One Of The Most Undersung Shows Is Back — And Here’s An Exclusive First Look
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There’s a real go-big-or-go-home energy that crackles throughout the Peacock comedy series “We Are Lady Parts.”
That kind of buoyant maximalism is a throughline connecting much of writer-director Nida Manzoor’s work, including her debut directorial feature film last year, the genre-bending heist comedy “Polite Society.”
Now that Manzoor has the success of both the series’ first season, which premiered to great acclaim in 2021, and “Polite Society” under her belt, it’s no surprise that Season 2 of “We Are Lady Parts” goes even bigger and bolder.
The show follows the members of Lady Parts, an all-female British Muslim punk band: Amina (Anjana Vasan), Saira (Sarah Kameela Impey), Ayesha (Juliette Motamed) and Bisma (Faith Omole), plus their manager, Momtaz (Lucie Shorthouse). Everything about the new season feels like the volume has been turned up, from more impressive songs and visual set pieces to deeper themes and conversations among the characters about art and identity.
“Everyone was able to level up in Season 2 across the board,” Manzoor said in an interview this week, explaining how these last few years have given her a greater “sense of being self-assured and being confident in my voice.”
HuffPost has an exclusive first look at the Season 2 trailer, launching Thursday, and new photos from the upcoming season. All six episodes premiere May 30 on Peacock, as well as on Channel 4 in the U.K.
In Season 2, now that their band is more established, the members of Lady Parts grapple with what success looks like, vying for a record deal and a potential spot at Glastonbury, the U.K.’s biggest music festival. But with those markers of mainstream success come reservations and roadblocks. As their platform grows, how will they maintain their authenticity and integrity as artists? As Manzoor explained, she drew some of those big, existential questions at the heart of the series from similar conversations she has had with fellow artists — and with herself.
“There is a slightly meta element to these things, and it makes it very joyful to write when you’re going through similar feelings at times,″ she said. “But more than that, I think just noticing that there’s such a pressure especially on younger people to be famous — this idea of fame as success, and reaching big, big platforms [as] success. But actually, is that really success?”
“There’s so much joy to be able to create your art on a big platform, as I’m allowed to do,” she added. “And that’s just also exploring: How far can you go? What can you say? What is the compromise there?”
What happens when art collides with capitalism and commercial considerations was also a frequent conversation topic in the writers’ room, according to Manzoor.
For this season, she convened a group of Muslim women “from a variety of backgrounds: different levels of religiosity, ages, ethnicity, sexuality,” she said. Not all of them were screenwriters; for example, Manzoor said she brought on the Welsh Iraqi poet Hanan Issa, the National Poet of Wales.
Each of the writers brought their varied experiences and points of view, which informed the complex conversations the characters are having this season about art and identity, Manzoor said. For instance, she said, they grappled with how Muslim queer women express their identities, and “the tensions, the nuances and the differences, even within Muslim women who identify that way.” Questions about “motherhood and femininity,” also came up.
“And there’s also talking about art and self-expression, what you feel you can and cannot say,” Manzoor said. “It was so vibrant, and it really informed a lot of those big band scenes.”
Another way Season 2 is a step up from the first season is its deeper exploration of each Lady Parts member outside of the band, from their home lives to romantic relationships. Now that we know these characters, we can get more invested in them. Throughout the new season, we see each of them deal with layered and sometimes difficult questions about everything from their different expressions of Muslim identity, to Blackness and queerness, to the complications of interracial dating. In several cases, Manzoor wanted to upend and challenge some of the characters’ traits and perceptions from Season 1, giving them moments of growth.
That depth of storytelling also came from Manzoor knowing her actors better and being able to tailor the writing toward their performances. “I’d written for them for Season 1, not really knowing fully their skill sets and their different talents,” she said. But now, she’s able to tap into her actors’ strengths.
Motamed, who plays Ayesha, has a “vulnerability, this very open-heartedness, that I really wanted to give her opportunities to explore in Season 2,” Manzoor said. “So Ayesha’s character would go sort of deeper into her story, exploring her queer identity. And then conversely, Sarah, who plays Saira, isn’t someone that I would usually give big full pratfall moments to, but she’s got some really fun ones, ’cause there’s a real silliness and physicality to Sarah, which I learned.”
One of the season’s standout musical scenes is a virtuosic solo featuring Bisma, Omole’s character. Manzoor said she wanted to give Omole a powerhouse moment because “she’s got such an incredible, emotive voice.”
Manzoor has a few more projects in the works, all emblematic of her unique sensibilities and ability to meld different genres. “Things are sort of bubbling away. I’m developing a dark sci-fi comedy TV show, which I’m really enjoying,” she said. “And then I’m also working on another — I wanna do more action, so a big action spy movie, but with a lot of weird twistiness inside of it, playing in genre, playing with comedy.”
With each new accomplishment, Manzoor said she has an easier time trusting her instincts. She described how earlier in her career, she “may have second-guessed and tormented and stewed on things for much longer, whereas [now], I feel much more self-assured.”
Across both seasons of “We Are Lady Parts,” as well as “Polite Society,” she has worked with many the same collaborators and crew — not unlike being in a band. She is particularly proud that the new season reflects the growth of their collective efforts.
“I felt like I trusted my heads of department even more. They had such strong instincts for the show,” she said. “I think that’s the most joy I get from creating things. It’s seeing not only my own growth as a writer and a director, but also getting to grow with a team — [that] feels very special.”
Season 2 of “We Are Lady Parts” premieres May 30 on Peacock. Watch the exclusive trailer above.
