TV
Rafe Spall says Apple TV role is ‘exhausting in the best possible way’
Season 5 of ‘Trying’ is streaming on Apple TV
Five seasons ago, Rafe Spall stepped into the role of Jason Ross, a character that resonated with him.
Spall and his real-life partner Esther Smith, star in the Apple TV series “Trying” as Jason Ross and Nikki Newman.
According to Apple TV, the series follows Jason and Nikki who want to become parents but struggle to conceive a child. They decide to adopt, only to face a different set of challenges and surprises.
Last season saw a six-year time jump. The new season finds Nikki and Jason dealing with the consequences as their children’s biological mother turns up at their doorstep.
“Trying” will air a new episode each Wednesday through Aug. 26 on Apple TV.
Spall doesn’t hide his feelings when talking about the impact of the series.
“I love making this show, man,” he says. “I love coming back and doing it. It’s the favorite thing that I’ve ever done in my career, because it’s a show that is very reflective of the human experience. It’s about kindness and it’s about family in its different forms, and I’m really pleased to be representing goodness in an age where we’re confronted with darkness all the time. To get to do that for five years, for five seasons, is a real highlight of my career.”
Over the course of the five seasons, Spall says he has brought Jason to life on screen through great writing.
“I’m there to do my job of representing people, so I don’t really take that much myself, because I’m giving so much. I’m just trying to,” he says. “I get a script that I think is fantastic. Then go about trying to make it real and funny, and that’s where all my energy goes, honestly, is just doing a good job.”
Stepping back into Jason’s shoes for another season has brought a complex joy for Spall.
“It’s the best,” he says of being on set. “I love it because I get to hang out with my co-star, Esther Smith, who is also my romantic partner in real life. To be up close to her brilliance, there are no words. In terms of preparation, I go into it knowing that this person is a part of me, and he’s the closest character I’ve ever played to myself, and I really like that. But it’s challenging doing comedy. It’s exhausting in the best possible way.”
Spall says the entire cast works to strike the right tone between comedy and drama — in order to make it feel real.
He says everything is rooted in reality and truth, no matter how far-fetched some scenes are. During the new season, Ross heads back to school and is thrust into a new environment.
“I guess what I enjoyed is Jason going back and taking classes and being involved in a different scene and always being mistaken for the teacher or security,” he says. “I just want people to come home after a day at work, or on a day off, sit down, sit into their sofa, get the drink of their choice, have a good time, man. That’s all I want is people to have some good entertainment, to watch a show that reflects their life in some way that is universally identifiable. No matter what country you’re in, this is a show that’s on around the world, the human experience is the same.”
After five years of the series, Spall had some time recently to revisit the first season.
“I watched the first season recently, and I was just like, ‘you know this show is good, man.’ And I just felt very lucky to be a part of it. And it still stands up,” he says. “None of the characters are two dimensional. There’s no villains in this piece. Even the biological mother who comes back, she’s trying to redeem herself and trying to be a better person. We’re all just trying.”
Adrian Gomez is a freelance writer for the ϼ. He works for the New Mexico Film Office, focusing on industry research.