HOW TO DIE ALONE Trailer (2024) Natasha Rothwell, Comedy

HOW TO DIE ALONE Trailer (2024) Natasha Rothwell, Comedy

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HOW TO DIE ALONE Trailer (2024) Natasha Rothwell, Comedy Series
© 2024 - Hulu
After acclaimed turns in HBO hits like The White Lotus, Natasha Rothwell is seizing the spotlight: creating, producing, and taking the lead in this hugely relatable 8-part Hulu comedy. Starring Rothwell as crestfallen JFK airport employee Mel, in addition to Conrad Ricamora (How to Get Away with Murder) and KeiLyn Durrel Jones (Succession), How to Die Alone promises hearty laughs, hope, and some inspired flights of fancy. Read our guide below for how to watch How to Die Alone online on Hulu, and stream every episode free wherever you are with a VPN.

Co-created by Rothman and Vera Santamaria (PEN15, Orange is the New Black), How to Die Alone should appeal to anyone who has felt eternally delayed in the departure lounge of life. Enter Melissa. She’s broke, neurotic, and her love life is DOA. Her ex-boyfriend has a hot new girlfriend, and although she works at an airport, she’s terrified of flying. She’s ready to give up until a near-miss incident with the Grim Reaper galvanizes her into living life fully, on her own terms.

“I think audiences will relate to someone who is trying to close the distance between who they are and who they want to be,” series star Rothwell says. That means refusing to “settle”, “let fear win,” or “burn bridges” – just some of the show’s episode titles – as Mel takes the controls of her own life, supported by an eclectic cast of characters that includes gay best friend Rory (Ricamora), sagacious co-worker Terrance (Durrel Jones), and guest stars Bashir Salahuddin and Ellen Cleghorne as her brother and mother respectively.

Tackling weighty issues with a light touch and a dose of magic realism, How to Die Alone is the latest from Onyx Collective, Disney’s content label focusing on programming made by people of color. Former hits from their impressive back catalogue include the Academy Award-winning Summer of Soul and the popular Kerry Washington comedy, UnPrisoned.

Don't delay: jump right in with our viewing guide and watch How to Die Alone online, with multiple episodes of this uplifting comedy available to stream now and from anywhere in the world.
Natasha Rothwell is so charming in Hulu‘s How to Die Alone, it’s almost a problem.

You see, the plot revolves around the notion that her protagonist, Mel, is mostly alone in this world — to the extent that after a brush with death, she has no one to come pick her up from the hospital. Which might seem a bit more plausible if the Mel we actually see onscreen weren’t so self-evidently winsome, well-liked by coworkers and customers alike in her job ferrying passengers around New York’s JFK airport.

How to Die Alone
The Bottom Line
Flies high.
Airdate: Friday, Sept. 13 (Hulu)
Cast: Natasha Rothwell, Conrad Ricamora, KeiLyn Durrel Jones, Jocko Sims
Creator: Natasha Rothwell
But then, that’s a bit like complaining that the bespectacled nerd in a rom-com is too gobsmackingly gorgeous to ever have gone unnoticed: valid, perhaps, but entirely beside the point. Like the best of those heroines, Mel is simultaneously relatable and aspirational. And like Mel, the Onyx Collective dramedy is nothing if not a great hang — warm, funny and occasionally even life-affirming.

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By her own accounting, the Mel at the beginning of the series is nobody special. Venting to sympathetic coworker Terrance (KeiLyn Durrel Jones) in the premiere, she compares herself to Lizzo — they’re both 35, fat and Black, with the same number of hours in the day. Unlike Lizzo, though, “I’m broke. My family thinks I’m a lost cause. My love life is a joke. And the punchline is, I work in an airport, I’m afraid to fly.” It takes nearly losing her life — to a convoluted accident involving crab rangoon and flat-pack furniture — to finally jolt her out of her rut with a newfound determination to become a braver, bolder, better version of herself.

“Aimless New Yorker tries to get it together” is hardly an original premise, but Rothwell, also a creator, distinguishes her take in a few ways. While Mel fears that she’s been sitting on the sidelines of her own life, her series plants itself squarely in her perspective, to the point of occasional flights of fancy. A choreographed dance breaks out in a corridor to represent a Percocet high. A karaoke performance turns into a stroll through a city frozen in joyous celebration — and also gives Rothwell an excuse to show off her rich and resonant pipes.

While How to Die Alone isn’t really an ensemble comedy, it surrounds Mel with the makings of a good one, populated by colorful characters like Patti (Michelle McLeod), Mel’s Schrute-ian workplace nemesis, and Shaun (Arkie Kandola) and DeShawn (Chris “CP” Powell), goofball tarmac workers never short on inane but hilarious commentary. Should the show score a renewal, it’d do well to keep dipping into that supporting bench.

And the airport makes an interesting setting for workplace hijinks, since it’s at once familiar and not. Getting to see the terminal’s inner workings through Mel and her colleagues feels satisfyingly like being let in on a secret. I’m not saying actual TSA agents scoff that their real job isn’t to prevent terrorism but “to humiliate people and tell them to get new socks,” or that real customs agents make charcuterie plates out of all the gourmets meats and cheeses they’ve confiscated. But doesn’t it kind of feel like they would?

