‘A Million Little Things’ Boss on Regina’s Health, Katherine & Eddie, and Season 4
Q&A
Gary (James Roday Rodriguez) made a very wrong call when trying to get justice for Sophie (Lizzy Green) after her music teacher Peter (Andrew Leeds) assaulted her in the A Million Little Things Season 3 finale. But much more went down, too.
Katherine (Grace Park) and Eddie (David Giuntoli) are (probably) over for good but do come to an agreement about custody of their son. (Eddie’s going to be taking weekly drug tests.) Regina (Christina Moses) makes the tough call to close her restaurant but things do seem to be looking up for her health-wise after she was injured during a protest.
TV Insider turned to showrunner DJ Nash to break down those stories and more and look ahead to Season 4.
Regina said goodbye to her restaurant, which was sad, but considering her memory when it came to Dustin, things are looking up for her health-wise, right?
DJ Nash: It does appear as though in the finale, she remembers Dustin’s daughter’s name and remembers that all their names begin with D. He even says good memory. So it does feel like she’s on the mend. I don’t think she’s back to where she was prior to the concussion.
She says at the beginning of the episode, compared to what? Rome [Romany Malco] says something like, “Who thought that Eve changing her mind wouldn’t be the worst part of our year?” I think that’s sort of what they’ve all been through — and it’s kind of what we’ve all been through. I personally know that I lost my dad this year and I was, because of COVID, not able to get to his funeral. But then you step back and you think, compared to what? My dad lived a very full life, he knew I loved him when he passed. And yet there are these people who have lost everything because of COVID. Regina’s experience in that story with Dustin is to basically say, “I lost my restaurant, but my restaurant’s a thing, it’s not a person.” While last season, the story ended with Eve changing her mind and Regina being denied the family she wanted, this season ends with her having a family that helps her pick up the pieces.
ABC/Jack Rowand
Speaking of COVID, Rome may not have been able to make his movie, but it seems like he’s found the kind of films he does want to make. What did you want to do with Rome career-wise this season to set up what’s next?
When we started the season, in the writers’ room, I think for like a day and a half, we talked about whether or not COVID should be part of our storyline. We knew the negative of including it, which is people want to escape. But at the same time, we’re also aware that our story lives and dies based on authenticity. In the first season, we were watching a couple of where one might die of cancer. We were watching someone struggle with his depression. We were watching all of these things happen. And when we looked at COVID, we realized that COVID is going to hurt restaurants, and the TV and film business was halted immediately.
There are so many stories that we’re telling in our show that were escalated because of COVID, and so we wanted to see how that happened. So with Rome’s story, his film being canceled because of COVID seemed so exactly what we were dealing with in the writers’ room. And then true to our show, sometimes the worst things in life make room for things that are better than you could have possibly imagined. So yes, he does discover this documentary and we will see more of that documentary next season. We’ll see him have both success and unexpected failures because of it. I’m excited for us to tell that story. I know that Romany, who himself is a filmmaker and had a movie come out during the run of our show, I think he identifies pretty closely with that storytelling, and I think that’s one of the reasons why that story feels so real on him.
ABC/Jack Rowand
Maggie [Allison Miller] really found herself with that podcast and with encouragement from Jamie [Chris Geere]. Is she the most settled in her life and what she wants of it than she ever has been?
Maggie, when we met her, had accepted the fact that she was going to die, and then she discovered that she can live, but was terrified to have to rediscover what life is post-cancer. And I think she struggled with that for a season and meeting Jamie, going to Oxford, discovering the podcast, she found her voice by herself. Yeah, I think she is the most settled she’s ever been.
We saw her use that voice and not only help Sophie through hopefully the last of the traumas Sophie will face, but also provide a platform for Sophie to tell her story. Next season, we’re really excited for us to see Maggie and her podcast and her moderate fame and where that takes her. There are some moving stories and also some really hilarious stories that I know that the writers are excited for Allison to portray.
ABC/Jack Rowand
It certainly looks like Katherine and Eddie over for good. Why give them a bit of happiness only to take it away in the harshest way possible?
That’s the life and world I’ve seen happen. I’ve seen couples that we have known separate and think, “Wait, hold on, maybe we can save this. Let’s not tell the kids yet.” And then they couldn’t save it. So our goal in the writers’ room is always to try to be as authentic as possible. That just felt like a very real story where they do love each other, but there are these larger forces that challenge that, some of which have nothing to do with each other — Eddie’s sobriety, the whole way that Katherine was raised and what her expectations are from herself and others in life. I think they really challenge each other. Now hopefully they’ll get to a place where even though they’re not together, they’ll still be great parents to Theo [Tristan Byon].
Is there anything new you’re looking to do with the friend group next year? For example, Katherine and Eddie are divorcing and at the beginning of the series, she was on the outs with the group but now she’s become part of it again.
I’m excited to see them date. When we started our series, the only single people on the show were Gary and Maggie and they were sort of the couple that you would be least OK with them not being together. I think now we really do have quite a few single people on the show and [we can] see how they support each other through that and how friends can be like wingmen for you, but also be a safety net for you, the people who give you the courage to walk on onto life’s stage, because you know they’re waiting in the wings.
ABC/Jack Rowand
We saw Carter [Sam Pancake] set up a [dating] profile for Katherine and now with it appearing like Alan’s [Terry Chen] out of the picture and it definitely seems like Eddie’s out of the picture, maybe it’s time for her to go on a few dates. And maybe Eddie does the same thing.
A Million Little Things, Season 4, Fall 2021, ABC
