‘Adults’: Raven-Symoné Breaks Down Talia & Anton’s Sibling Bickering in Season 2

Adults Season 2 uncovered so many wonderful surprises, one of which was Anton’s (Owen Thiele) sister, Talia (Raven-Symoné), despite their inability to get along.

Anton, it turns out, treats all of his family members like the worst people he’s ever met, which is the polar opposite of how he treats everyone else. That didn’t stop him from vying to be the sperm donor for his sister and her wife, Brooke (Cassandra Blair), when they visited, leaving him frustrated and angered when they propositioned Paul Baker (Jack Innanen) instead.

Ultimately, Anton and Talia found common ground while chatting about their jobs and mended fences by the end of the episode, but proved there would always be an underlying tension. Raven opens up about joining the comedy, that applause-filled entrance, her viral “f**k your fairies” line, and so much more in the Q&A below.

How did your appearance on the show come together? Was it Ben and Rebecca who reached out, or Owen who kicked things off?

Raven-Symoné: Owen, myself, my wife, and some other people — we had been talking previously, and he had expressed to me that he’s always wanted to work with me, and I was like, I would love to work with you too, and his love for TSR and things of that nature, and it was amazing. I didn’t think anything of it after that, and then the next thing I know, my agent is saying, hey, they want you to come on as Owen’s sister. I’m like, hm, I wonder if he was doing some reconnaissance before this happened? [Laughs] And I’m so glad he did. I enjoyed working with the EPs and all of the actors; it worked out very well.

FX

You make your grand entrance as if this was a classic multi-cam sitcom. Was there an applause track, or were you told to pause for applause? 

It was definitely pause for applause and carry on with the scene, which I thought was gonna be really funny. What I loved about how they did it was they let it live in single-camera life, and then just added the multi-cam on top of it instead of trying to mash it up too much and making it muddy, which I really appreciated. I think that the two art forms are beautiful, and when they’re done in a mashup well, like they did with this episode, then it can be something magical. But I think if it was an actual applause and I was like, “Am I on stage? What’s happening?” I think my brain would have exploded. So I think they did it just right.

Talia and Anton don’t get along unless they’re talking about work. Why do you think that’s the common ground they’re able to find?

That’s a great question. I never really dove too deep, but I’ll dive with you right now. I think work is a mask that we sharpen and shine up in order to survive in our society, and it’s the best parts of us that we can muster and put forward. It’s the foundational learning that our parents teach us; it’s our passion; it’s our love for something that we can tolerate stress from and find joy in. So, I think that they connect on that level because they’ve both found joy in their work, and the joy can rise above the anger and all of the bickering that comes when you’re kids.

Now that Anton and Paul Baker are likely becoming a couple. What would you imagine a true double date between them and Talia and Brooke might look like?

I think a double date would be hilarious. Having Talia and her brother fight to create the best date possible, and us just going ham at it and adding some of that physical comedy in there of just trying our best to one-up each other. “No, I think Paul Baker likes this. Well, I think your wife would like this,” and I like really finding out who can make [our partners] the happiest would be hilarious, just to see them bicker more. I think they do really well at that.

FX

Yvette Nicole Brown voices Anton and Talia’s mother on the phone call in Episode 3. Would you like to see her drop into the show?

I would love to have Yvette come in. First of all, love her personally. She’s been on the podcast. She’s such a motherly figure, an auntie in my life, so yeah, having on-screen time with her outside of That’s So Raven would be great.

Apart from Anton’s attitude, what makes Paul Baker the ideal choice for a sperm donor in Talia and Brooke’s eyes? 

I think at that moment, it’s the stereotype of what Paul Baker drops — these little crumbs every now and then — and the calmness that he brought to that scene. I think that it’s close enough, too. I know within the community, finding the donor on either side, whether it’s the egg or the sperm, I think it’s really important that you find someone that understands, that communicates, that is close to family values, and I mean he’s not difficult to look at either… so, you know. But we’ll see as they continue to learn Paul Baker, and as they continue to see the relationship grow.

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Is there a bit of dialogue from the season that you particularly enjoyed? Talia’s delivery of “f**k your fairies” seemed to hit big with audiences. 

That scene was my favorite for sure. We did that scene multiple times, and “f**k your fairies…” I feel like it happened within the seventh take, and it was just like, “Yo, f**k your fairy tale. I’m tired of this s**t.” But the way that that scene escalated and the different takes that they got and the feelings that they got… for me, it was really emotional because my brother is no longer on this planet, so this was the first job that I did where I had a brother that I had to play against.

So, I’ll just leave it there and let anyone speculate what was going on in my head, but this was an important role for me to get just to ground my personal self and to be able to have that spat again with a younger brother; it brought me joy and emotional feelings. I had the feels that day, and the dialogue in Adults from the first season to now has always been top tier for me.  The content has always been top tier. I was so honored to be able to be a part of it and play his sister and be able to give these one-liners and quips. It really felt good to be able to use a range of emotions that were already in my heart because of my personal life.

FX’s Adults, Seasons 1-2, Streaming now, Hulu