Kaley Cuoco on meeting Sharon Stone and playing 17 versions of herself in ‘Flight Attendant’

Is the HBO Go miniseries “The Flight Attendant” more flash than substance, opting to put a premium on mere madcappery over meaning? Well, not if you ask Rotten Tomatoes. The review aggregator has given the show’s eight-part first season an astounding 97 percent approval rating—with good reason.

The series, about promiscuous alcoholic flight attendant Cassie Bowden (star and producer Kaley Cuoco of “The Big Bang Theory”) who wakes up with a dead man (Michiel Huisman) beside her during a layover, is deeper than all the hype about the novel-turned-TV series suggests.

After a night of drunken stupor, sexual abandon and mental torpor, the barely functional and instant gratification-seeking Cassie isn’t even sure if she slashed the handsome businessman’s throat herself.

By the time Season 1 wraps up, we realize that the show’s self-destructive protagonist didn’t really do the dastardly deed. Cassie thereafter begins her arduous but inspiring journey on the road to sobriety.

That’s easier said than done, however, as we soon find out in the latest season—which takes us back to Cassie’s life a year later. We’ve seen six of the eight-part sophomore season so far, which cleverly explores the trauma and the dire circumstances that led to Cassie’s deep-seated woes.

One of the latest season’s absolute highlights show Cassie getting dragged back by her brother Davey (the terrific TR Knight of “Grey’s Anatomy”) to her estranged mother Lisa’s home, played to heart-rending perfection by the award-worthy Sharon Stone.

Tricky situation

This time around, Cassie, who’s now “living her best sober life in LA” with her new boyfriend Marco (Santiago Cabrera), has been recruited as a civilian asset for the CIA.

But when she inadvertently witnesses a murder during what seemed like just another perfunctory assignment in Germany, Cassie becomes entangled in another international intrigue—a tricky situation that necessitates a return visit to her Mind Palace, where she is confronted by different versions of herself to help her retrace her tracks as she looks for clues surrounding the crime.

“Cassie thinks she’s very smart this season because she’s sober and she is kind of telling the world, her family and friends that she’s living a whole new life,” said Kaley, when asked to explain Cassie’s state of mind in Season 2 during our recent interview with her. “But we find out very quickly that she’s lying to herself and everyone around her … that she really has not made the changes she claims she has.

“She thought sobriety was going to be an easy switch for her … like, ‘Oh, look at me now! I’m doing great.’ In reality, she’s doing worse than ever. She’s got this side gig as a CIA asset—it’s a very small job, and she’s not really an agent.

“Just the same, this excites her—especially now that she says she’s not drinking. This has become the exciting side of her life. She doesn’t feel bored because she feels like a spy! She thinks she’s more important in this field than she actually is—which is why she keeps getting in trouble.

“Cassie likes the fact that she has a secret. But she’s dying to tell someone, that’s why it doesn’t take her long to tell her best friend Annie (Zosia Mamet) and her boyfriend Max (Deniz Akdeniz).

“She checks out things [for the CIA], but she misses the highs that she gets out of alcohol, as well as the crazy ways that she used to be. So Cassie’s throwing all that into her new job, but it’s really not doing the trick for her.

“Our writing team and producers were deeply involved in making sure that all the situations involving the CIA and the jargon were right. I left that to the pros because I had enough to do just playing 17 Cassies (laughs)—yes, that’s the official count!”

Greater difficulty

For Kaley, the degree of difficulty is also greater in the brand-new season because instead of talking to the murdered Alex (Michiel) in her mind—aka the Mind Palace—she is confronted by different versions of herself!

“To tell Cassie’s continuing tale, we wanted to utilize the Mind Palace again, but we didn’t want to tell the same story,” Kaley explained. “We were like, ‘Who is she going to meet in the Mind Palace this season? And it was decided that she would meet herself, which means all these different parts of herself that she does not like.

“At first, it sounded like a great idea to play five or more of me—until I did it, and I was like, ‘What the hell was I thinking?’ It was a wild experience! There were a lot of weeks where I was basically working against myself, and with a lot of my body doubles.

“The only other show I’ve heard of doing it at this extent was [the Canadian sci-fi series] ‘Orphan Black.’ We spoke to a lot of their people who helped us figure this out. I would shoot as one Cassie for hours, then I would switch to another Cassie, basically working against myself.

“Many body doubles were acting with me, which was super helpful. But I also had to make sure my eyeline was right, and that I was moving my hands correctly. It was a lot to think about, especially for someone like me who often lets things come in the moment. Everything about this had to be very planned out.”

“It was really weird. I’ve never done anything like that before, but I think it’s going to be very cool. We definitely took a big leap. This season is 10 times bigger than it was in Season 1.”

“The Flight Attendant’s” Season 2 launches on Thursday on HBO Go.

Our Q&A with Kaley:

What do you and Cassie have in common?

Cassie and I both love to drink, although I do not like drinking at her level (laughs). She loves animals—that’s a big one we have in common. She loves to travel. She loves her friends, like Annie, Max and Megan (Rosie Perez), and would die for them. On the other hand, my family is nowhere as dysfunctional as hers, so that’s where we differ.

Your scene with Sharon Stone playing your estranged mom explained a lot of the whys from Season 1. How did she end up doing the show?

Obviously, casting Cassie’s mom was going to be a big deal, and we wanted to cast the perfect person for it. When we heard that Sharon actually loved our show and wanted to do it, I just about fell out of my chair, as you can imagine (laughs).

She was interested in playing Cassie’s mom and had real affinity for the show. She has a lot of stories about her family and what it’s like dealing with alcoholism—which made her feel very close to the story.

I’ll never forget when Sharon first landed on set. I was doing a scene with Theo (TR Knight), who plays my brother. We were in a car and all of a sudden, Sharon popped her head into the window, and she was like, ‘My kids!’ Then, she leaned in and gave us this huge hug.

Sharon was immediately being very motherly with us. When you see the scenes between Cassie and her mom, you’ll understand a lot of the trauma that they’ve both been through their whole lives.

The show was developed by showrunner Steve Yockey based on Chris Bohjalian’s 2018 novel. Did you contribute to the story for the second season, because it’s all new material, right?

Yeah, this is all new. We followed most of the book for Season 1—which was our jumping-off point for Season 2. This time, it’s based on our own story and ideas. We came up with our own stuff.

Could you talk about the themes of the show, and what viewers can take away from it?

It’s about self-acceptance and forgiveness. You have to learn to forgive yourself. Cassie is so busy trying to impress the world and the people around her that she has yet to truly look at herself and accept the person that she is.

There are different parts of ourselves that we hate and parts of ourselves that we love. What’s so cool about this season is that you see this ride that Cassie goes on before we see her finally being OK with who she has become.

That’s all we can do as people in general. I mean, I’m working on that myself … to be OK with the mistakes we all make every single day, and to accept that that’s part of life.

Stream or download the sophomore season of “The Flight Attendant” beginning April 21, only on HBO GO.

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TAGS: flight attendant, Kaley Cuoco, Sharon Stone