Girls5eva Cast Talks Music, Guest Stars, and Moving To Netflix For Season 3
When a one hit wonder group from the 90s get sampled by a young rapper, it ignites a fire in its members to reunite to give their pop star dreams another shot in Girls5Eva. After two hilarious seasons on Peacock, the show was cancelled, but Netflix believed in the show enough to pick it up for a third season. That’s right — get ready for the Returnity Tour as Sara Bareilles, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Busy Philipps, and Paula Pell reunite for their own second chance at being Girls5eva. In season 3, Dawn, Wickie, Summer, and Gloria are on a low-budget comeback tour as they try to promote their album and get back on top. Relationships will be tested, billionaires will invite them to play their birthday, and the girls will confront the question if they’re really ready for the big time again. Pop Culture Planet’s Kristen Maldonado hit up the Girls5eva premiere in New York City to learn more about this season, including exciting cameos and the jump from Peacock to Netflix.
Showrunner Meredith Scardino is no stranger to Netflix, having written on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on the streaming platform. She called them “supportive partners” when it came to bringing on Girls5eva. “Netflix was very into what we had done in season 1 and season 2 so they were basically buying the product that they saw,” she told me. “They're like what is the next chapter that you guys want to make? They were really, really supportive partners, so we just got to do what we wanted to do.”
It also helps to be working on another project with the powerhouse couple that is Tina Fey and Robert Carlock. “I really like working with Tina and Robert because they know everybody in New York and everybody wants to work with them. It's an easier get for me to get people to work on this show being like, ‘Yeah, Tina Fey would like you to be on the show so… please,’” she laughed. “They know so many people from Broadway. There are repeat actors like Richard Kind was in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and he's in this and Mike Carlson, Titus’ love interest, is also in this season.”
Richard Kind not only appears as himself this season, but gets a song written about him by Sara Bareilles herself. “I play me so it was very easy to do. I play Richard Kind and I'm not fond of it, not fond of the character, but nonetheless it was easy to do,” he joked on the Girls5Eva carpet. “I know a lot of the people. I like the show. I think it's smart and funny, makes fun of itself, and that's what I do on the show is make fun of me — so it was fun. Sarah Bareilles wrote a song about me. It's something like, ‘It's good to be kind’ or something like that. It was hilarious.”
Previously at the premiere for Single Drunk Female season 2, Busy Philipps had hinted at a Harry Styles-inspired guest star for this hew season. “Guys, we’re topping ourselves. It’s insane. It’s so good and every day [my daughter] gets so sick of me talking about it and how much fun it is and how crazy good the music is,” she told me, leading into a tease of Thomas Doherty’s role. “And there’s some incredible guest stars that are coming on and there’s maybe like a little Harry Styles vibe happening with one of our guest stars. We’re having honestly such a blast. I have to say I’m just very lucky.
With such star-studded cameos, Daniel Breaker, who plays Dawn’s husband Scott, shared who he would love to see appear in future seasons. “Patti LuPone would fit in this world really well. I think she'd do pretty nicely,” he said. “Maybe like an agent or a family member.”
While the show follows Dawn, Wickie, Summer, and Gloria’s journey back to superstardom, we also focus on the recurring story of Lil Stinker who helped bring them back from one hit wonder land by sampling their song. After getting cancelled, he pulls a Lil Nas X and goes country. “I'm just praying to the Girls5eva powers that be that I could be a rock star next. Just metal Stinker. That would be so much fun. Why not?” Jeremiah Craft shared, shouting out Beyoncé for having the number one country record (“They mad about it too! Stay mad, get mad again!”) and paving the way. “I mean, if he finds a voice in the country genre, go to the next door over. I feel like hip-hop and rock have been kindred spirits to me. I would love to go that direction next or just go back to original Stinker too. That'd be fun and just use what he's learned in the other genres to make him a better Stinker Bootsy Stinker.”
When it comes to the best Girls5eva songs, “BPE” is a unanimous favorite of Breaker and Craft, although there is some love for “New York Lonely Boy” too. “Oh man uh I love ‘BPE,’ but I don't think I can do that one,” said Craft about which song he’d like to cover. “‘New York Lonely Boy’ is so funny. I never really noticed that, but there sure are. There's like seven and eight year old boys just riding the subway by themselves. It's absolutely true.”
He also revealed a cool full circle moment Paula Pell has pitched for future seasons. “Paula had this idea of maybe season seven or eight — if we get there — we end it with them sampling my song,” shared Craft. “That would be so cool and so different and a cap end of it.”
When asked about the potential for an interactive Netflix episode after the success of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’s Kimmy vs The Reverend, Scardino was interested. “I really enjoyed the interactive episode project and the learning curve of the software to create the different story lines and how they splinter off. Everything was just such a fun exercise for myself and the other writers on that,” she shared. “I would love to do another one of those if there's any appetite there.”
Shows like The Office, Suits, and Riverdale have all gotten huge bumps in viewership after heading to Netflix — perhaps the same will happen with this musical gem. “All praise to Peacock, our original home. I mean they really allowed us to get our feet on the ground and just get started,” said Craft. “Thank you to Netflix as well for allowing us to spread our wings here and reach their global audience. I'm just thankful to both platforms that we’re here at all.”
All three seasons of Girls5eva are now streaming on Netflix.
