Ripper’, Ava falls back into a true-crime obsession with her ‘Murder Bunny’ TikTok account, determined to find out whether her future brother-in-law is behind this new series of killings.
Meanwhile, Matt takes Nathan under his wing and convinces him to take control of his rage against a former tennis rival, ultimately affecting his relationship with Ava.
“He gets in the middle of us,” said Messina. “And so Nathan really wants to believe in him and believe in this new sober killer, and Ava knows better. And so, we spend a great deal of the season kind of drifting more and more apart, which was different than Season 1, and then fun to find our connection back.”
Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina tell Deadline about Season 2 of Based on a True Story below.
DEADLINE: Ava and Nathan are parents this season. As parents yourselves, was it easy to relate to that family chaos in the midst of all the life and death drama?
KALEY CUOCO: Yeah, definitely. I mean, at least for me, I was a new mom myself. So playing a new mom and being a new mom, a lot of the storylines was life imitating art and I wanted it to feel that way. I wanted it to feel as chaotic and insane as it actually felt at home, and I feel like you could see how much I needed to shower for the first two weeks of shooting. And I was method, I didn’t shower for two weeks.
CHRIS MESSINA: Yeah, it got really bad.
CUOCO: But we had to do it.
MESSINA: Yeah, she’s committed.
CUOCO: But this season, we answer a lot of questions from Season 1 quickly and then kind of go into a whole new storyline where new murders start happening, we automatically think it’s Matt and then he’s like, “I’m sober killer. I don’t kill anymore.” And now he’s joining our family, and it’s chaotic. But this all stemmed from a terrible decision these two people made two years ago and unfortunately, it’s turned into this. And now they’re stuck in this nightmare.
DEADLINE: I also love seeing Ava’s sister Tory become more of like a central character this season. What’s it like being able to explore more of that sisterly dynamic with Liana Liberato?
CUOCO: I was just saying how much I love her and we definitely have a sister relationship. What I love is, through all this insanity — I have a sister, and so I understand that relationship, like you love each other no matter what, even when the craziest stuff is going on — and so even through some of the scenes of [telling her], “You can’t marry a killer,” and she’s like, “Oh my God, it’s fine, it’s fine,” it’s like a typical sister relationship. And we definitely ribbed each other a lot off-camera too. I’m just so glad she had more to do because she’s a really beautiful actress.
DEADLINE: And Nathan also goes through some personal turmoil this season, which is kind of exacerbated by Matt. How did you lean into that pseudo friendship and how it affects Nathan?
MESSINA: I love my stuff with him this season. He’s a great actor, Tom, and a great guy. It was fun to kind of use a serial killer as a muse. It’s completely dysfunctional, and Matt brings out Nathan’s competitive animal vibe. It led to a lot of fun stuff to play and also some heartbreaking stuff, hopefully, that Nathan’s just struggling with.
DEADLINE: And how has letting this killer into their life affected their relationship?
CUOCO: Yeah, things are bubbling over. It’s a little like, “Ok, everyone be cool…” Because they’re kind of in this too. Like I’ve said from Season 1, they are as guilty as Matt is at this point. They have done a lot of bad things, so they all kind of need each other in a way and no one can ditch the other. They’ve got a lot of dirt on each other. So, we kind of all have to deal with what this new dynamic has become. And chaos, of course, ensues.
MESSINA: He gets in the middle of us.
CUOCO: Definitely, he messes with you.
MESSINA: And so Nathan really wants to believe in him and believe in this new sober killer, and Ava knows better. And so, we spend a great deal of the season kind of drifting more and more apart, which was different than Season 1, and then fun to find our connection back.
DEADLINE: The whole underground sex club scene was really fun. Were you two just totally living for the outfits you got to wear, the mesh and the straps and stuff?
CUOCO: Yes!
MESSINA: Yeah, I fought back on my outfits a lot.
CUOCO: Shocker.
MESSINA: Yeah, they tried a couple different versions of it but —
CUOCO: I thought you looked so good. It was so funny.
MESSINA: Well, so did you.
CUOCO: Well, it all looked really good. I mean, the set design and the wardrobe and the people, it was very well done, I thought. But yeah, I felt hot. That was fun. We were wearing pleather, I could barely get that — it was sticking to me.
MESSINA: They went for it in the set design. So, we did most of the day looking at the ground.
CUOCO: A lot of naked people.
MESSINA: Everywhere you look.
CUOCO: Chris was afraid to look at anything. He was [looking down], like, ‘How are you? You having a good day?’ He wouldn’t look at anyone, he’s a gentleman. He was looking at his phone.
DEADLINE: There was also a very interesting twist at the end, which really makes me wonder what direction Season 3 is going to go. Do you have any thoughts on where your characters heads are at?
MESSINA: I like the ending a lot. And it really lends itself to a Season 3 wrap-up. I would love to spend some time in jail.
CUOCO: I think he wants to do like a jail.
MESSINA: I want to be with her but but I think it’d be fun to explore what that was like.
CUOCO: Like everyone thinks you’re scary and terrible. Not really exactly the opposite of what you are in real life. You are scary but people don’t know that and terrible.
MESSINA: I’m a terrible human being… not good.
DEADLINE: I love that the show is funny and exciting, but it also has a very tongue-in-cheek critique of the whole true-crime genre and how it exploits victims and survivors. How do you feel about the genre and potentially taking on those roles yourselves?
CUOCO: Listen, I am a true-crime junkie. That is actually one of the things that drew me to this project a handful of years ago. I relate to Ava in the sense that I always have my earbuds in listening to some sort of crime podcast. I go to bed to Dateline. Everyone knows that about me. I look at it a little bit differently, and I tell this to my fiancé Tom [Pelphrey] who thinks I’m insane for how much I watch. But what I say to him is, I actually think these shows, instead of looking at at as exploitation, we’re actually giving a lot of these families a voice in telling their story about people, where these things have happened to them. And a lot of these stories fall by the wayside. We haven’t heard the half of them but we bring some of these to the surface and we get to kind of hear from the family and both sides, and obviously, it’s up to you to believe a lot of times what happened.
But I do get drawn into these real people’s stories, and it’s why I believe this would happen to them is because of how much true crime I’ve watched and people that just look like you and me and normal everyday people make very crazy life-altering decisions, sometimes not on purpose. And their lives get flipped upside down, and I like to watch.
MESSINA: Yeah, this genre in, in terms of the TV show, is difficult. It’s gotta be difficult to write because it’s just a fine line of, it needs to be funny but there are people dying, and you want it to have this beating heart. So, a lot of times, she understands the genre really, really well, so I look to her all the time and kind of [ask], “Is this supposed to be funny? Should this be more serious?” And we try a bunch of different things, and hopefully they put it together right. But it’s a slippery slope, and I think when we’re on it, while we’re filming at least, it feels it’s a fun ride. But you’re not always there.
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