The Studio season 2: Seth Rogen opens up on Catherine O’Hara loss

No matter when The Studio season 2 does premiere on Apple TV, there is inarguably going to be a missing piece within the cast. Catherine O’Hara passed away shortly after the start of production, meaning that the series is down one important cast member and beyond that, an inspiration to star and executive producer Seth Rogen.

In a new piece at the New York Times, Rogen confirms that he knew about O’Hara’s illness between seasons, and noted that she wanted noting more than to be a part of it:

“It was just incredibly sad … We started to hear she was sick. As we were nearing the second season, we would talk to her and she really wanted to come back. Honestly, in the back of our heads we were like, ‘We hope she can, but we don’t know if she’ll be able to.'”

As is often the case, the situation led to Rogen and the producers coming up with various contingency plans. The cast and crew did end up filming shortly after the news broke and in some ways, that served as the best manner in which they could honor her.

“We heard she passed away one morning. It was the first week of shooting. t was really, really sad. We were all together, the whole crew, and everyone loved her very much. We didn’t know what to do, and we just kept shooting … I think the idea of making each other laugh and being together felt preferable to anything else we could have done that day.”

We would imagine that both in terms of the story and via a title card, The Studio will do everything that they can to honor O’Hara in season 2. She is one of those rare comedic icons whose work ended up spanning generations, and we tend to think that this impact will be felt for a rather long time.

Our thoughts and condolences continue to go out to everyone who loved O’Hara. Meanwhile, we hope to learn more about The Studio season 2 at some point over the months ahead, including a release date.