[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Season 3 of Somebody Somewhere.]

Summary

Bridget Everett reflects on the miracle of creating three seasons of the HBO series ‘Somebody Somewhere’ that focus on love and acceptance.
The show captures real-life emotions through humor and balance in serious scenes while exploring growth against all odds.
Sam’s journey through change and finding connections highlights the importance of self-acceptance and friendship.

The HBO series Somebody Somewhere has followed Sam (Bridget Everett) on her journey of self-discovery through the laughs and the tears for three seasons. Coming to terms with loss in a hometown she wasn’t sure where she fit in, Sam has found the people who love and accept her for who she is and who also push her to be the best version of herself that she can be. It’s a beautiful story about the importance of friendship and connection and how, in order to truly love others in life, we must love and accept ourselves with all of our imperfections.

During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Everett talked about the miracle of getting to make three seasons of Somebody Somewhere, how proud she is of the series, whether she’s better at dealing with change than Sam is, having loved the time she spent with co-star Jeff Hiller as he played Joel, stand-out scenes in the final season, the Thanksgiving episode, taking every opportunity to sing, the dynamic with “Iceland” (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), and how she has an idea of what would come next, if they ever get to make a movie.

Bridget Everett Is So Proud of the Work They Did on ‘Somebody Somewhere’

Collider: For three seasons, at its core, this has really been a series about love and acceptance of others, but also oneself. Each of these characters is really a mess in their own way, but it would be great to have any of them in your life as a friend. What has it meant to you to be able to put something like this out in the universe, and then how hard is that to say goodbye to?

BRIDGET EVERETT: It feels unreal. I know I’ve lived the experience, but until it’s in my rearviewmirror, I’m never gonna believe it happened. I feel like the show is very different. Probably now, it would never get made. I think it’s a miracle that HBO put it on the air. I still can’t believe our pilot got picked up, and now we have three seasons of it, we’re on HBO, and I’m talking to you. I’ve talked to all these different people and it’s just unreal. It’s hard to move on from that. But right now, I’m just so proud of it. It might be my favorite [season] of the three.

This is a show about people being human. There’s no fancy twist to it. You just feel every emotion while you’re watching it.

EVERETT: That’s life though, right? If my family ever talks about anything serious, there’s always some joking. It’s important to have balance in the show. Any time there’s a serious scene, we don’t want it to feel too heavy or too sappy. We want it to feel like a real-life conversation, where you try to pick yourself out of it.

Related ‘Somebody Somewhere’ Season 3 Review: A Stunning Swan Song for HBO’s Most Underrated Comedy While it’s a shame that we won’t get any more ‘Somebody Somewhere’ after this, at least it concludes on the highest note imaginable.

This has been a season that is clearly about change. There’s a lot of change happening for everyone in the show. Are you someone who embraces change? Do you handle change better than Sam?

EVERETT: No! I’m worse at it. Mary Catherine [Garrison] and I lived together for a number of years, and she goes where the wind goes. She’s just very open, flexible, and porous. I am locked down and zipped up tight, and that’s reflected in the characters. Tricia has grown [a huge amount] and Sam has grown inch by inch, but I like that. Our theme this season was GAAL, growth against all odds. Sam really pushes herself to move through her self-imposed obstacles this season, and she tries to show up for other people and do things that she’s never done. That’s all because of the groundwork that was laid in the first two seasons, and the people that surround her and love her and lift her up.

She has people that she actually wants to be there for now and that, in itself, is very different for her.

EVERETT: I know. That’s so true. She’s not just trying to be a good friend. She wants to be a good friend to Joel, but she also kind of can’t be. She tries to say what she thinks is the right thing, but she really wants to say the exact right thing and doesn’t know how. He can feel her trying and he just loves her through all of it. Come on, who’s better than Joel? Nobody.

Bridget Everett Loves Jeff Hiller Just As Much as Sam Loves Joel in ‘Somebody Somewhere’
Image via HBO

They can’t always be there for each other anymore because they also have other things going on. How has it been to go on the journey with Jeff Hiller for these seasons? What have you enjoyed about working with him and what he’s brought to this?

EVERETT: Bridget was falling in love with Jeff as Sam was falling in love with Joel, as friends do. He is so lovely and charming and loves to gossip and is just the best bits of everybody that you wanna know. He’s undeniable. I have loved my time with him. All the scenes we have in the car together or on the couch together, they’re just so much fun to shoot and they’re fun to watch back. I hate watching myself, but I love watching the two of us together. I still remember when he auditioned. I remember the scene in the pilot where we go outside of the office, and Sam’s been crying and he follows her out and is like, “Just go take the day off.” He’s just so charming. You wanna be around him and you wanna be a better person because of him. And that’s what Sam needs.

Who doesn’t want a friend with such a good giggle?

EVERETT: Yeah, exactly! It’s an undeniable giggle.

I love that this is a show that can have a song like “She’ll Be Coming on the Mountain When She Comes.” Whose idea was that song? How did that come about, and what made you decide to balance it out with a heartfelt moment with Brad for Joel?