Despite all that, the first few half-hours make for a slightly uneven watch. In trying to balance broad comedy, slice-of-life observation and earnest sentiment, the series sometimes seems to jump between modes rather than braid them into a single consistent tone. But by the fifth episode, when Mel visits her disapproving big brother (Bashir Salahuddin’s Brian) and passive-aggressive mother (Ellen Cleghorne’s Beverly) for a contentious Thanksgiving, it’s found its footing well enough to mine both sincere pathos and belly laughs from a bitter argument that culminates with someone screaming, “The Lion King is a crown jewel of American animation!!”

Mel’s mission to level up extends to all areas of her life. She enrolls in a management training program at work. She reconsiders the boundaries of her friendship with Rory (Conrad Ricamora), the fun but flaky bestie who ditched her on her birthday, and extends her social circle with new pals. She even sets out to conquer her fear of flying by buying a plane ticket to Maui. But it’s when she turns her attention to her love life in the latter half of the season that the show soars into another gear.

That ticket just so happens to be for the destination wedding of her boss turned boyfriend turned ex turned friend, the sweet and sexy Alex (Jocko Sims). As the date looms closer, Mel’s lingering feelings for the one that got away reach a breaking point, just as her down-to-earth buddy Terrance starts to realize his own for her. The familiar rhythms of a rom-com give the final episodes a delicious momentum, and while the two guys aren’t necessarily both right for her, Rothwell has strong enough chemistry with both actors that either seems a wildly appealing option. (Though personally, my heart lies with Terrance — Jones has a way of gazing at his leading lady like she’s the only person in the whole world.)

Through it all, however, How to Die Alone remembers that the truest love story it’s telling is not the one between Mel and any of her suitors, or even any of her pals, but the one she’s rediscovered with herself. It’s an extremely familiar trope, even if this version of it is occasionally accented with heavy-handed bird metaphors from a kooky falconer played by H. Jon Benjamin. But clichés tend to become clichés because they ring true, and the best uses of them can make them feel fresh and comforting all at once. If the cliffhanger-y season finale is any indication, Mel’s still got plenty of growing to do. If we’re lucky, we’ll get to watch her keep doing it.
The trailer for Hulu’s new series, How to Die Alone, has officially arrived.

Created by and starring Natasha Rothwell (Insecure, The White Lotus, Wonka), the show follows Mel, a broke JFK airport employee who’s feeling down on her luck because she’s never been in love and fears she might end up dying alone. But then when she has a near-death experience that shifts her entire perspective on life, she begins a journey of self-acceptance and aims to finally start living to the fullest extent. The result is a relatable and tender show about loneliness, heartbreak, and hope, with a touch of fantasy and magical realism.

The cast also includes KeiLyn Durrel Jones, Jocko Sims, Bashir Salahuddin, and, for the How to Get Away with Murder fans, Conrad Ricamora.

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To commemorate the trailer’s exclusive premiere on ELLE.com, Rothwell, who also serves as the show’s executive producer and co-showrunner, spoke to us about how she did it all—and how her experience working on Insecure, where she held various producing roles, prepared her for this moment.

Congratulations on your new show! How does it feel to be just weeks away from the premiere on September 13?
In a word, surreal. I’ve been working on this show for eight years and its existence is a literal dream come true.

When did the initial seeds for How to Die Alone first begin to take shape? And what drew you to this particular subject matter?
When I was given an opportunity to create my own show, I didn’t want to pull any punches. I wanted to run headfirst into what scared me the most and at the time that was dying alone—and more than that I wanted to explore the difference between being alone and being lonely. In facing my fears and in being vulnerable I believe I can help others be less lonely, too.

You’re the creator, executive producer, and also wrote two episodes. How did you balance all of those roles, in addition to also being the lead?
I can’t explain it, really. But I think that walking in my purpose and being in creative flow gave me the energy and resilience I needed to balance it all and enjoy every step along the way.

Was there anything particularly challenging, or rewarding, about wearing that many hats? Did working as a producer on Insecure prepare you for this project in any way?
I found the entire process incredibly rewarding and extremely cathartic. Being so involved in the process allowed me to protect, support, and champion my vision down to the last detail. Having a front row seat to Issa [Rae]’s creative journey was invaluable to preparing me for this moment.

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Lindsay Sarazin//Hulu
Natasha Rothwell as Mel.
Were you inspired by any other shows or movies while making this one? Any surprising references?
Fleabag was such an inspiration—it was so irreverent and honest, and I wanted emulate those qualities in a way that was authentic to my experience.

What went into creating your character, Melissa? What traits did you want her to have? And why JFK as her workplace?
The character of Melissa is a love letter to the unhealed version of myself. I wanted to create a character that wasn’t prescriptive or pinned in by societal or industry expectations. And JFK is such a beautiful microcosm of the world. A petri dish where people from all walks of life have to intersect. It’s also a place where we are our most aspirational and it felt like the right home for a character who is poised to take off.

Many know you for being extremely funny and witty. Will there be any comedic elements?
Absolutely, but a hallmark of the levity I’m known for is grounded, committed characters with humor that’s bookended with emotional heft. I want people to laugh until they cry themselves into an epiphany.

