‘Adults’ Stars Reveal Season 2’s Romantic Tensions & How the Prequel Sets Up the Story

Crack a glow stick and dust off your popcorn forest choreography because your favorite group of TV friends is finally back (sort of), as Adults drops its prequel episode, “Marathon Day.”

While it isn’t picking up where Season 1’s jaw-dropping finale ended, the installment is delivering plenty of lore for the pals at the center of FX’s laugh-out-loud comedy, as well as the Anton (Owen Thiele) and Paul Baker (Jack Innanen) crumbs everyone is hungry for after the pair shared a steamy kiss following a visa-motivated marriage.

Tiding viewers over until Season 2’s official premiere on August 27, cocreator Ben Kronengold says of the special episode, “The question we get the most often from fans is how the group all got together. So, we thought this was a fun opportunity, as we gear up to release Season 2 in August, to show our five housemates’ origin story — back before they knew Paul Baker, back before Samir’s (Malik Elassal) parents even knew anyone was living in the house.” Warning: Spoilers for Adults’ prequel episode, “Marathon Day” ahead!

As viewers see in the episode, Anton, Issa (Amita Rao), and Billie (Lucy Freyer) have already moved into Samir’s family home, but a ring camera has them coming and going from the premises in stealthy ways. When the group turns on the TV to observe the New York Marathon, Anton finds he has a whole support group standing and waiting on the sidelines to see him run past, revealing to his friend group that he lied about being a runner and may have told them he’s partaking in said marathon.

Michael Gibson / FX

Eager to help their friend keep up his facade with the coworkers, they rally to make Anton look like a legitimate racer with a fake number tag and everything. While Samir and Issa make signs in a local cafe to hold up for the scenario, one of the runners stumbles in disoriented, and it turns out to be Paul Baker. Smitten at first sight, Issa tends to him after he collapses, but lies to the group on the sidelines at the marathon and says she sent Paul Baker on his way.

Later, when the friends have returned home, their ruse becomes endangered when Anton’s coworkers arrive at the house in hopes of congratulating the runner. Unable to sneak out the front door due to the ring camera, Anton escapes upstairs to hop out of a window and stumble into the house so he can appear like he just finished the race.

But Anton’s trip upstairs reveals that Issa secretly stashed Paul Baker up there, leading to a rather important meet-cute. As Anton questions the stranger, he explains his predicament to Paul Baker, who’s mystified about everyone lying for Anton’s benefit. Anton explains that’s what friends do.

FX

As Anton makes his grand entrance in front of his coworkers, he realizes he doesn’t have the medal runners get in the marathon, and Paul Baker ends up lending his own to help Anton out. “We love the idea it takes Anton to explain to sweet, ethical Paul Baker that friendship is often just about participating in each other’s convoluted schemes, and backing each other up even when you probably shouldn’t,” cocreator Rebecca Shaw says, noting, “It’s a running theme in the series.”

“In many ways, we’re watching Paul Baker fall in love with this group and the ways they show up for each other,” she adds, making it the perfect precursor to Season 2’s hilarious drama.

“Obviously, by the time we meet the group in the first episode of Season 1, Issa and Paul Baker are dating, so we wanted to give them a meet-cute,” Shaw explains. “But that’s often how it feels when you meet the important friends and partners of your 20s, right? Like fate brought you together. It was also important for us to give Paul Baker and Anton a meet-cute, too, which we see later when they run into each other upstairs. So, fate was working on two fronts.”

“This season, the relationships in the house are going to get tested in new ways, so it’s especially important to see where they began,” Kronengold continues. Much of that tension comes as a result of the clear feelings between Anton and Paul Baker, despite the latter being in a relationship with Issa.

Michael Gibson / FX

“We pick up where we left off at kind of a tense place,” Rao explains. “We ended the season in a place where obviously, some emotions weren’t being talked about between Paul Baker and Anton, and I think that tension is alive and well in the house, and Issa is responding to it.”

Meanwhile, Thiele teases that Anton is “as withdrawn as possible because he is in love with someone in the house who is his best friend’s boyfriend.” And for Paul Baker, “that’s under the surface for him,” shares Innanen.

Billie and Samir are dealing with their own romantic exploits. Freyer shares, “Billie is having fun dating around, inviting some people into the house… a lot of people into the house.”

Elassal reveals, “When we start this season, [Samir] is full simp, just completely simping.” His relationship with Carly (Rachel Marsh) carries over into Season 2.

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And expect plenty of action on the guest star front as the comedy keeps up its tradition of bringing in big names to experience the day-to-day woes this friend group faces. Rao says, “I feel like I’m very excited for [fans] to meet Anton’s sister,” who is played by Raven-Symoné.

“She’s amazing. I mean, Anton doesn’t think so, but she is amazing. Raven-Symoné is amazing,” Thiele teases of the sibling dynamic. “I also loved working with Susie Essman,” he adds. “She is a brilliant comedic force who should be cast in every single project that ever existed.”

See the stars open up more about Season 2 in the video above, which may or may not feature their best Raven Baxter vision face à la That’s So Raven, and stay tuned for more as Adults‘ latest chapter nears.

Adults, Season 2 Premiere, Thursday, August 27, 9/8c, FXX and Hulu