Natasha Rothwell Is Her Own Emergency Contact in ‘How to Die Alone’ Trailer
Natasha Rothwell swaps her White Lotus spa garb for a neon, air traffic vest in the new How to Die Alone trailer. In the two-minute clip, released Tuesday, Rothwell’s Mel is out of gas: She “sad-twerks” as a coworker sings “Happy Birthday” and can’t find the energy to chant “Woman King,” when the same coworker attempts to cheer her up.
“Here’s how I see me: I’m broke, my family thinks I’m a lost cause, my love life is a joke, and the punchline is I work at an airport [and] I’m afraid to fly,” Rothwell says in the trailer.
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The half-hour comedy series, set to stream on Hulu, follows Mel (Rothwell), a JFK airport employee who has reached a plateau in her career and has yet to pursue her dreams. Not until a near-death experience restores her desire to live. As a nurse attempts to identify Mel’s emergency contact number after a deadly accident, the nurse begins to read out Mel’s phone number instead. “You’re your own emergency contact?” the nurse asks. Mel simply sighs.
“I’m so thrilled to have the trailer out in the world,” Rothwell shared in a statement to Rolling Stone. “This project was seven years in the making. My hope is that this show will help people feel less alone, and make them laugh in the process.”
The cast of the Rothwell-created series includes Conrad Ricamora (How to Get Away With Murder), Jocko Sims (New Amsterdam), KeiLyn Durrel Jones (Time After Time), Bashir Salahuddin (South Side), Jaylee Hamidi (Supernatural), Michelle McLeod (Don’t Talk to Me), Melissa DuPrey (Relative), Chris “CP” Powell (Detroiters) Arkie Kandola (The Package), and others.
The Insecure actress will also star in the third season of The White Lotus, according to Variety, which will be set in Thailand. In the drama’s first season, Rothwell played spa manager Belinda who developed a close bond with resort guest Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge).
The first four episodes of How to Die Alone arrive on Sept. 13, with new episodes dropping every Friday via Hulu.
This story was updated on 8/7 at 10:34 a.m. with a statement from Natasha Rothwell.
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