‘Sugar’s Laura Donnelly Breaks Her Silence on a ‘Werewolf by Night’ Sequel

Laura Donnelly is a Tony Award-nominated stage and screen actress whose work spans from Broadway to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, and now she’s joining DC alum and Academy Award nominee Colin Farrell in Apple TV’s hidden gem detective series, Sugar, for Season 2. While the hit show may have found a new showrunner in writer Sam Catlin, Donnelly assures Collider’s Steve Weintraub that the return is only “darker, and it goes more violent, and it also goes more beautiful and more innocent,” with new characters and an even bigger mystery to explore. In Season 2, Farrell’s curious private detective, John Sugar, is ready to take on a new case. This time, he’s in search of an up-and-coming boxer’s missing older brother, while still in search of his own beloved sister. But as his new case expands across Los Angeles in an evolving sinister conspiracy, Sugar has to ask himself how far he’s willing to go for what’s right.

Check out the full conversation in the video above or the transcript below, where Donnelly teases what fans can expect from her new character, Charlotte, and the one condition she had for Catlin when joining the team. She also discusses working opposite Farrell, how the show changes in Season 2, her upcoming Netflix series, Kennedy, with Michael Fassbender, and teases whether we’ll ever get a sequel to Marvel’s Werewolf by Night.

Laura Donnelly Still Loves Talking About ‘Werewolf by Night’ as Much as You Do

Donnelly played Elsa Bloodstone in the Marvel Special Presentation.

COLLIDER: I was a huge fan of Werewolf by Night. Do people still want to talk to you about it? Because it’s such an awesome Disney special.

LAURA DONNELLY: They do, and thank you for saying that. I love talking about it because I had so much fun on that. I love it. I’ll tell you who really loves it: my daughters. They just think it’s the greatest thing ever put on TV.

It’s interesting because I’ve spoken to a lot of actors who say their kids cannot watch them because they see their mom or their dad. So they don’t see you, they see the character?

DONNELLY: Yeah, or at least if they do see me, I think they’re just really proud of the idea that I’m acting with a werewolf. I think that’s the bit that really gets them.

You’ve done a lot of theater work, both on Broadway and in the West End. What is the difference between the Broadway audience and the West End audience?

DONNELLY: The Broadway audience is just more of everything. The laughs are louder, and the silence is even more still. They just listen so well, and I just feel like they get into it more. Also, because Broadway is a culture in and of itself in New York, that doesn’t necessarily exist in the same way in London. I mean, of course, we love our theater in London, but it’s more spread out, and on Broadway, you’re in these same streets, and the whole of New York feels like it knows what’s going on there, so that makes it an incredibly exciting place to be.

If you could go back in time and do one more performance from a role that you have previously done, what is something you would love to revisit for one more day?

DONNELLY: I think I would revisit The Ferryman one more time. I think there was something so personal about that story. Being in a big Irish cast, we had loads of fun. It was crazy times, and I loved it. I would love to give that one more go.

Laura Donnelly Explains Being the Antithesis to Colin Farrell’s Hero in ‘Sugar’ Season 2

“Sam brings a real beauty of clarity and nuance to the writing and to the characters.”

Image via Apple TV

Jumping into Sugar Season 2, you get cast, you know you’re going to be working with Colin [Farrell], and then you find out a lot of your scenes are going to be in a bar or a restaurant or at the hotel. What was your reaction to that, and how much were you like, “I need to be in the car. I need to be on location with him. It can’t just be at the hotel?”

DONNELLY: [Laughs] Well, it’s funny, that was literally the first thing I said. It was my deal with Sam. He was like, “So what do you think? You in?” And I said, “I’ll do it if I can get in the car.” And he was like, “Deal.”

That’s very funny. You and Colin are great together, but you’re like the noiress, like, “What’s going on?” You know what I mean.

DONNELLY: Yeah, there’s a big question mark over the top of Charlotte’s head.

100%. What do you want to tease people about your role in Sugar Season 2? Are you part of the mythology, or are you part of the mystery of the season?

DONNELLY: I think the season is one entire big mystery, isn’t it? What I love about this show, what I loved about the first season and the second one, is you never quite know where you stand at all with any of the characters. Anybody who watched the first season can see that it doesn’t mind absolutely flipping a genre on its head. So, what I like about Charlotte is that whatever you think you know about how this is going, whatever you might know about how these characters tend to go, and the genre, and all the rest, you don’t know what to expect, and that’s the joy of her.

Colin plays the character with such gentleness inside a very dangerous world. What was your first impression of stepping into the scenes opposite that energy?

DONNELLY: With Colin, he’s just such a truthful actor. There’s no aspect of anything that he brings over that isn’t based 100% in the truth, and that goes to deep behind his eyes. It makes it very, very easy for me to do my job because it’s just response. He’s so layered, and he’s not got everything on the surface all at one go, and so it was really just a case of responding to what was there in front of me.

This season, Sam [Catlin] is the new showrunner, and without getting too specific, Episode 1 wraps up a lot of Season 1. It goes into a new thing. As someone who’s watched Season 1 and as part of Season 2, is there a big difference Sam brought in terms of being a new showrunner?

