Season 2 of Average Joe is off to a roaring start, in part due to the constant banter between Cathy and Leon Montgomery. There’s no doubt that Leon and Cathy love each other—and also no doubt that they drive each other up the wall. But it works, because actors Malcolm Barrett and Cynthia Kaye McWilliams have such a snappy dynamic.

Malcolm and Cynthia joined TVBrittanyF.com to talk about what they were most looking forward to in the Paramount+ show’s return. They also spoke about how they approached their characters’ comic moments. Plus, what do they appreciate most about the new season?

Brittany Frederick: When you got the news that Average Joe Season 2 was happening, what were you most excited about? Was there anything you were particularly wanting to explore with your characters?

Cynthia Kaye McWilliams: Character, and really just a sense of family. Getting back into a great group of people doing great work.

Malcolm Barrett: I was really excited to rediscover the character. It always takes me a bit. As much as I like to ad-lib and be off the cuff, I take a lot of notes on the history of the character, and so there’s always a bit of a stutter step getting into there.

But it was great because because we literally pick up from the last moment [of Season 1]. You kind of have no choice but to be in that moment and dive right back in there. So I was most excited about that—and getting to go to South Africa and see how much bigger the adventures of this family would be.

Cynthia, that’s particularly fun for you given that Cathy ended Season 1 having been shot. What’s that like as a starting point for you? How does she move forward?

McWilliams: We do start Season 2 right where we left off, and I enjoyed that. I think it was really cool to to come and drop right back into it all, and then answer that question right away. Obviously, we know she’s alive, but just get about the business of all right, what are we going to do now that we’ve been given another chance? And immediately, Cathy’s objective is to get right back to this mission. Where’s the money? Where’s the drugs? And where is really a new future for us, or me?

Malcolm, you have some of the best lines in Average Joe with the random stories and facts that Leon drops. The rental car bit in the Season 2 premiere is one example of that. Do you have a favorite Leon moment or line?

Barrett: I’ll tell you a thing that got cut, and it’s from the first season. It’s when we’re making a plan, and we’re all sitting around the table because there’s a dead Russian in the background, and I had a whole thing about Baryshnikov. I had a whole thing about how the Russian dancer from Die Hard, the villain from Die Hard who gets hung up, he was actually a dancer in real life, and [Leon] wanted to be a dancer, but just didn’t have the feet for it, and all this sort of thing.

McWilliams: I remember all of us staring. Just going like, wait. Did we miss pages? Were there new pages?

Barrett: [Laughs.] Deon [Cole] ad-libbed, and I think it wanted to go there, where Deon was like, “Are you finished?” And I think that is my favorite. My favorite thing about Leon is he seems like a bit of an idiot, but I think it’s not necessarily idiotic as much as out of place, and a lot of times in over his head. Like the car rental thing, that’s not dumb. It’s just like what is relevant to this moment right now? And I like that Leon is always sort of operating in his own world.

The fun of Average Joe is its complete unpredictability. What surprised you about Season 2, whether you were involved in it or not?

Barrett: I think one of the most exciting parts of this second season was the fight choreography. Who gets involved and the level of fighting and the places in which they’re fighting, and the instruments that they use while they’re fighting, it’s all been amped up and taken to 11.

McWilliams: What surprised me the most was seeing the depths that Joe’s character sinks to without having Angela and you know his daughter in his life anymore. We start the season with him in a really low place, and I think I was surprised to see Deon as an actor work in playing Joe’s real low start, and then watching that journey back.

I think people were surprised by his performance, period. As a comedic actor, just in general, finding more legs as a dramatic actor throughout the years after we wrapped Season 1. He’s done so much more work in film and television, film in particular. And I just think that you really see his growth as an actor in Season 2.

Average Joe streams Wednesdays on Paramount+. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Paramount+.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.