Let’s get into the cast. Can you speak a bit about some of the key players and their roles in the story?
To start, in no particular order, Conrad Ricamora (Mel’s best friend), KeiLyn Durrel Jones (Mel’s work bestie), Jocko Sims (Mel’s ex and boss), and Bashir Salahuddin (Mel’s brother) are just some of the key players that make up our world. I want to apologize in advance for how hot, talented, and perfect they are. Audiences need to brace themselves for the tidal wave of perfection coming their way.

natasha rothwell as mel and keilyn durell jones as terrance
John Medland
Natasha Rothwell as Mel and KeiLyn Durrel Jones as Terrance.
Do you have a favorite episode or arc that you can tease?
Every episode is incredible, so it’s hard to choose. But I will say an element I’m so excited for the world to see is how we played with magic realism in every episode—allowing Mel’s internal world to expressed externally through fantasy pops that will delight and surprise audiences.

What can viewers expect from the series? And what are you most excited (or nervous) for them to see?
Viewers can expect to see themselves in Melissa and find in her someone they want to root for. I’m so excited for viewers to go on this journey with us. This is the most vulnerable piece of art I’ve put into the world, so I definitely have butterflies, but I honestly can’t wait to connect with people all over the world and heal our loneliness together.
With a title like How to Die Alone, you might be expecting either a self-helpish comedy crammed with #grateful #blessed platitudes or a harrowing existential drama. This new Hulu series from creator and star Natasha Rothwell actually blends both of these possibilities into an eccentric, uplifting dramedy with a real voice at its core.

Rothwell is a TV ninja who’s flown under the radar for years, stealing scenes whenever she appears. She first made viewers take notice on Insecure; hired to be a writer on the series, she ended up being cast as Kelli, Issa’s funniest, most untethered friend. Then there was her role on the first season of White Lotus (soon to be reprised in season three) as Belinda, the soulful masseuse whose dreams are trampled by the wealthy guests she serves.

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Melissa, the character Rothwell plays in How to Die Alone, has something in common with Belinda: she knows what it’s like to be invisible to those around her. Mel spends her days driving a cart through JFK, where she chatters cheerfully to passengers who barely register her presence, offering them travel tips about exotic destinations she has never visited. In fact, she is so afraid of flying that she’s never been on a plane. And she’s so scared of being rejected that she defensively dumped her ex-boyfriend Alex (Jocko Sims), a colleague who she still has to see every day. After a brush with death due to a (very relatable) Ikea-style furniture assembly accident, Mel realizes that she’s been sleepwalking through her own life. As she tells the elderly woman in the hospital bed next to hers, “I died today, and it did not live up to the hype.”

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This near-death experience is initially played for laughs. As the neighbor who found Mel quips, “I thought I was about to have a ghost problem on top of my rat problem.” But the horror of what nearly happened to Mel lurks under the surface of the series, motivating her to reassess everything in her life. That includes her habit of self-sabotaging herself professionally and romantically, her family (SNL alum Ellen Cleghorne as her gratitude circle-loving mother), and her relationship with gay colleague Rory (Conrad Ricamora), who is Mel’s main companion—the only thing that stands between her and her loneliness.

It takes several episodes for How to Die Alone to find its rhythm as it toggles between Mel’s emotional journey and her workplace adventures. She and her colleagues treat the dreary airport as a wonderland full of unseen pleasures, including a falcon master who prevents birds from flying into planes and a magical area full of confiscated foods where they can sneak away with an “investment ham” worth $4000. That vibe is enhanced by surreal forays into fantasy as Mel imagines a dance-off in the airport or an alternative version of herself. And of course, there’s a hint of simmering romance between Mel and her sage tarmac buddy Terrance (KeiLyn Durrel Jones).

Everything ultimately brings her back to real life, though. At one point, Mel and her colleagues go on a madcap race through the terminal to catch a glimpse of Lizzo, who is rumored to be arriving. After it all goes haywire, Mel ends up using the superstar’s success to beat herself up: “We are both 35, both fat, both black, both fucked-up—but look what she did with it!”

Television has very few “fat, black, fucked-up” heroines, let along ones that are portrayed with such nuance and heart. Rothwell is the perfect person to change that. She recently said that her own experience—a solo trip to the hospital while writing for Insecure—inspired the show, and I’m not surprised. How to Die Alone is a poignant personal journey charting a course through the crazy gulf between Atlanta, Insecure and Ted Lasso. Instead of worrying about the final destination, Rothwell is keeping her eyes on the sky.
Mel, an employee at JFK airport, is stuck in a rut at the beginning of How To Die Alone, having never been in love and lost her spark with her inability to dream. However, things take a shocking turn when she experiences a brush with death that makes her question her life. Now refusing to settle for anything less than the life she wants Mel begins to decide what her life should look like in a journey of self-discovery.