DONNELLY: I think that Sam brings a real beauty of clarity and nuance to the writing and to the characters. I think that, also, what he builds on from the first season so much is really there in terms of it goes deeper on everything. It goes darker, and it goes more violent, and it also goes more beautiful and more innocent in places. There’s a real beauty to Sugar’s developing human experience. So, I think that if in Season 1, he was like a child viewing humanity through the innocence of a child, he’s now kind of coming into his teenage years and learning about far more of the aspects of the human experience, for good and for bad.

I’m fascinated by how actors get ready for big scenes, so hypothetically, you are doing something really emotional on a Monday. What are you like in the days leading up to that day when you know you have to give it? Can you explain your headspace and what you’re doing?

DONNELLY: I absolutely forget all about it on purpose. The more I build myself up and build myself up in my head, and drill into how important this moment is, then the more self-conscious I’m going to be, the more I’m going to feel like there’s pressure, and all the rest. I try to forget that there’s anything important happening until the moment they say action.

It’s so fascinating. I’ve asked so many people that question, and everyone’s process is completely different.

DONNELLY: Yeah, and that changes over time, as well. It used to be I might have been listening to headphones, getting the songs, the music I might need for that particular moment, finding ways through. But that was all an aspect of trying to control something that I think is fairly uncontrollable, and the more I’ve learned to give up control, the better my experience at work has been.

Also, I think you’re a really good actor, and the fact is, you’ve done it a lot, so I think there’s an element of you knowing what you can channel.

DONNELLY: Yeah. It’s getting rid of fear. A lot of acting is getting rid of fear. The more that you could do that, the more experience you have on it, then hopefully you do get to kind of shake that off a little bit more. But yeah, these days, if I knew I’m crying in 10 minutes, I’m probably laughing and joking with everybody.

Laura Donnelly on Michael Fassbender’s ‘Kennedy’ and the Potential for a ‘Werewolf by Night’ Sequel

Fassbender plays Joe Kennedy Sr. in the upcoming biopic series.

Image via Netflix

Before I run out of time, something that I’m really looking forward to is that you’re going to be in Kennedy. You’re opposite Michael Fassbender, and as far as I know, it’s one season, or is it “who knows?”

DONNELLY: It’s who knows. But there would be, of course, multiple seasons available to draw out of that family story. At the moment, what we are concentrating on is the beginning of Joe and Rose, back when the kids were kids, and how the beginnings of this family, of who they became, who they were kind of trained to be in the world, how they became that.

I’m a big fan of Michael Fassbender, as well. I imagine you guys have a lot of scenes together.

DONNELLY: Yeah.

What do you want to tease people in terms of the tone or what you’re going to get while watching?

DONNELLY: I think the fact that Thomas Vinterberg is directing the first and last episodes, for anyone who’s a fan of his work, that kind of teases a little bit in terms of the tone that we’re going for there. It’ll be unusual. It’ll be really original, I think.

I gotta stop. I’m just going to say congratulations on everything, and in a better universe, there’s a sequel to Werewolf by Night.

DONNELLY: Oh, yeah. Well, maybe there’s still a future reference. You never know. Marvel likes to come back a decade later and start up again.

How Sam Catlin Revived ‘Sugar’ for Season 2

Producer Audrey Chon also shares updates on Apple TV’s Invasion, Here Comes the Flood, and more.

After a rocky Season 1 production for Apple TV’s Sugar, writer Sam Catlin stepped in as showrunner for Season 2. With the streamer’s hidden gem series premiering this weekend, Collider also had the opportunity to sit down with Catlin and executive producer Audrey Chon to discuss all the changes made to the show, how they’re continuing the mythology and mystery, and their thoughts on the potential for a Season 3.

Check out the full conversation in the video above, with time codes below, for details on Season 2, plus Chon addresses the fate of Apple TV’s other sci-fi series, Invasion, and the status of Here Comes the Flood and Olivia Wilde’s comic book movie Avengelyne.

• 00:07 – Why Season 2 quickly resolves Season 1’s mysteries and returns to the PI genre.
• 01:29 – Audrey Chon on how Sam Catlin rescued Season 1 and continued the story with Season 2.
• 02:13 – The pair explain why filming in Los Angeles is essential to the series.
• 04:08 – They discuss balancing the show’s sci-fi mythology with its noir detective elements in Season 2.
• 06:02 – Catlin discusses the logic behind Sugar‘s alien blood and his extraterrestrial resources.
• 06:50 – Chon addresses whether Invasion is over or if there could be more stories in that universe.
• 07:13 – Chon teases Here Comes the Flood and the status of Olivia Wilde’s Avengelyne.
• 07:46 – Catlin discusses the potential for Sugar Season 3 and where the story could go next.

Sugar Season 2 is streaming now on Apple TV.

Release Date

April 4, 2024

Network

Apple TV

Showrunner

Mark Protosevich, Sam Catlin

Directors

Fernando Meirelles, Adam Arkin

Writers

Mark Protosevich, Donald Joh, Sam Catlin, David Rosen

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