(Note: This post contains spoilers for the “Platonic” Season 1 finale).
“Platonic” star Luke MacFarlane is hoping for more screen time with Seth Rogen should the Apple TV+ comedy be renewed for a second season.
“There have definitely been discussions,” MacFarlane told TheWrap about his hopes for scoring a Season 2 renewal. “I don’t know all the details, but we’re hoping we can make it work … I’d like to see Charlie spend a little bit more time with Will to try to understand him a little bit better.”
In addition to more Charlie and Will (Rogen) bonding, MacFarlane hopes a sophomore installment will also spotlight Rose Byrne’s Sylvia friendship with Katie (Carla Gallo) — even teasing a potential collaboration for Sylvia’s event planning business.
The Season 1 finale opens with Charlie (MacFarlane) and Sylvia finally landing their dream home — with not two but three bathrooms. Though Sylvia hesitates to invite Will to their housewarming party, Charlie takes the high road by reaching out to Will despite their fraught history.
“I think a part of [Charlie’s] journey on the show is understanding that a friendship outside of yours is good for you,” MacFarlane said. “Sylvia, clearly, in the sort of episodes that we didn’t see, before the show began, did feel like something was missing, and [she] got a little reckless but I also think that it was something that she needed to do. I’d like to think that Charlie recognizes that some good stuff came out of it.”
While Sylvia and Will dive right back into their antics at the housewarming party after convincing themselves they saw a UFO, the pair make up (again) when Sylvia encourages Will to pursue a job opportunity in San Diego. Flash forward to one year later, Will is settled into his new life and has even gotten engaged to his co-worker, and Sylvia graciously agrees to plan their wedding.
As Charlie embraces Sylvia and Will’s relationship during the next phase of his life, MacFarlane imagines the couple “can laugh at it all a little more easily” a year after Will’s reentrance into Sylvia’s life prompted total chaos over the pair’s suburban life.
“I believe they’re actually in a really healthy place — I think that they always had a really healthy relationship — They understand each other,” MacFarlane said. “I imagine they’re able to look [back and] laugh at this misadventure and the craziness that happened, and I think that they probably got over that by doing what they always do [which] is [not] really keep secrets from each other for that long, or at least Charlie doesn’t keep secrets from her that long.”
Just as Sylvia’s friendship with Will reinvigorated a part of her past that stirred up some complicated feelings from Charlie, Charlie’s attempt to be a little reckless manifested in a drunken dry-humping session with his co-worker, which he immediately confesses to Sylvia.
“I remember Nick [Stoller] and Francesca [Delbanco] telling me the storyline first and being worried about it,” MacFarlane said. “Nick said something to me right off the bat, he was like, ‘Yeah, this thing happens, and literally 10 minutes later, he’s in the car driving home and he tells his wife.’
While MacFarlane notes that Charlie was trying to emulate the same reckless youthfulness as Sylvia, he admits that Charlie might not have a cheeky past with which he connect in the same way. “The truth is, he was never really that guy,” MacFarlane said. “I imagined when he was in law school, he worked really hard [and] he never really got too out of control, and that’s why Sylvia fell in love with him.”
Now, after the dust has settled, MacFarlane insists that Charlie, Sylvia and Will are all in a good place — that is unless Will ever tells Sylvia he doesn’t like Charlie.
“I’d like to think that Charlie thinks Will likes him, and I think Charlie is still concerned that Will just puts up with Charlie,” MacFarlane said. “I think that Charlie will continue to be very transparent with him and try to invite him out to stuff .. I just hope he doesn’t ever say to Sylvia, ‘I don’t like your husband,’ because that I think would break Charlie’s heart.”
