'We Are Lady Parts' creators Nida Manzoor and Surian Fletcher-Jones sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to chat all about season 2 of their Peacock series and discuss the nuances between different Muslim women in this THR Emmys Lounge.
00:00 The reason why I made the show We Are Lady Parts was to explore the nuances between different Muslim women,
00:05 to explore what it means to be gay and Muslim, what it means to be a black woman and Muslim,
00:09 and just see those nuances play out because I think that's kind of what the show is about,
00:14 is just to say there's no one way to be a Muslim person, it contains multitudes.
00:19 One, two, three, four!
00:20 [Music]
00:30 I so loved ending season one on that high of the band finally playing their gig,
00:36 but I think I knew for season two I wanted to sort of move things along.
00:39 I mean it took me a while to figure out how far along we wanted to start it.
00:43 We kind of wanted to acknowledge that a little bit of time had passed and also that the girls are older
00:50 and they're kind of looking at life a little bit differently,
00:54 and so we wanted to get into the idea that they're not just kids mucking about anymore, they're ladies.
01:00 We're recording this album.
01:01 We should have been excited, but we were all a little jangling.
01:05 [Music]
01:10 We got to set up all these amazing characters,
01:13 and it just felt right to then go in a bit deeper to each of their individual lives,
01:17 and as we started writing and developing it just felt like the natural thing to do, I think.
01:21 And the girls are just each of them so strong as actors and performers that it just felt so natural.
01:28 It did, yeah. Let's do a girl power anthem.
01:30 [Music]
01:31 Getting to know Sarah Camilla Impey who plays Saira, she's got such silliness and fun,
01:37 and in season one I was a very serious, straight-laced character,
01:41 but season two I was like, you know what, I know that Sarah can fall down and do some more of the sillier beats,
01:47 so learning that about Sarah was also really fun.
01:50 And Juliette as well, Juliette Montamad who plays Aisha.
01:53 We'd seen her in some of her other film work and TV work, and she's hilarious in season one,
01:59 but we just knew that we could take her into a more dramatic storyline that would showcase her serious acting.
02:07 I would love that. That would be really awesome.
02:11 [Music]
02:16 I think my favourite song from season two is Glass Ceiling Feeling.
02:21 [Music]
02:25 I think because it was such a departure from what we'd done before and all the other songs,
02:29 it was the biggest risk for me. I'm so proud of that song.
02:32 It's probably the most serious song, but it felt like some sort of growth happened in writing that song for me.
02:39 [Music]
02:42 Was it just me or could you smell something burning?
02:46 I think the question of the burden of representation is so huge for so many writers who come from minority backgrounds.
02:52 That conversation that happens at the end of episode five, where the band are really grappling with this question of what is real representation?
03:00 It came out of this writers' room where it was this group of Muslim women, all from different backgrounds,
03:04 just having this very heated debate of what our role is as creatives.
03:09 I had this moment in that room where I was like, this is the scene.
03:12 And this is the joy of having a show which has five cast members, five leads,
03:17 that you can put those issues that are really meaty and chewy and hard to find your way through
03:22 and just give it to this group of this cast and really bounce that issue around the room.
03:27 It just felt very real and true.
03:30 I think I'm drawn to those grey areas where I'm grappling with it myself.
03:34 I don't have an answer, but I love to just present it to the audience.
03:38 Yeah, and it felt like as a punk band, it felt so natural for those girls to question what you do as a punk band,
03:47 how far you push things, because that's what a punk band is there to do, is to push the boundaries.
03:53 And also what I think is so powerful about your vision and your way of expressing
04:04 that you can choose your own sense of identity and you can pick bits from the West and the East
04:10 and from the old world and the new world and forge your own sense of being and that's you.
04:17 It's kind of rad.
04:19 And I feel like nobody else has expressed that as articulately with humour.
04:25 Aisha's like sexy Spice and Saira's cool Spice.
04:30 Amina's girl next door Spice.
04:32 And you know what, I am mummy Spice.
04:36 All the time that it's taken between Pilot season 1, season 2, I've matured, I've grown as an artist,
04:42 I've grown in confidence in my voice, I've learnt how to work within these systems and these spaces
04:48 and most importantly, I've found the people I collaborate best with.
04:52 It was because of all that growth that happened in those intervening years,
04:55 so I just feel extremely lucky to have it take that long.
04:59 The Navy Party's more important than any one of us.
05:02 You guys better go out there, show the world who we are.
