Content Warning: Spoilers For The Flight Attendant Season 1
Rosie Perez reveals her initial reaction to reading the script for The Flight Attendant. Season 1 premiered in November 2020 and follows flight attendant Cassie Bowden (played by Kaley Cuoco) who wakes up in a Bangkok hotel room next to a dead man, Alex Sokolov (played by Michiel Huisman), who she drank with the night before. The comedy-thriller series follows Cassie as she tries to unravel the mystery of how Alex was murdered, as well as confronts some of her past demons in the process.
The series also includes Cassie's coworker and friend Megan Briscoe (Perez) who begins stealing proprietary information from her husband's computer to sell to the North Korean government. Megan is not aware at first of how serious her crimes are and only finds out that she is in fact selling information to North Korea at the end of season 1. Besides Megan's dalliances in espionage, she also grapples with feeling like Cassie does not want to be as close of a friend with her as she would like to be with Cassie throughout the series. In season 1, episode 7 however, Cassie and Megan share a tender moment with each other where they share their respective secrets and admit that their friendship is quite meaningful to one another.
In an interview with The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Perez reveals that her first reaction to reading the Flight Attendant Script was that it seemed like a weird show. Perez admits that she even turned the show down because she ironically does not like to travel nor fly. However, Perez decided to continue starring in the show after filming the first scene with Cuoco. Perez says that after filming that initial scene, she knew that the show was going to be a huge success. The full quote from Perez regarding her initial reaction to the show can be read below:
"When I first read [the script], I said, 'This is a weird show.' And I turned it down 'cause I don't like traveling. I hate flying. It was the first scene that I had with Kaley Cuoco. I just knew it. I just knew it. First day, first scene, out the bag, I said, 'This is gonna be a hit.'"
Part of Megan's emotional arc in The Flight Attendant season 1 includes an almost unrequited love dynamic from Cassie, even though the two share undeniable chemistry on screen. Although the viewer knows that part of this is due to Cassie being overwhelmed by her own predicament of having to solve a murder that she may be framed for, watching Megan struggle with her own crime-induced situation and feeling more and more pushed away by Cassie, her husband, and her son makes her character even more sympathetic. This culminates in a monologue in which Megan details what it's like to feel invisible as a middle-aged woman to Cassie, and in which Cassie realizes that she can relate to Megan in more ways than she thought. Cassie also realizes that she has not treated Megan with the attention and respect that a good friend deserves.
Part of Megan and Cassie's characters growing closer at the end of season 1 is due to both of them learning that the other is keeping incredibly high-stakes secrets. Although Cassie manages to get herself out of hot water by the end of season 1, Megan's issues are not resolved so neatly, leaving the viewer to wonder how this will come into play in The Flight Attendant season 2 for both Megan's personal life and Megan's and Cassie's relationship. In the trailer for The Flight Attendant season 2, Cassie seems to have a new role working for the CIA, making it possible that Cassie's new job may in fact make Megan and her corporate espionage a target. The two-episode premiere of The Flight Attendant season 2 is currently available on HBO Max for viewers who are dying to know what will happen to Megan and Cassie next.
Sources: The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
