‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’ Producers Talk Season 2, Netflix Model

Kimmy Schmidt (Ellie Kemper) and the Mole Women of Indiana may have defeated Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne (Jon Hamm) in court, but Kimmy’s journey is only just beginning as the Netflix original series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt prepares for Season 2.

The cast and producers took the stage on Tuesday at the Television Critics Association press tour to reflect on the success of the Emmy-nominated comedy and preview upcoming storylines. “New obstacles may present themselves before Kimmy can go on and live a fully realized life,” said creator and executive producer Tina Fey, who also teased Kimmy’s love interest Dong (Ki Hong Lee) will return. “She’s in a big hurry to get everything she wanted out of the missing years of her life and hitting some speed bumps along the way.”

Since all 13 episodes of the first season were originally written and produced for NBC before moving to Netflix, Fey acknowledged the tone and content of the second season will not change. “I don’t think you’ll hear profanity or see nudity, but it gives us a license to play with time and structure without worrying about potentially offending an advertiser,” Fey said. “[Netflix] definitely encourage us to go past [a run time of] 21 minute and 15 seconds, which will be a wonderful burden to be relieved of.”

Fey also expressed relief at not having to adhere to the traditional network ratings system, even if Netflix does not share specific viewership information with her. “We don’t have any actual numbers, but I feel like I hear from so many more people than we heard from during 30 Rock,” she said. “It was so thrilling for people to react so immediately, and you didn’t have to beg people to stick with it.”

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