Emmy-winning Glee alum Jane Lynch says her character Constance remains the same woman she always was in Season 3 of Party Down, despite an enormous change in her personal and financial circumstances.
The third season of the comedy about the titular Los Angeles catering company, which is staffed by artists biding their time until they get their big breaks, wraps up on Starz Friday.
The show returned last month, 13 years after Season 2 ended with Constance marrying a wealthy film producer and becoming a widow all in the same episode.
"Constance is what she is -- constant," Lynch told UPI in a recent Zoom interview with reporters.
"This is who she is, whether she is catering or she is a very wealthy widow who lost her husband on her wedding day," she added. "She is the exact same person. She's guileless; she has kind of an innocence about her, an open-heartedness."
When she returns to Party Down, it isn't as a cash-strapped waitress and wannabe actress, it is as the business partner of Ron (Ken Marino), the only person in the company who actually cares about providing quality food and service to their clients.
"We find her now kind of exploring the New Age world, and she sees herself as a patroness of the arts and supporting these weird, off-the-wall, avant-garde artists," Lynch said. "She has a lot of money to play with, but she misses her people. She misses her peeps."
Ron is happy to be working with Constance again and thrilled to have a cash infusion in the company, but he doesn't love having a former underling bossing him around.
"Our power dynamic has shifted and that comes with a lot of frustration for him because he doesn't necessarily vibe with what Constance is envisioning for the company," Marino said about Ron. "That creates a lot of tension."
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Most of the show's original cast members, including Adam Scott, Ryan Hansen, Martin Starr and Megan Mullally, returned for Season 3.
Also joining the ensemble for the fresh round of episodes were Jennifer Garner and James Marsden, who play a married couple that hires Party Down to cater an affair at their home, and Tyrel Jackson Williams and Zoe Chao, who are the newest members of the Party Down crew.
"First, I sat Jennifer Garner down and I said: 'Look, this is what it's like to work in the business. You need any tips on how to maneuver through Hollywood, I can help you,'" Marino joked.
Lynch added: "We did the same with James Marsden. I said, 'Come here, Buddy, I've got some words of advice for you...'"
"They took it in and it seems to be working out great for them," Marino said about the actors who have been well-known and successful for decades.
Chao, who plays an aspiring celebrity chef, and Williams, who plays a TikTok star, helped update the show.
"Back in 2009, we didn't have 'content,' so it shows not only are we back where we started, but it's a whole new world that has passed us by," said Lynch.
Like his other iconic characters Vinnie on Veronica Mars and Victor in Wet Hot American Summer, Ron is an outrageous but lovable guy doing the best he can with what he has.
"i am drawn to and I enjoy playing bigger, more extreme characters, but my approach to those characters is, 'What is really going on with that person?'" he said.
"I try to challenge myself to tap into some sort of real truth to that person's wants and needs and kind of balance the two and sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don't," Marino added.
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Although Party Down, the show, may seem like it is just a bunch of hilarious people making up their lines as they go along, Marino credited series creator John Enbom with carefully crafting the entertaining stories and dialogue.
"It feels like it's improvised, but that is just a testament to how brilliant John Enbom's writing is. It's natural, it's real and he knows how to write in the voice of each character," Marino said.
It was Enbom who figured out where everyone was for the last 12 years and what they are doing now.
"There's a certain freedom to not having to worry about that," Marino said.
"You are in safe hands with John Enbom and Rob [Thomas] and Dan [Etheridge] and Paul [Rudd]. They knew what this world was and who these characters were, so it was very easy to step back into."