EVERETT: Why not, right? That does sound like it came from the dirty mind of Bridget Everett. I also wrote the song for the Brad and Sam scene. I think those are two sides of the same coin. In one breath, I’m a filthy, foul-mouthed, big titty swingin’ mama, and other parts of me are tender-hearted. I feel like Sam gets to write a song with Brad and express a love and tenderness to Joel through Brad. I love that scene.

It’s such a beautiful moment because Sam feels like someone who might terrify Brad a bit because he lives very inward while she lives very outward.

EVERETT: The impulse might be to have Sam not like Brad because he’s taking Joel away from her. But I think she’s grown past that and is trying to embrace that and do something special for Joel in the meantime. I think that, in itself, is a lot of growth for Sam.

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The scene with Sam in the doctor’s office where the hospital gown just doesn’t fit because of her ample bosom is a very relatable moment for people who share that attribute. What made you want to include that scene?

EVERETT: That came from me going to my doctor. I put on the thing and it was like that. I was just trying to close it, but couldn’t close it. She was like, “Okay, lean back.” And I was like, “Here they come!” But we didn’t wanna do that because that would have been a different show. You already feel so vulnerable in a doctor’s office, and then you’re wearing this thing where, if you sneeze or fart, it’s gonna rip itself off your body. You’re using your two little fingers to hold it on each side and praying to God that a gust of wind doesn’t come through.

The moment in episode four when Sam’s sister is in the shower ranting about her STD and Sam is trying not to be too obvious about laughing because she’s so upset was one of the best sister moments that’s been on TV. What was that scene like to shoot?

EVERETT: When we came up with the idea, I was like, “This is gonna be so good because Mary Catherine will be so unhinged,” and she was. And to shoot it the way that we did, which was with her behind a frosted door, so you could only see the top of her head, but you still got exactly what was going on with her. She’s so good. She’s so incredible. She’s always been one of my favorite actors. I just love watching her just and all that she does. That was a really fun, special moment.

I also really love any episode of television that celebrates a holiday, whether it’s Halloween or Christmas or, in this case, Thanksgiving. What are your favorite moments from the Thanksgiving episode?

EVERETT: I love it because we’re all together. I love when Brad comes with the turkey and he’s like, “Tah-dah.” I loved being in the car with Tricia when she’s like, “Holidays are supposed to be about family.” And Sam is like, “What about me?” We shot it over two days, or something. It took a long time because of all the different angles of everything. We ate so much food and were so grossed out, but we still managed to have our breakfast, our lunch, our dinner, and the afternoon hot snack treat they give us, even though we were eating all of that.

Sam finds someone that she really connects with this season, in the form of this man from Iceland. Did you ever figure out what the character’s name was?

EVERETT: I saw it in the editing room a thousand times, and I’ve seen it on the page with how it’s spelled, and I still can’t say it. So, “Iceland” it is.

Bridget Everett Has Ideas for More ‘Somebody Somewhere’
Image via HBO

What did you enjoy about that relationship and about finding someone that is really the perfect match for Sam?

EVERETT: I love that. There’s a lid for every pot. I don’t know where this would go beyond this season. Well, actually, I do know where it would go, or I think I do. But it’s fun to see what that brings up in Sam, to meet somebody like that and how it knocks her off her axis. It reaally kicks up the dust of how she feels about herself. Trying to push past that and still be present in the moment, it was fun to shoot it and write it. And I think Darri (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), or “Iceland,” is such a soulful actor. He’s very famous in Iceland and he’s also well-known here. He works all the fucking time, and it’s a miracle we were able to get a few days with him because I think he’s just perfect in the part. It was written for him, so I’m glad.

What would happen with them, after this season?

EVERETT: I can’t tell you that because, if we ever make the movie, I can’t give it away for free here. You’ve gotta buy a ticket to the theater.

Related “These Characters Will Continue On”: Jeff Hiller and Tim Bagley Say a Bittersweet Goodbye to Their ‘Somebody Somewhere’ Roles “Brad had a better piano,” says Bagley, even though he gave it up out of his love for Joel.

That Miley Cyrus song “The Climb” feels like the perfect performance to close things out with. Was that performance fun?

EVERETT: It was great. That was wild because we did it in three takes and I sang life every time. Because of how TV works, they couldn’t audibly react or clap, so I was just singing into a void. But we have these incredible camera guys and grips who were all standing there, smiling and rocking out and giving me energy. Any time I get to sing, I feel really lucky.

Sam ends this season in a better place with friends and family than where she started. Did you always know that you wanted to close out this series with as many people that Sam loves as possible in one room?

EVERETT: No, because I don’t think we were writing for the end of a series. We were just writing for a moment in time. This is just what she is right now, and if I know Sam, she can fuck it up in the future.

Sam is a true Kansan on the surface but beneath it all struggles to fit the hometown mold. As she grapples with loss and acceptance, singing is Sam’s saving grace and leads her on a journey to discover herself and a community of outsiders that don’t fit in but don’t give up, showing that finding your people, and finding your voice, is possible. Anywhere. Somewhere.Release Date January 16, 2022 Creator Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen Cast Bridget Everett , Jeff Hiller , Mary Catherine Garrison , Danny McCarthy , Mike Hagerty , Murray Hill , Jane Drake Brody Seasons 3

Somebody Somewhere airs on HBO and is available to stream on Max. Check out the Season 3 trailer:

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