Apple TV+’s comedy High Desert stars Patricia Arquette (Medium, Severence) as Peggy, a private investigator and recovering drug addict. In the season one finale, Peggy and Guru Bob, played by Rupert Friend (The Anatomy Of A Scandal, Homeland), were kidnapped, but their kidnappers Nick Gattchi, played by Carmine Giovazzo (Duke, Shasta McNasty), and Leo Gattchi, played by Michael Masini (Americons, Fifty Pills), ended up killing each other. Arquette sat down with the Hollywood Reporter to discuss the finale.
“There’s a little bit of a High Noon quality that starts happening in the last episode, where there is definitely a lot of craziness that ensues,” she said. “It’s high stakes. And even at the very end with Peggy, what’s gonna happen with her? Of course Peggy’s in a life-or-death possible situation at the end. That’s part of what her siblings are terrified of — her ability to put herself there. And one of the reasons she gets in [the cannon] is this other part of her that’s codependent when she has to be responsible, and she gave her word to Owen (Eric Petersen), and everyone depends on her, even though she’s the last person we should really depend on. But she’s in there, and there’s a part of her and a part of every addict: Do they want to be here, or do they want to go?”
Arquette also talked about the experience of being a part of the show’s cliffhanger ending. “We really wanted to make this kind of outrageous, crazy, wild ride — Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride,” she said. “A wild adventure and not play it safe. It’s really weird being an actor because you make this world, and you fall in love with these characters, and it’s like, ‘Oh, are you gonna get a second season? Where are they gonna go?’ And you don’t know, and you’re in this nebulous place. It’s almost like taking off your whole body or exoskeleton and hanging it on a hook, and it’s in a freezer. You’re just in this no man’s land of waiting to see if you put it back on again.”
Arquette teased the possibility of a second season. “I don’t know,” she said. “I guess it will depend on how well the show does and how people respond. I just love Peggy, and I love this world, and I think it’s a really fresh thing that we’re not seeing on TV at all.”
The first season of High Desert is available to stream for Apple TV+ subscribers.