Natasha Rothwell (Wonka, Sonic The Hedgehog 2) is the creator and star of How To Die Alone, bringing authenticity, heart, and peak comedic timing to the series both on the page and screen. The cast includes Conrad Ricamora (Fire Island, How To Get Away With Murder) and Jocko Sims (New Amsterdam, The Last Ship). How To Die Alone finds the perfect balance between outrageously funny comedy and humanity as Rothwell's character Mel ventures to live her best life in the face of obstacles that the audience can relate to and empathize with.

Collage of characters from The Old Man, English Teacher, SVU, Bob's Burgers, and Die Hard.
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Screen Rant caught up with Natasha Rothwell, who has been a mainstay in pop culture since Insecure, to discuss her new Hulu comedy, How To Die Alone. She explained how the series was inspired by her own fears and therapeutic journey. Rothwell also revealed why she wanted to shine a spotlight on airports and airport employees as well as her advice to people who no longer feel capable of following their dreams.

Natasha Rothwell Explains How She Landed On Mel's How To Die Alone Journey
"I knew that the consequence of that vulnerability would be connection."
How To Die Alone
Screen Rant: Natasha, How To Die Alone is absolutely amazing! Mel is such a relatable character. I may not do things the way that Mel does, but I learned a lot from her journey. I read an article this morning that said, this is the most vulnerable piece of art that you've put out there. What motivated you to create the character of Mel and how did you develop her story?

Natasha Rothwell: Yeah, thank you for that. First of all, that's huge. It's really major to have something you've been working on for seven years received so well. So thank you for that. In terms of the vulnerability piece, it kind of answers the question to the show and I was exploring this question of how to die alone.

For so long I was afraid of dying alone. But 20 plus years of therapy later, I definitely realized that the real batty is loneliness and the antidote to loneliness is vulnerability. So I really had no other choice but to put it all on the page when I got the opportunity to write my own show.

Because I knew that the consequence of that vulnerability would be connection and not just for me with the audience, but for me with the world and with my friends and my family to see this different side of me. It's been such a joy to be able to put that much on the page and have it received because it's healing me along the way.

Now, how does Mel's journey kind of mirror your journey in getting this show made?

Natasha Rothwell: Well, I think once she becomes activated and goes after what she wants, it's kind of a dogged pursuit of her living her life to the fullest. It was a dogged pursuit to get this show made. I worked on it for seven years, and I think for me, I was so motivated and energized to make this happen because when you're a writer and a creator, you have many opportunities to give up.

At every one of the crossroads where it was just like, oh, I got to know from this person, or this is being delayed. All of the regular hurdles that creatives cross in LA, I just knew I had to keep going. And I think that is also very, Mel, you hit a wall and you keep going because she's a Roomba and so am I.

Rothwell "Loved Being Able To Play With That Fork In The Road" Of Mel's Brush With Death
How To Die Alone
Yes, I love that. I love that this is set at JFK airport. I have a lot of friends that work at airports, and I hear about the subcultures that are going on there. Can you talk about the significance of setting the series at JFK airport and how the location, shape Mel's experiences, and journey?

Natasha Rothwell: I think, for me, JFK is such an amazing petri dish to tell a story. You get so many cross sections of life, and I think more than anything, I'm a voyeur. I love watching people. I think as an actor, we watch and study human behavior as a part of the job.

There's so much going on at an airport, and oftentimes you'll find me with my giant headphones on, I'm playing some sort of music and I'm looking around and all of these scenes are appearing in front of me. I'm like, oh, those two guys on the ramp are talking about the girl that's walking by or pointing to the girl on the plane.

You get to see all these stories start to bubble up when you just pay attention. And so I want the world to pay attention to this group of people that have kept us afloat, getting to and from wherever we're going.

Mel's journey is triggered by an accidental brush with death. Can you talk about how that moment acts as a catalyst for her transformation and what she learns along the way?

Natasha Rothwell: I think whenever we're met with those pivotal moments, those forks in the road where we can decide to continue on the same path or change, it's scary. I think that to be able to craft her story where we see her embark on this new path and decide to start living today and living for herself, it inevitably affects her relationships and opens up opportunity for her, not just to audit her own behavior, but to audit her relationships.

I think that's such an important part of the healing process because some people don't grow together, they grow apart. I think you have to acknowledge that, and it's just such a healthy way to view relationships and to view these moments of change that you really need to take stock of who is really invested in you living your best life, and then who's holding you back. Yeah, I loved being able to play with that fork in the road, pivotal moment in that way.

How To Die Alone Teaches Audiences A Valuable Lesson, According To Natasha Rothwell
"You're worthy of Living your best life, right f-cking now."
How To Die Alone
Mel is described as someone who's forgotten had a dream, what advice would you give to people who may feel similarly in their own lives?

Natasha Rothwell: Yeah, I think it's a product of believing that what you want and what you're hoping for, you're not worthy of or not deserving of. It feels out of reach. I think it's such a herculean task to close the distance between who we are and who we want to be.

I think that we have to be realistic about what growth looks like and what those steps look like. It's a lot of keeping your eyes on your own paper. I think for me, when I was first started out on my therapy journey, I was constantly like, oh, look at them over there, living happy, healthy whole.

And I'm over here struggling with some small basic principle, but my path was my path. My journey was my journey. So my advice would be keep your eyes on your own paper. Don't stop. You're worthy of living your best life, right f-cking now.

