The actor says he's gearing up to begin filming the new season soon and hints at what's to come.
Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist may be getting ready to kick into high gear, series star Skylar Astin reveals. The 32-year-old actor, who plays Zoey's best friend Max on the acclaimed NBC musical dramedy, intimated that he's gearing up to head back up north to begin production on season 2 soon.
"Quarantine life has been very interesting. I've been developing some stuff and I had some time at home to kind of work on my own things, like my music and some writing. But now I'm off to Vancouver actually to shoot season 2 of Zoey's," Astin says in a phone interview with ET on Monday.
The freshman season finished airing in June; filming wrapped at the end of January. Astin expressed an eagerness to reunite with his castmates and crew amid a COVID-affected hiatus.
"I'm excited [to get back]. I miss the cast. I miss the team," he says. "The team is so great and there's so much pathos surrounding that story, so everyone really gets invested and puts their whole heart into it."
While Astin hasn't received any scripts yet, he admits he knows "very general things about season 2" in regard to what lies ahead for Max and the rest of the characters. "I'm excited to read some scripts," he says.
At the end of season 1, Zoey and her family said goodbye to their patriarch, Mitch, with a love-filled wake that included a seven-minute musical sequence filmed all in one take.
"I loved being a part of that episode, and of course, that season. To really see everyone in that one room at Mitch's wake, not only doing such a thrilling sequence, but also, that is where we're leaving off every character. It was done very artfully and these little moments of the nuances of Simon and Max acknowledging each other, and Max and Zoey in the staircase, it was packed with metaphors and life imitating art and vice versa," Astin reflects. "I just thought it was such a cool way to end that chapter of this story. So much so that... I think it can go so many ways."
Even though it appeared Zoey and Max made a big leap forward in exploring whatever romantic connection they have with a finale kiss, Astin -- like creator Austin Winsberg, who hinted season 2 will likely have a time jump -- was quick to downplay the momentous occasion between the two best friends.
"Speaking to the love triangle of it all, I don't know if it's a leg up per se, I just know specifically Max and Zoey, it's clearly progress for them," he says of Zoey's ongoing romantic dilemma between Max and Simon. "For no other reason than a family emergency, that moment that was cut off, so there's definitely a lot to unpack there. As Max says, I'm sure we'll do that ad nauseam in season 2."
Another question left unanswered is Max's next professional move after he decided not to return to SPRQ Point.
"I just hope that whatever it is, that it means something, because as you saw, towards the end of season 1 when he was working on the sixth floor, he was clearly coming into his own -- both professionally and personally. He's really finding his purpose," Astin says. "I hope that whatever he does in the professional world, it's a reflection of his personal growth. And I have a feeling they'll be writing toward that. I'm just excited to get in there and see what happens."
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