‘Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist’: 10 Questions That Will Likely Never Be Answered
The Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist finale might have given us closure in one regard (the love triangle seems to have been put to bed definitively) but it also ended on quite the cliffhanger, one that left both characters involved as shocked as we were watching it. And unfortunately, the series was not only canceled by NBC, but it also has yet to be picked up anywhere else. (The options on the cast expired on July 1, though Lionsgate Television hasn’t given up on finding a new home.)
After Zoey (Jane Levy) spent two seasons being able to hear people’s inner thoughts via heart songs, her ex-boyfriend Max (Skylar Astin) somehow gained her power just as they got back together. (The fact that she had that window into his head had been a problem for them.) The two were left standing, staring at each other, after she sang “I Melt With You.”
Meanwhile, Simon (John Clarence Stewart) — following his and Zoey’s mature breakup — got a new job at SPRQ Point, Mo (Alex Newell) and Perry (David St. Louis) were back together, and Maggie (Mary Steenburgen) decided it’s time to start dating again after losing Mitch (Peter Gallagher) in Season 1.
Until we hear otherwise, we can only assume that we will not be getting a Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist Season 3, so scroll down to see the questions we’ll probably never get answered.
Why did Max hear Zoey singing a heart song?
On the one hand, it put them on more even ground, executive producer Austin Winsberg explained to TV Insider: “Going forward, the idea would be that after all this time that she got a window into him, he now actually gets a window into her. And I feel like in order for relationships to work in general in life there needs to be some sort of balance or equality. Giving him the power now allows him to see what’s going on in her head, too, and to empathize with her and to understand. On top of that, for romantic comedy purposes, I just think it’s funny for two people to be in a relationship and know exactly what the other person is thinking and what kind of complications that might cause.”
However, we don’t know what the in-story reason would be. Was it the universe intervening? Was it Zoey’s power projected onto Max or him developing the ability himself?
Can he hear anyone else's heart songs?
At the time of the finale, “that is something that has not fully been decided yet,” Winsberg admitted. We have a feeling that would depend on whether the power is his or still Zoey’s. If it’s his, he could hear anyone‘s heart song. If it’s Zoey’s, he might just be able to hear hers and possibly those she hears.
Will Max hearing heart songs affect Zoey's ability?
If he heard Zoey’s heart song because it’s still her ability (just evolving), is it possible that could affect the heart songs she hears? For example, could she miss someone else’s because he’s hearing hers at a certain moment?
Can Max and Zoey make a relationship work this time?
While Winsberg pointed out the couple is moving forward “without the baggage of [Zoey] having been in the throes of grief like she was early on in the season,” he added that doesn’t mean there won’t be “new challenges … from the fact that now they have this complication that they can both hear each other’s songs.” In other words, it sounds like the plan was for a bit of a bumpy road (though probably not as much as Season 2, during which both saw other people).
Can Zoey and Simon really (finally) be friends?
The love triangle was seemingly finally resolved after Zoey and Simon gave a relationship a go, only for them to maturely break up in the finale (and he remained in the dark about her power). Considering they still work together and Zoey’s did a great job of building Max and Simon’s friendship, the exes are going to remain in each other’s orbits — and perhaps be the friends they never really could before because of the “what if?” hanging over them.
How will SPRQ Point change with Simon's new job?
In the finale, Simon approached Danny Michael Davis (Noah Weisberg) about creating an incubation program for small businesses and focus on people of color and other marginalized groups. That was “paving the road for us to tell us more inclusive stories in Season 3 and bringing new, smaller businesses and more diversity into SPRQ Point,” Winsberg said. But would it do what Simon had hoped it would when he came up with the idea?
What does the future look like for Mo and Perry?
Mo and Perry got past the obstacles they encountered in Season 2 and were together by the end — and it doesn’t sound like it was going to get any easier moving forward. “Now that they have come to a better place, I’m excited to see what it’s like for Mo, who was kind of this carefree, independent person, suddenly in Season 3, having to be in a relationship with an older man, who’s got two kids and an ex,” the executive producer said. “I am excited about the idea of scenes with Mo and children and really exploring what it means for Mo to venture into a more domestic situation and the comedy and the challenges that can go along with it.” But that does sound like the plan was to have Mo and Perry together during these next challenges.
What will dating look like for Maggie?
Maggie spent Season 2 figuring out who she is without Mitch and announced plans to her children to think about dating again. “It’s interesting to take a real look at a woman of a certain age and what it means to try to go back into the dating world again,” according to Winsberg. “I’m excited about the kind of stories we can tell there.” Chances are some of the problems to arise would come from her son David’s (Andrew Leeds) reaction considering how he handled the idea in Season 2.
How might Peter Gallagher return in the future?
It did seem like Zoey got a bit of closure with her late father in her finale dream (during which he sang “I Lived”), but we would’ve hated that to be the last time we see Gallagher as Mitch. “It’s just all about trying to find unique ways to bring him into the storytelling, but I am always in favor of bringing Peter back and I just feel like he brings so much to the part,” Winsberg shared. “I also feel like it just rounds out things for the cast and also brings a lot to Zoey. I feel like he’s the most important person in her life and a guiding force and hopefully, we can find ways that he can continue to be a guiding force even in death.”
Will Lauren Graham be back?
Graham’s absence in Season 2 was due to her work on Disney+’s The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers; she appeared in the premiere but had been slated for “a lot of the first half of the season’s episodes,” Winsberg said. The hope was to have her back as Joan in Season 3.
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