About How To Die Alone Season 1

Melissa is a neurotic fat black woman who has never been in love, but after a brush with death she refuses to settle for anything less than the life she wants, leading her to become "that bitch" no matter what.

Check back for our other How To Die Alone interviews:

Vera Santamaria
Conrad Ricamora
Jocko Sims & KeiLyn Durrel Jones
How To Die Alone debuts on Hulu September 13.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

How To Die Alone
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Comedy
A down-on-her-luck JFK airport employee who's never been in love and is struggling to find motivation gets a new lease on life and newfound determination after a near-death experience.

Cast
Natasha Rothwell , Conrad Ricamora , Jocko Sims , KeiLyn Durrel Jones
Character(s)
Melissa , Rory , Alex , Terrance
Release Date
September 13, 2024
Seasons
1
Main Genre
Comedy
Creator(s)
Natasha Rothwell
How To Die Alone’s beauty lies in how it captures the desire to truly live. In the show, a near-fatal experience pushes Melissa (Natasha Rothwell) outside of her comfort zone, making her realize that it’s time to stop being afraid and start pursuing her dreams. Rothwell, who also co-created the dramedy, has done exactly that, too: overcome her fears, in this case by crafting a worthy leading role for herself.

The actor, best known for Insecure and The White Lotus, delivers a captivating performance in the Hulu series, which premieres September 13. Rothwell tells The A.V. Club that she connected deeply with Mel, who rediscovers her potential and decides to simply go for it, and was able to inject her feelings and experiences into the character, calling the show a love letter to “an unhealed version” of herself.

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The A.V. Club spoke to Rothwell about being her own boss, the tricky tone of How To Die Alone, magical realism, and, yes, her upcoming return to The White Lotus.

The A.V. Club: How long have you wanted to create your own TV show?

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Natasha Rothwell: I’ve always wanted to do it, to be honest, but the real opportunity presented itself seven years ago. I got a development deal at HBO when I was still on Insecure. It’s crazy to be presented with a dream and trying to figure out what it is you want to say and do. I’m really grateful for Amy Gravitt [executive vice president of HBO and Max comedy programming] for recognizing that I had the potential to do it and giving me the opportunity to create something. Because of her, I was just able to really take big swings and put it all out there. With How To Die Alone, it’s been a long process to bring it to life but I’ve enjoyed every single minute of it as an executive producer, a co-showrunner, writing on the show, and being in it. It’s just been the dream of a lifetime to have that much creative control and be able to protect the heart of the story.

AVC: What was the appeal of the airport being the show’s primary setting?

NR: I knew I wanted to explore loneliness and I also knew that I wanted the opportunity to have a range of diverse characters. There’s a bit of magical realism in the show so I get to play more than one character. But the goal was to have a really rich environment, and the airport just made sense. It’s also a cruel dichotomy to have her be an airport employee and be afraid to fly. I thought the metaphor about taking flight and realizing the proximity to realizing our own dreams is a lot closer than we think was important. I wanted a character who is so close to her potential, and the only thing standing in between her and realizing this is fear. That’s a relatable feeling. I’ve definitely experienced it, so it felt like a ripe area for storytelling.

AVC: Was working on How To Die Alone a way to overcome one of your fears?

NR: Oh, absolutely. Doing new things is fucking scary, but I think that it is also cathartic and worthy. The process of creating my own show is putting myself out there in every way. And there’s so much of me on the page in every single character, not just Mel. It was healing to explore who I am and the human condition in this way. It was hard, but it’s something I feel super lucky to have gotten the chance to do. I honestly think of Mel as the unhealed version of myself in my twenties. So this is a love letter to her and hopefully it’ll be able to help others who see themselves in the same position with her journey and process of growth. It’s not like you get a graduation certificate from therapy because it’s a long process [to overcome]. You have good days, you have bad days, but the important thing is just to keep going. I wanted Mel to be a sort of hero for those of us who are just going to keep trying.

AVC: How did your experience writing for Insecure and Saturday Night Live help shape your work here?

NR: I feel like every project that I’ve had has prepared me for this moment. But I benefited by having a front-row seat to Issa Rae’s journey and being able to see things that worked or didn’t work, things that I wanted to replicate, and things that worked for her but wouldn’t work for me. Finding out what I wanted to do with this opportunity in terms of populating the writers’ room and department heads on set was [great]. I’m really grateful for having such a diverse history in this industry to be able to pull from.

AVC: Talk about the process of establishing the dramedy’s tone because there’s a bit of everything: workplace comedy, romance, drama, coming-of-age.

NR: Well, my true north was authenticity. We are nuanced, complicated people, and I wanted the character to experience and express the full range of emotion because that’s life. To try to categorize it is so Hollywood. I’ve been a victim of that because before it was just like, “She’s Kelly from Insecure, she can’t be serious.” And then I played Belinda in The White Lotus and everyone’s like, “She can be serious.” We can do it all; we have the capacity. It was important to me to honor the fullness and complexity of the human experience, especially allowing someone who looks like me to have those emotions and feelings on-screen unapologetically.

