'Suburgatory's' Emily Kapnek Previews Season 2: Romance for Tessa, George and Guest Star Rachel Dratch

ABC

Jane Levy of 'Suburgatory'

The first season of ABC comedy Suburgatory ended with a couple of very dramatic moments. Tessa (Jane Levy) met her maternal grandmother and began exploring more about her family and absentee mother, which offered her an escape route from Chatswin for the summer.

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Over at the Shea household, Lisa (Allie Grant) found out she's very much Sheila (Ana Gasteyer) and Fred's (Chris Parnell) biological daughter, with her brother Ryan (Parker Young), in a big twist, being the one who's adopted.

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The Hollywood Reporter caught up with showrunner Emily Kapnek on Friday at ABC's cocktail party at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour and got the scoop on season two, which will find Tessa returning home with a new perspective, and feature guest star Rachel Dratch.

The Hollywood Reporter: Does season two pick up exactly where we left off at the end of season one? 
Emily Kapnek: We're jumping ahead a few months. We'll get some pops in flashback of what happened over the summer. So we're on a train back to Chatswin and Tessa is saying, "If you told me a year ago that I'd get to spend part of my summer in New York, I'd have said no f---ing way but I found this one crazy exit strategy my dad couldn't say no to: my grandma." Tessa gets off the train.

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What's in store for Tessa's dad, George (Jeremy Sisto)?

George has gone through his own metamorphosis while she's been gone. Eden (Alicia Silverstone) has moved on. The baby is there with Noah (Alan Tudyk). We're excited to see him in his single dad role because Jill's off on her book tour. We're going to be moving pretty fast and furious into the George and Dallas relationship. The time is right and everybody wants it and we want to see it. We have some really great stuff planned. I was just making Cheryl Hines blush today, telling her about an episode we have planned which is essentially the seduction of George Altman, where she's spent a lot of time, energy and resources in exactly how she's going to seduce George and it's really going to be funny. 

Will Tessa get a new love interest in season two? 
We are growing the chemistry between Tessa and Ryan. There are a bunch of situations where he comes to her rescue and he makes it very clear that he wants her back. I think that over time, he'll wear her down. The one thing about Ryan is he's so endearing and his heart's in the right place. I think old Tessa obviously loathed herself for being interested in someone like him but after being around cynical New Yorkers, we can understand why she'd be smitten with someone who's so enamored of her and so loving toward her, the genuine article of, "What you see is what you get kind of guy." 

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Lisa was so traumatized when she discovered she was not the adopted Shea sibling at the end of last season. What's in store for her? 

We'll get a little flashback glimpse of the adoption, when young Sheila and Fred first held baby Ryan.

Any fun guest stars planned?
Rachel Dratch is going to be in the Halloween episode. It's going to be so much fun to have her and Ana Gasteyer and Chris Parnell together. 

What are you looking forward to seeing next season? Suburgatory returns in the plumb post-Modern Family time slot on Wednesday, Oct. 17 at 9:30 p.m. on ABC. 

Email: diane.gordon@thr.com Twitter @thesurfreport