‘Big Mistakes’ Creator Dan Levy on That Shocking Finale [SPOILER] and a Darker Season 2: ‘There’s No Way Out Now’
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SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from Season 1 of “Big Mistakes,” now streaming on Netflix.
Dan Levy knows exactly what keeps him up at night, as the possibility of being blackmailed into committing crimes has haunted him for years. So naturally, he made a TV show about it.
Six years after “Schitt’s Creek” wrapped, Levy has returned to television with “Big Mistakes,” a darkly comic crime thriller he co-created with Rachel Sennott. The show follows Nicky (Levy) and Morgan Dardano (Taylor Ortega), a pastor-and-teacher sibling duo from New Jersey who stumble into organized crime after Morgan steals a necklace from a postal store to bury with their dying grandmother. What follows is a season-long descent into grave robbing, drug running and enough accessory-to-murder charges to keep the Dardano family lawyer very busy. However, the deeper they sink, the better they get. “The worse they were, the better they got at their jobs,” Levy tells Variety. “And the more they were needed.”
The chaos is matched only by the cast assembled to deliver it. Laurie Metcalf plays Linda, the siblings’ mother and accidental mayoral candidate, whose parallel bid for local office manages to feel just as high-stakes as the organized crime subplot. Abby Quinn rounds out the family as Natalie, the well-behaved sister who got the good genes — and Elizabeth Perkins delivers a season-ending shocker as Annette, whose reveal as the crime boss orchestrating everything is the kind of twist that sends viewers immediately back to Episode 1 to uncover what they missed.
Levy spoke with Variety about building his follow-up to “Schitt’s Creek,” the very pre-planned criminal path ahead and what a potential second season might look like for two siblings who are now, definitively, in too deep.
You really have to sit with the question of what excites you. We were lucky enough to get 80 episodes of “Schitt’s Creek,” and I knew how much I loved working on it — I wanted that same love for whatever I did next. I never go into something assuming it’s just going to be one season, so I needed to find an idea that would excite me enough to keep telling the story. I just kept thinking about being blackmailed into crime. It scares the shit out of me; I would not do well if I ever found myself in that situation. And at its core, a random person finding themselves blackmailed into crime is just endlessly entertaining. I wanted a buddy comedy, a brother-sister dynamic, a whole new family story — and I knew I wanted a female perspective on Morgan. I called up Rachel Sennott, who I just assumed would also not fare very well in the face of organized crime. She said yes, we spent six, eight months figuring out the show, brought it into Netflix, and they loved it. And that was it.
I don’t even know what I would play on that show.
If she ever wants to write me in, just say the word. I’ll do it.
I just think family dynamics are the funniest. Families in times of insane crisis — that can be the funniest times. I’m often laughing in times of insane crisis, so I’m endlessly fascinated by it. I think it’s also just a really excellent way of revealing character. So I knew I wanted to make another family show. And that’s also why I wanted to involve Rachel, because I love her comedy, I admire her comedy, but it’s a little bit different than mine. Our voices overlap, but they’re also very different. So I wanted to really push the possibility of what the tone of this show could be. Between the two of us, we found this really nice place of chaos and comedy and suspense. I do think there has to be some comedic thread to the way that I write. I just love dialogue.
This is a family that has inherited anxiety from their mother’s mother. You see Nona pass away in the first episode — that’s sort of where it all stemmed from. She was nuts, and it’s all trickled down through the family tree. A lot of this show is an examination of what we inherit from our family, from our parents, from their parents. We are a byproduct of our family tree. So anxiety runs rampant in this family. Not handling stress runs rampant in this family. Linda running for mayor, and Natalie helping her — that is the be-all, end-all for them. There is nothing more important, and the stakes are high. And I just found there to be a lot of comedy in that as well. The more seriously people take things, the funnier it is.
As much as they wanted to get out, it’s like an undertow. The more you swim towards shore, the more you’re pulled out. The worse they were, the better they got at their jobs, and the more they were needed. And then by the end, they are fully in.
There is a very pre-planned criminal path that has already been laid out. We just need the opportunity to get there.
I love the idea that circumstance makes people better. On “Schitt’s Creek,” moving to a small town made that family a better family. In the same way, I hope that parts of this world will make Morgan and Nicky more fully realized versions of themselves. For Morgan, she’s always been a rebellious person. She’s always wanted the spotlight, always wanted attention — and I think she’s getting it in this world. There’s a part of her that really enjoys it and gets thrills out of it. For Nicky, he’s not there yet. But my hope is that at some point it’ll force him out of his shell a little more, give him more confidence, make him feel a little more accomplished.
Rachel and I knew from the start of developing this season.
I think if you were to go back and watch knowing how it ends, there are signs. Annette is a very savvy businesswoman, and when you operate in organized crime, you need to get your fingers in a lot of political pots. As soon as the tide turned on the election, she knew exactly who was going to be at the forefront of that race, and that’s when certain things shifted and she came on board. My hope is always that if someone chose to rewatch, there would be a lot there for them — we did weave in a lot of little hints. But I mean — your in-laws being a huge crime boss.
A Season 2 would just be: There’s no way out now.
She needs to keep him happy. Morgan and their dynamic, their relationship, is a great way of keeping her son happy. She can’t mess that up. And also — Nicky and Morgan know too much now. So even if they wanted to leave, they have a lot to answer for.