AVC: There are a bunch of unexpectedly hard-hitting scenes, including a fight you have with Conrad Ricamora’s character or when Mel says she doesn’t want a full-length mirror because she doesn’t want to see her full self. What was it like to navigate the more emotional moments as a writer and performer?

NR: Yeah, it was hard because there’s so much that you want to say, and I didn’t want to let this opportunity slip away. And I say that very pointedly because there may not be a season two. I hope we get four seasons of the show. That’s the dream, but for this moment, it was about trying not to overcrowd the conversation. The moment you reference is a good catch because it was straight out of my life. I had an apartment and didn’t have any full-length mirrors. A friend mentioned it, and I didn’t realize until then that I just didn’t want to see that much of myself. It may seem like a throwaway line but it’s important. The show is populated with those moments where you hopefully see the depth of what she’s processing.

Our writers’ room is incredible and elevates everything. At times, I had to fight for those moments to stay in the show because, again, Hollywood does try to put you in a box. They want you to be one thing, and it was important for me to see Mel go through the highs and lows and realize they exist together. You can cry one afternoon and by the end of the night, you’ve taken edibles and [are] cracking up at Futurama. That’s life.

AVC: Is that where you got that bit in the premiere, when Mel wants to spend her birthday getting high and watching The Office?

NR: [Laughs] Yeah, I do enjoy edibles, and I’ve been a fan of The Office forever. I also thought it was a cute detail that Mel and Rory have this routine. It’s their Friday-night date night.

AVC: How To Die Alone also has some magical realism when Mel imagines herself as the people she sees. Why did you choose that storytelling format?

NR: It was such a treat to be able to explore Mel’s inner life through magical realism. I think we can all relate to the idea of psychological projection where it’s like you see someone and you put your life on them. It was important for me to have that as a tool on the show to really display that we’re voyeuristic, we’re watching the world pass us by, and we are often living through other people and seeing them go and do things that we might want to do. In showing that through magic realism, it activates the character, and we can see where she comes from. It was so much fun to play multiple characters in that way and perform not just Mel’s storyline.

AVC: How did you craft Mel’s relationship with both her ex, Alex, and coworker, Terrance? And are you a fan of rom-coms?

NR: To me, the rom-com part is a Trojan Horse to get people to have deeper conversations. I love rom-coms, but I wanted to write this show because some of them negatively affected my expectation of what life was supposed to be like with the “I need to have a man in my life to actually start living to be happy and to be fully realized.” This story has love interests, and both Jocko Sims and Keilyn Durell Jones are incredible actors. But it’s about her falling in love with herself. She’s the princess and she’s saving herself, so I loved getting the chance to play with that angle.

AVC: I know you mentioned that four seasons is the dream, so do you have ideas for the show’s future already?

NR: Yeah, I definitely have ideas. I work with my co-showrunner, Vera Santamaria. We [thought of] four seasons of the show before we even got the green light for season one because I didn’t want to go into this and not have a sense of where it was headed. If we’re lucky, we’ll get to tell the story. It’s exciting to have this rich world and the characters because there’s so much to pull from.

AVC: What are some genres you want to work on next?

NR: I love all things rom-coms so I’d love to have one out there that I’m starring in. Ditto with thrillers. The thing is my interest in what I consume on my own time versus what I want to see myself in can differ because I just have not seen someone look like me as a version of Jason Bourne, you know? What about Jacinda Bourne? Let’s see what’s going on there and not make it a comedy. Give me some lasers and guns. I think it’d be cool to explore a period piece. Give me a corset. I just want to continue to play characters that subvert expectations, whatever genre that is.

AVC: You’re returning to The White Lotus in the upcoming third season. What was that like to go back after season one?

NR: I love working with Mike White. He’s just an amazing person and a phenomenal collaborator. Someone once told me that returning to a character is like putting on a wet bathing suit. It’s awkward at first and you’re like, “Wait a second,” but then it starts to feel good and comfortable anyway. It was nice to put Belinda back on again. I’m so, so excited for audiences to see her.
The “White Lotus” and “Insecure” actress leads the new series, which she created and executive produced with Onyx Collective

Natasha Rothwell How to Die Alone Hulu
Natasha Rothwell in "How to Die Alone." (Hulu)
Tess Patton
August 6, 2024 @ 12:25 PM
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This JFK airport employee’s near-death experience allowed her to finally take flight in her own life.

Natasha Rothwell, star, creator and executive producer of Hulu’s new comedy series “How To Die Alone,” plays Mel, a down-on-her-luck 30-something who never gave herself a real shot at living.

The first official trailer for the comedy series released Tuesday, and you can watch it below:

Though Mel works at an airport, she is too afraid to fly and ultimately too afraid to start living. After a near-death experience crashing an airport cart, Mel realized that it’s up to her to change her own life.

The trailer features her coming into her own while frolicking on the beach, going on dates and stepping out of her comfort zone.

“She’s got that Lizzo, Rihanna thing going on: Lizagna,” one of her airport coworkers adds of her transformation in the trailer.

Natasha Rothwell and Jennifer Coolidge "The White Lotus"
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The eight episode feel-good, comedy series is set to premiere exclusively on Hulu Sept. 13. The first four episodes will be a batched release, while the subsequent episodes will come out week to week.

