Nathan Rousseau Smith

As the cast of the HBO Max Original Love Live descended onto the red carpet of the DGA Theater in New York City to celebrate the release of season 2, the excitement was clear. Smiling faces and camera flashes were a welcome return to normalcy as part of the Tribeca Fall Preview. Of course, the Knockturnal was there to cover it all! If you missed season one, starring Anna Kendrick, don’t worry. Season two is in the same universe, but a completely different storyline starring Emmy nominee and executive producer William Jackson Harper.

Harper plays Marcus Watkins, a man working in publishing whose marriage unexpectedly implodes. Marcus is forced to rebuild his life brick by brick, hoping to find a love that will last. The season leans into the mess of what dating is really like, the good, the bad, and the ugly. It even explores issues of race and dating interracially. On that issue Williams says, “We did think it was very important to be as authentic as possible, but also Marcus is just Marcus and what really comes through in the first episode is the pressure that black people are under just by existing. He wants to do well at his job, he has these ideas, so we throw a lot of Marcus in the first episode because it’s really showing what it’s like to be a black professional. We wanted to do it in a nuanced way.”

On the red carpet, Harper was joined by his co-stars Jessica Williams, Punkie Johnson and Chris “Comedian CP” Powell. Anna Kendrick also made a surprise appearance as well as Janet Hubert, Arian Moayed, and John Earl Jelks. Showrunners Sam Boyd, Bridget Bedard, and Rachelle Williams also joined in the celebrations alongside the legend, Executive Producer Paul Feig.

The 10 episode season is now streaming on HBO Max.