Lessons in Chemistry star and executive producer Brie Larson, showrunner and executive producer Lee Eisenberg, and show’s co-stars Lewis Pullman and Aja Naomi King were at Deadline’s Contenders TV event Sunday to discuss the Apple TV+ limited drama series and the potential for a second season.
Based on Bonnie Garmus’ best-selling debut novel, Lessons in Chemistry, is set in the early 1950s and follows Elizabeth Zott (Larson), whose dream of being a scientist is put on hold in a patriarchal society. When Elizabeth finds herself fired from her lab, she accepts a job as a host on a TV cooking show and sets out to teach a nation of overlooked housewives – and the men who are suddenly listening – a lot more than recipes, all the while craving a return to her true love: science.
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Antonia Blyth, Lee Eisenberg, Brie Larson, Lewis Pullman and Aja Naomi King speak on a panel for “Lessons in Chemistry” at Deadline Contenders Television 2024. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
“It was the best working experience I’ve ever had, so selfishly, I want to keep working with them for as long as I can,” Eisenberg said. “If it’s Lessons in Chemistry season 2, then great. And if it’s something else, great. But it really felt like we reached the end of the story. We have no plans for a season 2.”
Larson, who signed on to star and executive produced the series in 2021, doubled down on the drama’s conclusion.
“We finished the book,” she said.
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After reading the novel, published in March 2022, Eisenberg said he became “completely obsessed.” The showrunner reached out to Apple and asked if there were any job openings on the series.
“In very short order, I was on a Zoom call with Brie, and then we were just off to the races,” he said.
Larson said that mastering the language of chemistry and conveying it on screen in layman’s terms was a “great challenge.”
“I get to be in the position to translate these incredible feats of science through Elizabeth so that the audience, at least somewhat, gets what’s going on,” Larson said. “Because we are not going to diminish her, but we also can’t create a world where she has to constantly explain herself either. So it was a great challenge. It’s like learning a new language and figuring out how to pronounce words. I learned French, and it’s not dissimilar to that idea. How do you pronounce these words? How do you say it in this way that reflects the community?”
The actress said that initially, she found it difficult to relate to Elizabeth.
“From time to time, I would think she is so different from me,” Larson said. “She’s a scientist. I could never be like that. But then, as time goes on, you are like, oh, her process is very similar to mine, and (chemistry) is a creative field. It’s just translated in a way that’s beyond. Being her was an absolute delight and pleasure, and I just never wanted it to end.”
Check back Monday for the panel video.