Rothwell, a former writer for “SNL,” serves as coshowrunner and executive producer on the series along with Emmy nominee Vera Santamaria (“Pen15,” “BoJack Horseman”). The comedy is a product of her deal with ABC Signature and Onyx Collective and will be produced under her banner, Big Hattie Productions.

The “White Lotus” Emmy nominee is also known for her work on “Insecure” as both a writer, producer and guest star. Her additional acting credits include “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Bob’s Burgers,” “BoJack Horseman” and “Love, Simon,” among others.

Rothwell will be joined by Conrad Ricamora as her work best friend Rory. Jocko Sims and KeiLyn Durrel Jones will also join the cast as series regulars.

Other recurring guest stars include Bashir Salahuddin, Elle Lorraine, Michelle McLeod, Ellen Cleghorne, Chris “CP” Powell, Arkie Kandola, Jaylee Hamidi, Melissa DuPrey, Michael Hartney, Glenn Fleary and Jackie Richardson.

Watch the trailer for the Hulu series in the video above.
If you watched her as Kelly on Insecure or Belinda on The White Lotus and thought, I need more Natasha Rothwell, consider her new Hulu show, How to Die Alone, a collective manifestation.

“I put ‘number one on a call sheet’ on two vision boards,” Rothwell tells me. “I’d never been number one on a call sheet. And here I am talking to you about my brand-new show where I’m number one on the call sheet!”

It’s a project almost a decade in the making. In addition to creating, producing, and starring in the half-hour comedy, Rothwell co-showruns the series with Vera Santamaria (Orange Is the New Black, BoJack Horseman). Though she claims not to have main-character energy in real life, Rothwell is magnetic as Mel, a 30-something airport employee jolted out of her millennial ennui by a near-death experience. The show explores themes of loneliness, friendship, and fear with a dash of magical realism and a compelling love triangle. One thing Rothwell learned from Issa Rae? “Cast fine-ass men.”

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Vogue caught up with the star as she prepares for the show’s September 13 premiere.

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Vogue: Congrats on How to Die Alone. This show has been eight years in the making, right?

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Natasha Rothwell: Yes. On Insecure year one, HBO loved what I did with my character Kelly and knew that I was also a writer, so they gave me a development deal for a show. Coming out of the world of improv, it’s “follow the fear,” and the thing that scared me the most was dying alone. I grew up on rom-coms and Disney and this idea that a man on a white horse was going to come and make sense of this mess. But I got into therapy in my early 20s, and realized that the love story I’d been chasing was external, and I wanted to write a show about the internal love story—what happens when the princess saves herself. The show explores the difference between being lonely and being alone, because I was vilifying the solitude when I should have been vilifying the fact that I wasn’t open to the love in my life—platonic, familial, or romantic.

You’ve described your character, Mel, as a love letter to the unhealed parts of you. In the first episode, she gets a wake-up call that changes the course of her life. Did you have a similar moment that caused you to reevaluate everything?

Some wake-up calls are louder than others. There was a woman that I used to do improv with back in New York, and she was young. She was diagnosed with a pretty aggressive cancer and died within the year. I wasn’t super close to her, but I was shocked that someone as young as she was had life taken away from her so quickly. And the way that provoked me at the time was that I had a bunch of unsent emails in my Gmail to guys I had massive crushes on that I was afraid to say anything to. I’d often draft my life, if that makes sense. I had so many things saved in my draft folder because I was too afraid to say them, like an angry email that I just didn’t want to press send on because it would’ve caused trouble. I was conflict-avoidant. It seems so innocuous, but I was so radicalized by having lost someone in the community that I was just like, I don’t want to have things go unsaid. So I went and just pressed send on all of these emails. It was an “aha” moment where I was like, Oh, okay, this is what living is. Fuck the consequences. I want to be able to learn from a mistake. It was exhilarating, and it was just email.

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Wow. Were you able to bring that honesty offline and into the real world?

Absolutely. I think loss is a catalyst for us to make the most of the time we have. I was such a people-pleaser. I’d go to dinner and if people said they wanted Italian and I really wanted Chinese, I’d have Italian. Those are such small things, but that version of myself was just so scared to have needs. I didn’t want to bother people with my existence. And that one moment of pressing send on all the unsent emails allowed me to realize that I can close the distance between who I am and who I want to be with a click.

Mel drives a transportation cart at JFK Airport. New York City is known for being hierarchical when it comes to jobs, and you’re centering characters who, in real life, are often invisible to others.

That’s a huge part of why I love this project, and it’s what I focus on with my production company [Big Hattie Productions]. Having spent eight years in New York myself, the hierarchy there is real. It’s a very interesting place to explore your relationship to status and what other people think of you. That’s why it was so important for me not to make Mel or any of the characters on the show be unhappy with their jobs. I didn’t want this to be: Mel is at a dead-end job and she’s unhappy and she’s going to go off to be a museum curator. She loves her job, she’s good at her job. I wanted to not cast aspersions on the people that make our lives work by saying that they’re not ambitious, or that they’re in those positions because they’re not dreamers. Their work is worthy and it’s enough. Mel and her cart—she’s currency. Everyone in the airport, from the Fortune 500 CEO to Nana who’s visiting her son in Chicago, they all want to get on that cart. But Mel’s the one who gets to pick and choose, so there’s a power in that. It was a really fun world to explore.

