On Season 2 of the Starz series P-Valleythe Chucalissa strip club The Pynk is fighting for its own survival during the pandemic, with Autumn (Elarica Johnson) and Uncle Clifford (Nicco Annan) not always seeing eye-to-eye when it comes to what’s best for the business. At the same time, local politics are starting to make a mess of everything and everyone finds themselves doing what they must in such unprecedented times.
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Annan talked about the wild success of the first season, how much of the season they get to know about ahead of shooting, why it takes some time to get into the character of Uncle Clifford, the stripper car wash, incorporating face masks into the wardrobe this season due to COVID, how what goes on at The Pynk is really a show within the show, and whether he’s rooting for Uncle Clifford and Lil Murda to get back together.
Collider: Thank you for bringing Uncle Clifford back in all of her Uncle Clifford glory.
NICCO ANNAN: Thank you.
What was it like to realize the success of the first season? How and when did you realize that the show was really catching fire with audiences, the way that it has been?
ANNAN: We were all inside, when the pandemic was going on in 2020 and the show first came out. People were talking about it, but I really knew it was doing something when we got renewed. The network was like, “Okay, the numbers are here.” But then, to be honest with you, the thing that really blew my mind was Halloween 2020, when people were throwing P-Valley parties and dressing up as the characters, as an homage. The retail factor that this show has is huge. There are so many people that identify and celebrate it. Seeing that, I knew it was gonna be big, but I was like, “Okay, this is a little overwhelming,” but in the best of ways. “
The show is back with more stripping, more music, more drama, and just more of everything. What was it like to find out how you would approach things in Season 2? How much information did you get at the start of the season versus how much do you find out as it goes along?
ANNAN: We got the first script, maybe a month before we started filming. And then, you get each script, along the way. We do not read the whole season ahead of time. I actually think it’s more beneficial that way because you’re forced to live in the moment. The scripts for P-Valley are so dense. They’re laced with so much that, to me, as an actor and an artist, if you were to read the whole thing and then try to play it, you would miss so many of the notes and nuances, along the way. It’s about trusting our showrunner, Katori Hall. It’s about understanding that the writers and EPS and producers are aware of what’s happening because there are things that shift. When you breathe life into the words and they see it, it’s like, “Yep, that’s the moment. That tracks over to this in episode nine. ”
It’s been a minute since we last got to see these characters. Once you all got back on set, was it easy for you to slip back into Uncle Clifford? Is it a character that’s always just under the surface, or does it take you some time to find a groove again?
ANNAN: It takes me some time. It definitely takes me some time to find a groove. I knew that we were going to start filming, so it’s a process for me. I do not want her to be a caricature. I want Uncle Clifford to truly be a real person, with real feelings and emotions, and you just experience that. She may be very different than you, she may be more grand than you, or she may be the same. I just want it to be a true human experience. When we first got on set this season, for Season 2, Shannon Thornton, who plays Miss Mississippi / Keyshawn, said it best. She was like, “It’s like the first day of school, when you’re coming back to school and you’re like, ‘Oh, my gosh, hey!'” And that was multiplied by the fact that a lot of us were in lockdown. We didn’t have our families around us, and we were going through all this testing and protocols for COVID safety, so then you’re like, “People! There are people here! ”
I love the stripper car wash in the first episode. That was just absolutely wild. What was it like to read that on paper, and then see it realized and work in it?
ANNAN: First of all, the production value for the show’s second season is amplified and out of this world. Jeffrey Pratt Gordon and his team, and our sound, lighting, and all the costumes, really did their thing. The car wash situation was just an example of one of the real-life things that a lot of small businesses, and strip clubs specifically, had to do to keep themselves afloat. There was a strip club somewhere in Florida, I do not remember the city, that did a drive thru for food, with their wings and things like that, and with their drive thru, they had some dancing going on. Everyone did not have access to PPE loans, and things like that. How can you keep this business afloat? It’s about the people and the culture, here at The Pynk. How do we stay afloat and be there for one another? So, I think that’s how Uncle Clifford came up with P-Land. Someone actually told me, “Those prices are cheap!” I was like, “Duly noted.”
There’s also a moment that Uncle Clifford essentially tells everyone to think of their masks as couture, which I love, since that’s really been my mindset, trying to match my mask to whatever I’m wearing. What was it like to see Uncle Clifford’s wardrobe this season and to incorporate the masks as fashion? When you’re presented with character wardrobe, are you always game for any and all of it? Are there some outfits where you just know they’re not for Uncle Clifford?
ANNAN: Yes, for sure. We had three costume designers this season, and when I was met with certain things from wardrobe, like when a dog goes, “Hm ?,” if I do that when I see the wardrobe, then I know that we’re on the right track because it’s not something specifically menswear or womenswear. It’s an amalgamation of all, for me. So, when I see wardrobe and the couture with the masks, that was real because you had to be creative. Uncle Clifford is such a vibrant person to be stifled in a space where you can not open up the club, and no one can dance or party or make money, but you still have to provide for your household and for your grandmother, and get the insulin for your grandmother’s diabetes. There are things that have to be done. When you have the opportunity to open up, even if it’s just for the auditions that are going on, Uncle Clifford is going to go out. With this show, oftentimes at The Pynk, there’s a show within the show. You’re watching P-Valleyand within P-Valley, there’s a show that’s happening at The Pynk. Whether it’s Mercedes Sundays or Lil Murda on Murda Night with Keyshawn, there’s always a show that’s happening within the show. There’s lights, cameras, and actions that are a whole three ring circus that’s going on in this little place in Chucalissa.
Do you personally root for Uncle Clifford and Lil Murda to get back together, or do you hope Uncle Clifford finds someone else entirely?
ANNAN: I hope that Uncle Clifford finds someone that loves her completely, in a way that she’s worthy and deserving to be loved. Now, I think that that could be with Lil Murda, but because of how Lil Murda treated her on Murda Night, there is so much growth that they both have to do. It’s not just Lil Murda that has to grow up. I think Uncle Clifford has to reckon with the fact that she is deserving of love. Sometimes when you’re always taking care of other people, you can forget yourself, and sometimes she suffers from that.
I love that you have a throne, you have a cake of your face, and you get on a stripper pole this season. More of all of that, please.
ANNAN: Thank you. You have to celebrate yourself, even when others do not.
P-Valley airs Friday nights on Starz.