#“I Think People Feel Seen”: ‘THR Presents’ Q&A With the Cast of ‘Party Down’

After a 13-year hiatus, Party Down, the comedy-drama about a group of aspiring actors in L.A. who work as caterers to make ends meet, made its return to Starz for a third season on Feb. 24. Unlike some of the show’s characters who, over time, have given up hope of playing their dream roles, the actors behind the series remained committed to reprising their parts in the cult classic.

“It wasn’t necessarily a matter of it anyone wanted to do it; it was just a matter of when and how,” said Adam Scott, who plays Henry Pollard, during a recent THR Presents panel powered by Vision Media. “The entire 13 years since we finished shooting season two, we’ve been talking about doing more.”

With the revival of Party Down came new additions to the ensemble cast, which includes Scott, Ken Marino, Jane Lynch, Megan Mullally, Ryan Hansen and Martin Starr. In season three, Zoë Chao and Tyrel Jackson Williams joined as Lucy Dang and Sackson, Party Down catering company’s newest employees.

“Me and Zoë talk about this all the time, how nerve-racking it was to jump into this well-established thing, but everyone was so warm and welcoming and encouraging that there was no added stress,” Jackson Williams said. “They didn’t throw us in the deep end; they gave us time to adjust.”

Speaking to that sentiment, Chao said, “I think we really bonded over being the new kids and not wanting to eff up something that was, in our minds, perfect. When I found out that they were going to add a couple new characters to the cast I was like, ‘That’s a terrible idea. It’s already a perfect ecosystem. Whoever gets cast is going to screw it up,’” she added, laughing. “But then I was like, ‘Can I go in for it?’”

To the point of being a perfect show, Party Down holds a 94 percent average approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Season one sitting at 87 percent, season two 100 percent and season three 95 percent. Marino, who plays Ron Donald and who also directed episode four of season three, attributes those numbers to the show’s relatability among audiences.

“I think people feel seen,” he said. “Most of life is trying to achieve something. That’s the goal, but most of your life is the time in between that and who you spend your time with. People can relate to that. We all have those friends and those co-workers who we work with in our lives where we’re like, this is not the thing I want to do but I’ve hung out with these people more than anywhere else, and they become a family and you get to know these people and that’s what I feel like Party Down is and why people relate to it so much.”

Added Scott in agreement, “A lot of life ends up negotiating failure or what you perceive as failure in yourself or other people and I think that’s something that everyone can connect to — failure of some sort and how it makes you feel and how you pick up and carry on from that.”

For more from the cast of Party Down, watch the full video at the top of the page. This edition of THR Presents is sponsored by Starz.