In 2017, you lost Robert Michael Morris, who plays Valerie’s beloved hairstylist, Mickey. His spirit is deeply felt on the third season of the show. How did you both navigate that? It must have been really emotional.

Kudrow: It was. I was worried about not having Mickey. How does this work without Mickey? It also kept me away from it for a while. When we would talk about, ‘What could it be?’ I’m like, ‘There’s no Mickey. I don’t know.’ Yeah, it was too hard, honestly.

King: He was my college theater teacher. We created this part for a very retired performer to come back and do it. This is the most Mickey thing of all: When he died, I think it was Entertainment Weekly said, “Television star Robert Michael Morris dead.” And I just thought him seeing that in the trades, “Television star”…would almost be worth him leaving. I think he would enjoy that.

What is it about Valerie that keeps us rooting for her, even through all of the flubs and the mistakes?

Kudrow: Well, she’s not a bad person. I mean, she’s ultimately—and not even ultimately—she’s a decent person. She also shows you all the cracks, even if it’s not deliberate. You feel like you get her. You see her. And even the pretense is not pretense. She is who she is. Does that make sense? Michael will say something smarter in two seconds.

King: She’s a survivor. And it’s a very rough time. The funny casing of the show is Valerie’s life is rough because she wants to be in show business. But the bigger thought is, everybody’s life can be rough. You just got to keep going. We’ve thought this from the jump: In the very first episode, the only song in the show is Destiny’s Child, “I’m a Survivor.” We’ve been telling people since the very first episode, “She’s a survivor,” and now people know her enough to get a kick out of her. [After] 21 years of knowing her, you can kind of believe she’s a survivor, so you’re rooting for her because she’s…I hate to say it, she’s going for her dream. She’s going for it still.

I know it’s being billed as the third and final season, but it seems like Valerie can exist in every time and place. What would you say once it comes out and people are clamoring for more?

Kudrow: Third and final.

King: It is final. We both are very clear about that. We are the ones who made sure that the word “final” was put on the art poster. Look, Valerie can exist in anything. And, believe me, we’ve figured them all out for 21 years at lunch. Lisa, talk about the fact that you always thought it was a trilogy, abstractly.

Kudrow: Well, I don’t know, I guess I did. But with this idea, it just felt like, “Yeah, it makes it a whole piece.” We started with what felt like an extinction event for writers, for scripted television 20 years ago. And here we are again, and this time it feels like, “Okay, this time it’s real,” but every time it feels real. It just feels like a complete story.