Image may contain Conrad Ricamora Adult Person Clothing Footwear Shoe Motorcycle Transportation and Vehicle
Rothwell with Conrad Ricamora (as Mel’s coworker Rory) in Episode 2. Photo: Ian Watson/Hulu

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The show deals with many layered dynamics between friends and siblings. Episode 5 was a standout for me, especially the final scene between you and Bashir Salahuddin, who plays your brother, Brian.

It was an amazing entry point into deepening our relationship to Mel by understanding her family. We always referred to act three of that episode as a one-act play. It was just going to be me and Brian. We really had to get the studio on board, because I was kind of adamant. He comes from the theater, I come from the theater. I wanted these characters to have room to breathe. And I have three siblings. It’s crazy to get to know them as adults, realizing that they’re not the same 15-year-old older sister that was annoying you. She’s married with two kids and has a mortgage, and I have to allow her to be someone other than my memory of her. So I loved the opportunity to explore that idea with the character of Brian. That’s one of my favorite episodes. I mean, all of them are my favorite!

Mel is full of contradictions. She works at an airport but is afraid to fly. She has a lot of love in her life but she can’t say “I love you.” There’s a pivotal scene that really got me, where Mel is tested with whether or not she can say those words to a love interest.

I’d been in that position before where it’s like, How in the world can I say it to you if I can’t even say it to myself? And that ultimately was what we came to in the writers’ room—you have someone that wants to love but doesn’t know what it looks like, or how to do it, because she’s never loved herself and never allowed herself to take that risk. That was a hard scene to shoot, and we shot it in one take. That was all Tiffany Johnson, the director. It was so painful to relive that moment in my life where I was presented with love and I couldn’t say it because I had never felt it for myself. And I feel really grateful for the show, because as much work as we do on ourselves, when you’re writing a version of yourself, it clears up cobwebs that might still be lingering.

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I can imagine that experience being cathartic and confronting, and on top of that, you’re running the show, producing, writing, and wearing every hat. How was that experience?

It was a lot, but it was one of those things where I felt so prepared. I was able to have a front-row seat on Insecure to Issa’s journey. I had surreptitiously been taking notes for five seasons. I was a high school teacher for four years, so I know how to rally the troops and get them excited about a project. I don’t have main-character energy in my real life, but I was like, I can do this, I can stand on that experience. And I loved it. It was exhausting, but every time I would get tired, I would get this supernatural kind of energy, this gift of extra battery power. It felt like the universe was providing what I needed in real time. That’s the only way I can describe it. I could get emotional now thinking about it, because so often I have tried to make myself smaller to fit into spaces, and that was exhausting. The biggest gift was not being apologetic about my presence on set. There was something about being able to exhale and be like, I belong here.

Let’s pivot to another show you’re a part of—The White Lotus. You’re coming back for Season 3 and reprising your role as Belinda. Anything you can tell us?

I’m feeling over-the-moon about it. I was in Thailand [filming] for about five months. I never thought I’d be able to put Belinda on again. And I don’t think any of us knew after Season 1 what would be in store for us. Mike White is such an amazing creator and storyteller. I trust him implicitly. Not dissimilar to Mel’s character, Belinda is on the sidelines. For audiences to see more of her story is really what excited me. And it didn’t disappoint. It is epic. When I read the scripts, I was shook. Season 3 is bigger, better, crazier, but still has the hallmark of excellent storytelling. [White] is so good at playing nuance, and I’m just really excited for audiences to see this brand-new world, but also to get to know Belinda a little better.

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Can’t wait. OK, back to How to Die Alone. How do you want people to feel when they watch it?

I want people to see themselves in Mel and feel like they have someone to root for. I want it to be the antidote to loneliness, because I hope it creates conversation around the topic. Having created the show has allowed my life to be richer and have more depth and breadth, because when people see me, they know they can have that conversation. I may have just met you, but I’m going to cry on the Zoom, you know what I mean? I hope it makes people feel less alone. And in rooting for someone who’s trying to grow, I hope it gives them permission to try and grow. That’s the best thing that we can do. I didn’t want to present solutions to the world. I wanted to present the opportunity for conversation.

How are you going to celebrate when the show comes out on September 13?

I’ve contemplated getting a tattoo. I’m the type of person that, well, I have anxiety. That’s just a fact. An expression of that is that it’s hard for me to celebrate the good things, because it’s a vulnerability, right? To be happy. It’s like, Oh, this could go away at any minute. It’s almost an act of self-preservation, not to get too excited. At every point in this process I’ve tried to make a concerted effort to celebrate, like when we got the green light, when we wrapped production, all of these benchmarks, and now the ultimate benchmark is happening. The thing that I’ve been working on for eight years is going to see the light of day. My way of celebrating will be to be absolutely present, not thinking about the reviews, not thinking about what comes next, but to be in this moment and to really be proud of myself. That’s the main celebration. And then maybe some ink.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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