O-T Fagbenle Reveals ‘The Miniature Wife’s Weirdest Day & More

The Miniature Wife, which premiered last week on Peacock, features a ton of familiar faces, including O-T Fagbenle, who turns in a hilarious turn as Richie to counter his much more serious dramatic performances in The Handmaid’s Tale and Presumed Innocent.

Richie is a physicist assisting Les Littlejohn (Matthew Macfadyen) in his quest to miniaturize and regrow biological organisms to solve world hunger issues — and win a Nobel Peace Prize in the process, of course. As dedicated as he is to that work, though, Richie’s heart is somewhere else; he’s desperately in love with Richie’s wife, Lindy (Elizabeth Banks), and would do anything for her. Worse, she knows it and uses it to her advantage during a devastating disagreement with Les; she is miniaturized and kept in a dollhouse to await the completion of his experimental regrowth formula. This leads to some hilarious hijinks, of which Richie becomes a very large — make that small — part.

After speaking to Fagbenle, alongside costars, about some of the finer details of the series already, TV Insider got an opportunity to get even more of our most burning questions answered by the actor, so read on to see what he had to say about working on the zany comedy. In The Miniature Wife, you had to work with a ton of oversized props, some of which were pretty funny. Which one was your favorite?

O-T Fagbenle: I had a bunch of favorites. There was this really large phone, which you could only swipe by using your entire body… And then there was a giant chocolate bar, which they tried to keep away from me, but I knew where it was kept.

You also spent a lot of time in a Nativity setup, even though this is not like a Christmas story, and it elevated the camp so much. How did these oddball, miniaturized sets help you to get into the zone for the more screwball moments of the show?

I mean, it’s like, doesn’t everyone want to spend some time as a miniature person in a giant world? It was like a dream come true kind of thing for me. So it was just fun being in this weird, big world. And yes, having little baby Jesus was very encouraging.

Little Baby Jesus as a costar. Great. It’s like, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids for adults, I feel like.

Yeah, it is, I mean, because, look, at the heart of it is this relationship, which is going to a lot of marital strife, and then one of them gets shrunk to six inches tall. It’s quite hard to see eye to eye in that kind of situation, but they have to muddle their way through, and yeah, so it’s kind of got heart, but it’s also pretty funny. Marriage is hard.

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So we didn’t get to see the battle of the big bird play out. So how do you imagine that went for him to defeat this creature that’s like, 50 times bigger than Richie?

Wait, they cut out my fight sequence with the big bird? I’m outraged! Because it’s a sequence in the show where basically my nemesis, OK, my character’s in love with his boss’ wife. It’s not the best situation, and so in return, he decides to feed me to his little bird. And we have a fight sequence, which leaves me worse for wear, but the bird was dead, so how did the fight work out in my favor?

Why do you think he went along with the fake hookup with Lindy in the dollhouse where she was just trying to taunt Les?

Oh, because I think at that point he thinks this is a real hookup. He’s not trying to set anything up. The love of his life, his sun rising on the horizon, has invited him to her boudoir, as one may say, and he accepts, but it was a ruse.

Peacock

Do you think Richie and Les will be able to rekindle their friendship, or at least their working relationship, after this?

I definitely hope so. You know, RPW, who I play, is an optimist, and he thinks things might work out.

If the show’s been renewed for Season 2, what do you think is next for him? 

I want to be big. I want to be Godzilla-sized, not just normal-sized again. Oh no, no, no. Let me go on to the top.

Season 2 is The Gigantic Wife! When you first heard the idea for the show, what was your reaction to it? 

It’s so exciting to do something kind of absurdist, but like I said before, because it’s got so much heart, it kind of balances out how crazy and ridiculous it all is. And so after reading it and thinking, this is like nothing else I’ve seen on television, I was like, “I’m in.”

Was there one day on set that felt particularly weirder than the rest? Because, I mean, you already have these massive props, and it’s such a good absurd concept. But what day stands out?

Well, there was a day when they covered me head-to-toe in honey, and then attached giant seeds to my face and gashes across my head, and then hung me upside down until all the blood rushed to my head, and I thought, “This is where I go to work.”

You have a really boring job. Do you ever want to leave it?

It keeps me off the streets, I guess.

The Miniature Wife, Steaming now, Peacock

– Reporting by Kelli Boyle