Unstable Season 2 picks up right where it left off: Ellis Dragon (Rob Lowe) had just set his friend-turned-rival Jean’s (Christina Chang) car on fire. The new season quickly delves into the aftermath of that fiery act, focusing on Ellis preparing to face the consequences in his uniquely eccentric way.
In the first four minutes, which are available to watch above, the quirky tech billionaire is seen role-playing prison life in his basement with his therapist, Leslie (Fred Armisen). Naturally, Ellis’s son Jackson (John Owen Lowe) finds the whole situation absurd and points it out.
Rob Lowe humorously shared with Tudum, “I’ve always wanted to do a gritty, hard-hitting Midnight Express-type prison drama, and this is as close as I think I’ll ever get to come as an actor. To prepare for it, I stayed on that prison set for at least 10 or 15 minutes before we shot it, like my heroes such as Daniel Day-Lewis.”
John Owen Lowe added with a laugh, “It’s true. His commitment was unparalleled. Prison Ellis was one of my favorite versions of Ellis.”
But alas, Prison Ellis is short-lived because, as the clip reveals, Ellis’s business partner Anna (Sian Clifford) pulls some strings and helps him avoid jail time. However, their company isn’t out of the woods yet. Anna and the board believe Dragon needs a new face. Could Jackson step into that role? Would he even want to, given his longing for independence?
John Owen Lowe finds humor in this journey, noting the push-and-pull dynamic between Jackson and Ellis. “What’s so funny about that journey … is that quest to pull away and how there’s this innate gravitational pull back in,” he says. “We really exaggerate it with Jackson and Ellis, because there’s this one shining moment where it seems like we’re going to see Jackson in his true form, having some space. And then what’s so fun about Season 2 is we just maxed out how hard Ellis could suck him back into his world in the cruelest ways possible.”
The opening few minutes of Season 2 also introduce Iris Apatow as Anna’s stepdaughter Georgia, who becomes an intern at Dragon. Bringing Georgia into the story allowed the writers to accomplish one of their goals for the new season. “There was a desire to see Anna humanized a bit more, to see her backstory put simply, and get more of a glimpse into what her life is outside of Ellis — which, there isn’t much life outside of Ellis for her,” says John Owen.
Apatow isn’t the only new addition this season. Fargo’s Lamorne Morris also joins the cast as another biotech creator who stokes the rivalry between Ellis and Jackson.