Pop-Culturalist.com

Annalisa Cochrane, Chibuikem Uche, and Jess McLeod are three of the stars of the must-see series, One of Us is Lying.

Following the heart-pounding conclusion of Season 1, the Bayview Four have a very deadly secret. In Season 2, we’ll see just how far they’ll go to protect their secret, themselves, and each other.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to catch up with Annalisa, Chibuikem, and Jess to talk about Season 2 of One of Us is Lying, shaping their characters, exploring vulnerabilities, and more!

PC: One of the benefits of television as a medium is the opportunity to build on the existing first season. As you headed into Season 2, what were you most excited about further exploring with each of your characters?
Chib: Now that Cooper’s secret is out and he’s owning it, I was very curious to see what that journey would be like going into Season 2. But then there’s this looming murder that takes up a lot of the bandwidth that Cooper has.

Annalisa: I was really excited to keep exploring the relationships between all of our characters. I heard rumors about what had happened at the end of Season 1 and what they were going to do in Season 2, so that made me very excited to dive into this season and to see what the writers pulled out of their hats.

Jess: I was excited to continue to explore, like Annalisa said, the relationships. That was really exciting. It was cool because I saw the Bayview Four last year. They were working so hard, and they had this really fun dynamic. It was fun to get to be part of that. I felt very excited to be included.

Chib: It was really fun to have you.

Jess: Chib.

Chib: No, seriously. It was great. I got way more time with you. It was beautiful.

Jess: I will say our friendship truly blossomed this year. Annalisa and I were already attached at the hip, so there wasn’t any more growth or we’d become the same person.

Chib: Those two would be walking together on set and I’d always find a way to insert myself in the middle and speak to how much closer Jess and I are now, and I love that.

PC: Without giving any spoilers, the events at the end of Season 1 are going to have a huge impact on all of the characters, particularly Addy who has a history and connection with Jake. Annalisa, you’ve handled that journey with so much nuance. How did you create this space for yourself to dive into that emotional arc in Seasons 1 and 2?
Annalisa: It was a lot of music and a lot of time alone. I got to work in the very beginning with our lovely, lovely acting coach Miranda Harcourt. I was able to talk to her about where trauma and all its different forms live in the body. I started reading this great book called The Body Keeps the Score. It’s very popular right now. It explains where different physical traumas will live and how that gets brought out for different people in nervous ticks and things, especially when you’re trying to cover it up. It was fun because I really got to dive deep into a bit of research, which is always what I love doing as an actor.

PC: Chib, Cooper’s storyline is one that transcends the screen as a topic that’s still considered widely taboo in sports, and you brought so much depth to that arc. Did you feel that responsibility as you stepped into his shoes, and now that he no longer has to hide that side of him how will that impact Cooper in Season 2?
Chib: I definitely felt that responsibility and pressure in Season 1. The timing like you said is very current. The first openly gay NFL player had come out just last season at the time when we were filming this. It was very, very relevant.

Now that he’s out, we thought that the landscape would be different, but as we find out early on in the season, he’s still navigating that in an interesting way. Because we are almost dealing with the topic of exploitation. There’s a lot more to come there, and it’s very interesting. It’s fun to portray.

PC: Jess, on the flip side of that, Janae is another important step in representation for the queer community where it’s a part of her but not the focal point within this story. That was a creative choice that you brought to the table when the series began filming. What has it meant to you to see how audiences have responded to the strong character that you helped shape and mold?
Jess: It was really exciting in Season 1 to get to bring a lot of myself or bring a lot of what I thought about Janae to the character. The reason that I had the freedom to do that is because Janae wasn’t a big part of the books. They were like, “Janae can be anything.” I was like, “I think Janae is this.” They were like, “Cool.”

In Season 2 that continues. Janae continues to be mostly me with a bit of other things. In Season 2, they’re exploring their gender—so a strong female but also gender fluid, non-binary. Janae’s not sure. That’s really exciting. I didn’t see this representation of people who were confused or fluid so that any pronoun is fine. I didn’t see them on TV, so I’m excited that that’s going to be on TV this season.

Make sure to follow Annalisa (Twitter/Instagram), Chib (Twitter/Instagram), and Jess (Instagram). Stream One of Us is Lying on Peacock today.