‘Sex/Life’: Sarah Shahi Slams ‘Gimmicky’ Season 2, Says She ‘Struggled With the Material’
Sarah Shahi has revealed her displeasure with her experience on set and the plot of Sex/Life Season 2. The star of Netflix‘s steamy, soap-opera like drama (which has not yet been renewed or canceled) said certain storylines felt “gimmicky,” that filming the season became “challenging” due to lack of support on set, and said she’s “not afraid” to call out the experience for what it was.
Shahi shared these shocking feelings during an appearance on Amanda Hirsch’s Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast on Tuesday, April 4, saying the Season 2 production process was “definitely a challenge.”
“I’m not going to put it down, but I definitely did not have the support that I did the first season from the people involved in the show. It became a much different thing for me, and I’m not afraid to say that,” she divulged. “I struggled with the material. I just felt the thing that it had the first season — I mean, I’m never gonna work for Netflix again now after saying all this, but I can’t lie. And it was definitely a challenge.”
From the script to the vibe on set, Shahi said, “things just felt very different.” She also said she was “bummed” by the few scenes she shared with Adam Demos, her boyfriend in real life, who had a much more significant role in Season 1. In Season 2, their characters, Billie and Brad, are not together but struggle with wanting to be. They end up together in the finale, which felt like a series finale due to all of its closed-up loose ends.
Sabrina Lantos/Netflix
“I was bummed that I wasn’t able to work with him as much because I really liked our stories and I like working with him. He was a brilliant scene partner,” Shahi shared. “Also, what ended up happening is I was working so much, and he was working so little. He’s, like, in 60 seconds of the entire thing. I never saw him.”
The frequent male nudity in Season 2, to Shahi, also didn’t sit well with the star.
“In Season 2, I felt like there were more moments that felt very gimmicky,” she said. “Those kinds of things for me are always really hard to read… But I didn’t have to do them. The boys did. There were other things that I just felt I couldn’t get behind, and it was just challenging. But that’s part of what I do! I’m not always gonna get along or agree with a filmmaker. I’m not always gonna like what I have to do or say. But that’s my job, to make it believable.”
As for the show’s future, Shahi may feel convinced her podcast comments would get her fired, but she also implied she wouldn’t be against another season. In talks with TV Insider ahead of the Season 2 premiere, Shahi, Demos, and co-star Margaret Odette said a third season would be up to the streamer. “It’ll be up to the viewers,” Shahi told us at the time.
“They always say is that it’s about the viewership,” she said on the podcast. “If it does astronomically high and is hugely successful, then it’s in their interest to bring it back. If it doesn’t, then it’s not in their interest to bring it.”
Sex/Life peaked at No. 2 on Netflix during its premiere week in March.
Shahi already has her next project in place — an ABC pilot called Judgement. In the high-stakes legal drama, she will play a woman being vetted for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Told in two different timelines 15 years apart, Judgement will show Shahi’s character as a young spitfire lawyer with a messy love life and her older, more put-together self, who worries that a former love triangle between two brothers will spell trouble for her SCOTUS hopes.
Shahi’s deal with ABC reportedly allows her to continue with Sex/Life should it be renewed.
Sex/Life, Season 2, Streaming Now, Netflix
