After keeping her guest appearance on the season two finale of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt under wraps, Lisa Kudrow is opening up to The Hollywood Reporter about what it was like to work on the show with Ellie Kemper, Tina Fey and Robert Carlock.
If you haven’t finished season two of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, beware of massive spoilers.
In the season two finale of Kimmy Schmidt, Kimmy travels to Florida to find her mother, who she hasn’t talked to since before she was kidnapped and put in the bunker. When she arrives at Universal Studios, viewers got to finally see who would be portraying Kimmy Schmidt’s mom and were pleasantly shocked to see Lisa Kudrow appear.
Showrunner Robert Carlock said it was no-brainer for Lisa Kudrow to appear on the show as Kimmy’s mom, Lori-Anne. He told The Hollywood Reporter that “We wanted to find somebody who could tell a story where you understood where [Kimmy] came from, with this optimism and sunniness and strength. They both are very good at moving forward, grinning and bearing it, and having fun. I just think there is no actress other than Lisa who encapsulates that.”
And luckily, Kudrow was available and was a fan of the show, citing that as her number one reason for wanting to do the show. She said the second reason she wanted to do the show was because it’s Tina Fey and Carlock who work on the show.
Kudrow did say that she was worried about getting the dialogue right since she had watched 30 Rock and didn’t want to mess up the dialogue and the pacing.
And while there aren’t plans for Kudrow to appear in the third season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, the door is always open for Kudrow to pop up on the show since Lori-Anne has somewhat re-entered her daughter’s life again.
Kudrow also talked about a potential third season for HBO’s The Comeback, saying that she’s in talks with co-creator Michael Patrick King about the possibility for the show to come back.
Kudrow is perhaps most famous for her role on the hit sitcom Friends, where she played Phoebe Buffay, the kooky but lovable guitar playing friend, for all 10 seasons the show was on air. She last reunited with the Friends cast earlier in 2016 when five of the six friends were present at NBC’s tribute to James Burrows.
She also starred on and co-wrote Showtime’s Web Therapy, which ended its four-year run in 2015. Kudrow also had a four-episode guest-starring role on ABC’s popular drama Scandal in 2013.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is now streaming on Netflix.