Zazie Beetz on Returning to ‘Atlanta’ Set and Avoiding Doing Zoom Calls
Written by SOURCE on November 14, 2021
Zazie Beetz remains tight-lipped about the upcoming seasons of Atlanta.
“I can’t say much in terms of plot and stuff, but we have shot seasons three and four,” she said in a recent interview with Vulture. “Season four is still being worked on, but know that we have things in the can. Something will come out next year.”
The comments came more than three years after FX aired the Atlanta season 2 finale. Within the following year, the network announced it had renewed the comedy-drama for a third and fourth season; however, the team was forced to postpone production multiple times due to scheduling conflicts as well as the global pandemic. Filming for seasons 3 and 4 finally kicked off this past April in London, Amsterdam, and Paris.
“Oh, it felt so good. I was so happy to be on set,” said Beetz, who plays Atlanta’s Vanessa Keefer. “I just really feel like these people — Donald [Glover]; [Lakeith Stanfield]; Brian [Tyree Henry]; Hiro [Murai], our director; Christian [Sprenger], our DP —they’ve really become family. And I mean that in the sense that this show changed all of our lives completely, including Donald’s. And there is a sort of sacred bond that happens with people who collectively go through an experience that shifts your whole life trajectory. So being with them will always feel like a homecoming.”
Beetz went on to say Atlanta was unlike any other acting gig she’s ever had—saying it felt like her “real job,” while the others felt like “side” projects.
“That’s what’s so special about TV — at least if you get along with your co-stars — you get closer and closer, and you feel safer and can take different risks, try different things and really lean into these characters in a way where you get to try it again and again and again, versus in a film, where it’s a one and done,” she explained, before being asked if she and her castmates conducted Zoom calls during the lockdowns. “No, but we have a solid group thread that goes 24/7.”
You can read Beetz’s full interview here. She is currently on a promotional tour for the Netflix film, The Harder They Fall.
