Judy Greer breaks down Bree's big moment in the Reboot season 1 finale
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Warning: This article contains spoilers for Reboot season 1.
Judy Greer is just happy to be in a comedy again. Though the prolific actress almost always brings a warm humor to her many performances across film and TV, it's been a while since she starred in a project as straightforwardly comedic as Hulu's meta sitcom Reboot.
"I was looking at my own IMDb page recently, because I was wondering, 'Is that true? Have I really not done a straight-up comedy in a while?'" Greer tells EW. "And I was like, 'Well, that was a funny performance. This was a funny role.' But I just haven't felt like I've done just a straight-up comedy in a really long time where I just get to be funny. So that was really interesting to me. And she is pretty, she's really girly and fancy. I never play those roles. I feel like I'm always tired and crying."
Reboot sees Greer playing Bree Marie Jensen, part of the cast of the old sitcom Step Right Up that is now being revamped for the streaming age. Like her castmates — Reed (Keegan-Michael Key), Clay (Johnny Knoxville), and Zack (Calum Worthy) — Bree has been a bit adrift since the old show ended. She once dated Reed, but the end of the show coincided with their break-up and she moved on to a marriage with a foreign royal. That relationship eventually ended as well, and the beginning of Reboot finds Bree moving back to America with nothing to her name after spending years in a foreign country.
Hulu Bree (Judy Greer) and Reed (Keegan-Michael Key) on 'Reboot.'
"I said this halfway through shooting, I think on episode three or four. I just figured out that Bree is so f---ing lonely," Greer says. "I think that's the truth. I think she's getting her life back, but nobody said that when you start making good decisions that it's going to be super simple and everything's going to be handed to you. I think she's really lonely."
That loneliness drives Bree to some big decisions in the Reboot season finale. After a season of searching, she realizes that Reed really is the love of her life — and confesses this to him just after he proposes to his girlfriend Nora (Eliza Coupe).
"I can certainly see how she got there," Greer says. "She and Reed have a lot of chemistry. They have a lot of history. It was a very weird breakup when it happened. It just seemed like it just was over and done. There was no closure, and now Bree is really searching for her identity in the first season. I think she's tried a lot of things in eight episodes, but the one thing that she always knows, that she's always gone back to, is Reed. He was her family for many years, and then she never felt understood in her marriage and in that country."
But Reed is moving on with his own life, and Bree is left feeling lonelier than ever. That drives her to seek out the similarly lonely Clay, who just bought his first house and has no idea what to do with it other than sit by himself in the empty building and struggle with his sobriety. Bree and Clay didn't spend a ton of time together during season 1, though in one episode they saw aspects of each other that few others know about when Bree called Clay for help while tripping on mushrooms for the first time and ended up stumbling into his Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
Michael Desmond/Hulu Keegan-Michael Key, Johnny Knoxville, Callum Worthy, and Judy Greer in 'Reboot'
"Putting two characters together that you haven't paired yet just conjures up stories," Reboot creator Steven Levitan says. "You just have to keep your antenna up. One of the things I noticed is that Judy and Johnny had a wonderful chemistry in real life. You might not necessarily think that's gonna be the case, but they instantly had this funny relationship together where they would play practical jokes on each other, and they're always commenting on the other one. It's just fun to watch. So it seemed natural to me to slowly take these two characters, who perhaps didn't see eye-to-eye back in the old days, and see if they can find a different relationship this time around."
As of this writing, Reboot's future is uncertain, though Levitan is already making plans for future seasons. Greer, for one, would love to learn more about her character if given the chance.
"I would love to meet Bree's mom," Greer says. "I'd love for Bree to continue to test the waters in other areas of her career. And I'm just so curious where they're going to go with me and Clay and Reed and Nora. I'm a fan of the show as well. I'm like, 'What's going to happen?'"
Season 1 of Reboot is streaming now on Hulu.
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