[Levy shrugs]
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Dan Levy knows exactly what keeps him up at night, as the possibility of being blackmailed into committing crimes has haunted him for years. So naturally, he made a TV show about it.
Six years after “Schitt’s Creek” wrapped, Levy has returned to television with “Big Mistakes,” a darkly comic crime thriller he co-created with Rachel Sennott. The show follows Nicky (Levy) and Morgan Dardano (Taylor Ortega), a pastor-and-teacher sibling duo from New Jersey who stumble into organized crime after Morgan steals a necklace from a postal store to bury with their dying grandmother. What follows is a season-long descent into grave robbing, drug running and enough accessory-to-murder charges to keep the Dardano family lawyer very busy. However, the deeper they sink, the better they get. “The worse they were, the better they got at their jobs,” Levy tells Variety. “And the more they were needed.”
The chaos is matched only by the cast assembled to deliver it. Laurie Metcalf plays Linda, the siblings’ mother and accidental mayoral candidate, whose parallel bid for local office manages to feel just as high-stakes as the organized crime subplot. Abby Quinn rounds out the family as Natalie, the well-behaved sister who got the good genes — and Elizabeth Perkins delivers a season-ending shocker as Annette, whose reveal as the crime boss orchestrating everything is the kind of twist that sends viewers immediately back to Episode 1 to uncover what they missed.
Levy spoke with Variety about building his follow-up to “Schitt’s Creek,” the very pre-planned criminal path ahead and what a potential second season might look like for two siblings who are now, definitively, in too deep.
You really have to sit with the question of what excites you. We were lucky enough to get 80 episodes of “Schitt’s Creek,” and I knew how much I loved working on it — I wanted that same love for whatever I did next. I never go into something assuming it’s just going to be one season, so I needed to find an idea that would excite me enough to keep telling the story. I just kept thinking about being blackmailed into crime. It scares the shit out of me; I would not do well if I ever found myself in that situation. And at its core, a random person finding themselves blackmailed into crime is just endlessly entertaining. I wanted a buddy comedy, a brother-sister dynamic, a whole new family story — and I knew I wanted a female perspective on Morgan. I called up Rachel Sennott, who I just assumed would also not fare very well in the face of organized crime. She said yes, we spent six, eight months figuring out the show, brought it into Netflix, and they loved it. And that was it.
I don’t even know what I would play on that show.
If she ever wants to write me in, just say the word. I’ll do it.
I just think family dynamics are the funniest. Families in times of insane crisis — that can be the funniest times. I’m often laughing in times of insane crisis, so I’m endlessly fascinated by it. I think it’s also just a really excellent way of revealing character. So I knew I wanted to make another family show. And that’s also why I wanted to involve Rachel, because I love her comedy, I admire her comedy, but it’s a little bit different than mine. Our voices overlap, but they’re also very different. So I wanted to really push the possibility of what the tone of this show could be. Between the two of us, we found this really nice place of chaos and comedy and suspense. I do think there has to be some comedic thread to the way that I write. I just love dialogue.
This is a family that has inherited anxiety from their mother’s mother. You see Nona pass away in the first episode — that’s sort of where it all stemmed from. She was nuts, and it’s all trickled down through the family tree. A lot of this show is an examination of what we inherit from our family, from our parents, from their parents. We are a byproduct of our family tree. So anxiety runs rampant in this family. Not handling stress runs rampant in this family. Linda running for mayor, and Natalie helping her — that is the be-all, end-all for them. There is nothing more important, and the stakes are high. And I just found there to be a lot of comedy in that as well. The more seriously people take things, the funnier it is.
As much as they wanted to get out, it’s like an undertow. The more you swim towards shore, the more you’re pulled out. The worse they were, the better they got at their jobs, and the more they were needed. And then by the end, they are fully in.
There is a very pre-planned criminal path that has already been laid out. We just need the opportunity to get there.
I love the idea that circumstance makes people better. On “Schitt’s Creek,” moving to a small town made that family a better family. In the same way, I hope that parts of this world will make Morgan and Nicky more fully realized versions of themselves. For Morgan, she’s always been a rebellious person. She’s always wanted the spotlight, always wanted attention — and I think she’s getting it in this world. There’s a part of her that really enjoys it and gets thrills out of it. For Nicky, he’s not there yet. But my hope is that at some point it’ll force him out of his shell a little more, give him more confidence, make him feel a little more accomplished.
Rachel and I knew from the start of developing this season.
I think if you were to go back and watch knowing how it ends, there are signs. Annette is a very savvy businesswoman, and when you operate in organized crime, you need to get your fingers in a lot of political pots. As soon as the tide turned on the election, she knew exactly who was going to be at the forefront of that race, and that’s when certain things shifted and she came on board. My hope is always that if someone chose to rewatch, there would be a lot there for them — we did weave in a lot of little hints. But I mean — your in-laws being a huge crime boss.
A Season 2 would just be: There’s no way out now.
She needs to keep him happy. Morgan and their dynamic, their relationship, is a great way of keeping her son happy. She can’t mess that up. And also — Nicky and Morgan know too much now. So even if they wanted to leave, they have a lot to answer for.
[Levy shrugs]
This interview has been edited and condensed.