Ginny & Georgia Creator Sarah Lampert Talks Season 2, Says Ginny and Georgia Will Have to ‘Get to Know Each Other on a Deeper Level’ [Interview]

Coming from a “long line of very strong, personality-women,” Ginny & Georgia creator and executive producer Sarah Lampert says she’s always been drawn to female relationships on TV. That’s part of the inspiration for her popular Netflix series, which returns this Thursday for a new season.

I recently spoke with Lampert about how she developed Ginny & Georgia, the way it offers homage to shows that came before it, and what to expect from Season 2.

“I think the strongest relationship a girl can have is with her mother. I love Gilmore Girls,” Lampert said. “I love family-driven dramas. I love coming-of-age stories. So I really wanted to create a show that dealt with mother-daughter.”

Lampert said she also knew she wanted “a complicated, messy mother-daughter relationship.” Much of that relationship was developed with the character of Ginny being “kept in the dark” when it comes to her mother Georgia’s past, as well as “being a biracial girl at school, having Georgia not understand what that’s like, [and] having Ginny not understand where Georgia is coming from.”

“These two characters are just never going to fully understand the other’s lived experience, but they love each other deeply,” Lampert explained. “They just have great propensity to hurt one another,” Lampert explained.

Lampert further discussed Ginny’s struggle with her identity and the importance of diversity in the series.

“With Ginny specifically, but with a lot of characters, we really wanted to give a voice to perspectives you don’t always see on screen, and just giving that representation. We have a very collaborative process. The reason I think the show is so successful is because we have [so many important perspectives represented in our teams], both behind the camera and then in front of the camera,” Lampert said.

“[Ginny] is struggling with her own identity. She’s coming into it and growing up on screen,” she continued. “A really big part of that is that she is figuring out where safe spaces exist for her. She goes through a lot of Season 1 feeling invalidated and feeling like she’s being shut down in a certain way. Then in Season 2, we really explore her seeking out more of those safe spaces.”

Season 2 will also see a change in the dynamic between Ginny and Georgia. “My favorite relationship is mother-daughter because I just don’t think you get a closer bond. And with that closeness can come a lot of pain,” Lampert said.

“Season 1 was a coming-of-age story for both Ginny and Georgia, and I think Season 2 is a continuation of that. They’re both going to have to really get to know each other on a deeper level this season, specifically to set them up for where I want this to go in Season 3. If we get it.”

“I think what the show does so beautifully is it doesn’t really stick a good or bad sticker on anyone’s forehead. All of the characters are really complex. All the characters are multifaceted. In some moments, they’re the good guy. In some moments, they’re the bad guy. And I think that that’s especially true of both Ginny and Georgia. They’re really dynamic, messy women.”

The relationship between Georgia and Paul is also an important part of Season 2. Lampert spoke a bit about the significance of that relationship and what it means for Georgia’s own journey.

“Here’s what I love about Georgia and Paul, but it’s also what I love about Georgia and Zion and Georgia and Joe. And it’s that Georgia is such a multifaceted woman that we really have created these three really well-rounded, interesting male characters that all serve as very viable love interests for her, because she herself is so dynamic.”

“They each touch upon a different part of her, and I think that’s what’s so great — is there’s no one guy that works all-encompassing for her. They all relate to different aspects of her,” Lampert said.

“For Paul, I think he specifically really fits into what she moved to Wellsbury for, which is security and success. And I think if you dig deeper, I think she absolutely wants to give Ginny the life that she herself never had. But I think she’s also, on a deeper level, looking to heal some of her own childhood trauma and almost prove that she’s worthy of having it by seeking it out.”

“So it really is kind of a deeper need for her than just simply wanting to marry the mayor or move to Wellsbury,” Lampert continued. “I think Paul represents a sort of external validation that she’s really seeking.”

Season 2 will also introduce Austin’s father, Gil Timmons (Aaron Ashmore), and Lampert hinted that it won’t go well.

“We know that he’s in jail for fraud and embezzlement and that Georgia probably framed him,” Lampert said. “And we know that Georgia was not sending him Austin’s letters that he was writing, and instead she was forging letters back to Austin from him.”

The end of Season 1 saw Ginny admitting to sending those letters, and based on Georgia’s reaction, it’s clear that was a mistake. “We have a moment of genuine fear on Georgia’s face when she asks if Ginny put her return address on them. So I think what we can safely assume is this is not a character that Georgia wants in the picture. So a lot will set off once that character does show up.”

Many fans of Ginny & Georgia saw a correlation with Gilmore Girls right away, and that’s not a coincidence. Having already noted a love for the series at the beginning of our interview, Lampert spoke to the references to Gilmore Girls and other series that you’ll find in Ginny & Georgia.

“One of the tones of the show is definitely camp and an homage to other shows that came before it. We have Gilmore Girls, we have Desperate Housewives, My So-Called Life. I think there’s some Boy Meets World references thrown in there. I think Georgia compares Marcus to Shawn Hunter at one point. We weren’t trying to make a show that existed in a vacuum. It’s definitely a show that has been inspired and informed by other coming-of-age stories before it.”

Of course, there are a few very notable Gilmore Girls references in Ginny & Georgia, but not everything was intentional.

“There’s a line in the pilot, obviously, drawing the comparison to Gilmore Girls but with bigger boobs,” Lampert said. “I would say the motorcycle is definitely one. I would say that for sure. I wanted to throw that in there for some diehards. I, too, am a Gilmore Girls absolute diehard stan. I mean, I love TV. I can’t single out Gilmore Girls, but there’s like five shows that I just have on rotation that I’m just constantly watching. And Gilmore Girls is in that rotation for sure.”

“Some are just coincidences, though, like Blue Farm and Luke’s,” she added. “I saw a lot of comparisons of that online and that was just… If you are shooting a show, you just need a standing set where everyone can gather. So that was just a coincidence.”

“In Season 2, in Episode 2, Maxine has this whole monologue about how Sing Sing, the musical that they did in Season 1, was compared to Chicago. Everyone thought it was going to be like Chicago and then it wasn’t like Chicago. And everyone was mad that it wasn’t like Chicago, when they’re the ones who compared it to Chicago in the first place. That is a direct conversation with a little wink and a nod, very good-naturedly, with the Gilmore Girls conversation that was happening around Ginny & Georgia before Season 1.”

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Ginny & Georgia Season 2 will be available to stream Thursday, January 5th on Netflix. 

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