More than three years have passed since the first season of Natasha Lyonne’s trippy Netflix series Russian Doll, about a woman who gets stuck in a Groundhog Day-esque time loop the night of her 36th birthday party. And in a new teaser for the highly-anticipated second season, it seems as though things are about to go off the rails once again. Cue Harry Nilsson’s “Gotta Get Up!”
The scattered, frenzied imagery in the teaser depicts Lyonne’s software engineer Nadia Vulvokov seemingly coming into consciousness on a New York City subway car, repeatedly walking up some dreamlike stairs from the subway into a graveyard, and then falling down the steps — suggesting yet another death-driven time loop. Meanwhile, Alan Zaver (Charlie Barnett), appears to be drowning in a bathtub at one point, and the glowing bathroom door makes yet another appearance.
“When the universe fucks with you, let it,” announces Nadia at the end of the clip, before knocking back a shot.
Though it’s difficult to garner much context from the clip, we do know that the second season picks up four years after the events that have transpired in season one. According to Entertainment Weekly, “the plot once again explores existential themes as the duo discover a fate even worse than dying over and over, when they must sift through their pasts via an unexpected time portal located in one of Manhattan’s most iconic locales.”
“It’s definitely a wild ride. It is deep, and deeply off-the-wall,” teased Lyonne, who likewise co-created and serves as showrunner on the series.
“I genuinely think the joy of the game is to watch it with fresh eyes as much as you can in order to be taken by the story,” she explains, not wanting to give away too much. Citing one of her childhood favorites, The Neverending Story, as an example of sorts, Lyonne likes the idea of “saddling up with a book in the attic and letting that world take you away on a journey. I do have this dream that people get to do that with this show.”
Joining Lyonne and Barnett for the second season is Schitt’s Creek star Annie Murphy, who plays an unexpected “ally” to Nadia. And yes, Oatmeal is apparently back too.
“With my whole heart, I hope that people watch it all and see where the game goes and lands,” Lyonne added. “I can’t believe we pulled it off.”
And we can’t wait to see how she pulls it off. Season 2 of Russian Doll streams exclusively on Netflix on Wednesday, April 20.
