Geraldine Viswanathan is living the dream trajectory for an emerging actress. Step one: Burst onto the scene starring in beloved film, Blockers. Step two: Wind up on a TV show playing Daniel Radcliffe's love interest. Step three: Shovel shit.
The 24-year-old Australian actress has returned for season 2 of Miracle Workers, the hilarious hidden gem anthology series on TBS. Set in the half-ethereal, half-corporate world of God's angels in season one, the show takes a hard left turn to medieval times in season two. In it, Viswanathan stars as the daughter of Steve Buscemi, the town shit-shoveler, and it's her character's turn to take on the family business.
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Miracle Workers: Dark Ages returns with the same cast — Viswanathan, Radcliffe, Buscemi, Karan Soni, and Jon Bass — that once prevented God (Buscemi) from pursuing his ill-advised dream to burn his whole Earth experiment to the ground and instead open up a restaurant. Now, the gang lives in a medieval town, dealing problems like "innovative ways to shovel people's excrement," and "the prince is too obsessed with ducks to lead a country." Each are treated with equal weight.
The show is absurd yet weirdly clever, and in the center of it all, Viswanathan plays Alexandra, a good-hearted, genuine soul who wants to shovel the town’s shit to the best of her ability and read a nice book on her day off. The laughs come when Viswanathan’s straight man butts heads with creator Simon Rich’s varied characters: Buscemi’s happy-go-lucky neighborhood shit-shoveler, Soni’s exasperated royal hand, and Radcliffe’ patently ridiculous prince who would rather pal about with his ducks than lead a kingdom.
When I spoke to her at the Miracle Workers: Dark Ages premiere party last week in New York City ahead of the season two premiere on January 28, she was ready to celebrate both her and her character’s hard work with a turkey leg and some of Brooklyn’s finest mead. But first, we chatted about the show's sudden change in storyline and just how many Harry Potter jokes they're allowed to make on set.
Refinery29: Did you always know season 2 was going to be a totally different story than season 1?
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Geraldine Viswanathan: “I knew it was going to be an anthology series and that Simon wanted to get an ensemble of actors, and he would just create worlds [for each season] and it would be a self-contained story.”
Are there any similarities between the two seasons?
“I think the most common thread is probably with my characters. In the first season, Eliza's wanting to change the system. She thinks it's backwards and she thinks there's a better way to operate. In this season, Alexandra, envisions a [better] way that our society [can] work.”
Another similarity is your and Daniel Radcliffe’s character’s connections. What was it like finding out you’d be acting opposite Harry Potter?
“I'ma be honest, I wasn't a big Harry Potter gal. I absolutely knew that he was Harry Potter and I've seen a lot of the films. I wasn't like, Oh, this cool up-and-coming actor, Daniel Radcliffe. I definitely was plenty nervous when I first met him, but I actually knew him more from Swiss Army Man and the cool weird films that he does.”
I assume there’s a moratorium on Harry Potter jokes on set.
“He's got a very good attitude. I asked him once, Does it get old? And he's like, ‘It's fine. It's just I've heard every single Harry Potter joke. If someone's gonna make a Harry Potter joke to me, I'm not going to be impressed.’”
Since you all were chosen for your chemistry, do the actors hang out with each other off-set?
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“We truly do, especially this season because we shot in Prague. It was a very bizarre experience, when you're in a random country and you don't know anyone there, so we hung out a lot. We all lived in the same building.”
Which actor do you have the hardest time getting through a scene with?
“Steve makes me laugh a lot. He just has this incredible way of making things funny. I just look at Steve and I laugh.”
What else do we have to look forward to from you?
“I have this romantic comedy that I did last summer called Broken Heart Gallery and I'm really excited about it. It's a really fun from rom-com. And I'd love to do a season 3 with these fools!”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.