Warning: This post contains spoilers from the season 2 finale ofThe Flight Attendant.
Cassie Bowden (Kaley Cuoco) has done it again.
Somehow, she’s not only solved an international mystery, but she’s survived it.
Kaley Cuoco on ‘The Flight Attendant’.Lara Solanki/ HBOMax
But that’s not to say it wasn’t a very bumpy ride to get there.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I came out of this season, like Cassie, smiling.
What would you say your goal was with this ending?
Kaley Cuoco and Cheryl Hines on ‘The Flight Attendant’.Jennifer Rose Clasen/HBO Max
STEVE YOCKEY:I love that you felt good at the end.
I think in season 1, the goal of the finale was to make it feel satisfying.
And so we figured we would do that again with season 2 on a larger scale.
And I feel like it’s good that you feel that way.
That was the goal.
YOCKEY:Our plan has always been that each season would be its own standalone Cassie Bowden-as-the-flight-attendant adventure.
So I feel like the season finale of season 1 could have been a series finale.
I feel like this could also serve as a series finale.
We feel like Cassie’s in a good place.
Things are moving forward.
She’s taking better care of herself.
Annie [Zosia Mamet] and Max [Deniz Akdeniz] are okay.
Megan’s [Rosie Perez] finally maybe got her feet back on the ground.
NATALIE CHAIDEZ:Big ideas.
YOCKEY:Nuclear submarine big ideas.
What can you say about those ideas and what you’d like to do in a potential third season?
Season 1 was about her admitting that.
Season 2 was just like, “What do I do with that other piece?”
What was the message you all wanted to send with this finale?
YOCKEY:Season 1 was about honesty.
What happens when you lie to yourself?
What happens when you have to start telling the truth?
And that was in all the characters.
This year was self-acceptance for us.
That’s where we started from.
And then that double theme ended up taking over the entire season, literally.
And we loved showing that it isn’t just, “I got my white chip.
I’ve got one day under my belt.”
It’s also everything that comes after that.
That phone call was incredible.
What was it like for you all to see Sharon Stone in this role?
She has many friends, family, loved ones in the recovery community.
And we said, “Oh my goodness, could she be Cassie’s mom?
Could she be Lisa?”
She signed on and it was a movie star arrival on set.
Her and Kaley were just electric.
What you see in that episode is the camera just rolled.
She blew up that part in a way that we could not have imagined.
What was the inspiration for that whole story?
I don’t know what it is.
I just want one more of those oh sh– moments."
We put it to the entire writers' room.
And we realized she could be so much more.
And we were like, “We have to do that.”
And then we went hard in that direction.
I also want to talk about Megan because she had such a wonderful conclusion.
And how we get there, not exactly sure.
We love that character and her journey of hiding secrets.
It’s not over yet.
CHAIDEZ:We wanted to leave her in this great place.
She’s accepted all of these pieces with herself.
She’s made it through the season.
Her friendship with Annie and Max has stayed intact, and she’s alone and it’s enough.
She’s dancing by herself, and it’s just this moment of happiness.
And it took this battle of season 2 to get to that shot.
And as soon as we saw that shot on set actually, it was just magic.
Cassie does the twirl, and you just feel her sense of contentment.
That really was the cap on our season that said exactly what we wanted to say.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
