Jane Lynch‘s highly anticipated role on Happy’s Place as Melissa Peterman‘s mom might come with plenty of surprises.
“I tend to play self-involved people, so that was fun,” Lynch, 65, quipped during an exclusive interview with Us Weekly ahead of her debut in the Friday, March 20, episode of the hit NBC sitcom.
Lynch was thrilled to play a character that gets unpacked more as the show continues, adding, “One of the favorite things that she loves to say when she’s talking about somebody is she says, ‘They’re obsessed with me and they love me.’ We all know that person who tells us how much everybody else thinks they’re fantastic.”
The mystery around Val’s (Lynch) true intentions will keep playing out on screen.
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“It is walking that line of if she truly cares or is she just trying to get something in this moment? Hopefully, it’ll leave people guessing,” Lynch teased about playing Gabby’s (Peterman) narcissistic mother. “I didn’t know that they had been talking about Val the season before — and a lot in this season.”
She continued: “So throughout the week, everybody has filled me in on some of the things that I did to Melissa — or at least Melissa says I did. So everybody gets to decide for themselves. Did she really do that?”
In Us‘ exclusive clip from Lynch’s first episode as Val, she quickly warms up to both Isabella (Belissa Escobedo) and Steve (Pablo Castelblanco). Lynch enjoyed getting to show different shades to the fictional character.
“You have to go inside the person — like with any acting job — about what do they really want from this moment? How do they think they should get it? For this particular character, she’s been getting her way her entire life and has basically skated by unscathed,” she noted.
Lynch was also thrilled to share the screen with Peterman, 54.
“The first thing she did was make sure I [felt] welcome. I have two bouquets of flowers, a thank you card and this is before I uttered one line,” the actress said. “I could have been not very good, but she brought my favorite cola and I have two cases of it. This is who we’re talking about when we’re talking about Melissa Peterman.”
Lynch referred to Peterman as “generous and kind,” adding, “It has just been really fantastic. She’s so game. There are times where I’m hugging her then grabbing her face and breathing into her face while telling her horrible things about herself. And she’s just taken it like a champ.”
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Peterman was just as grateful to expand on Gabby’s story line.
“It was such a bucket list moment for me. It’s going to be very satisfying for the audience,” Peterman teased. “I love it when you talk about people for a long time before you meet them, [and this will] answer a lot of questions of why Gabby is Gabby and why connection is something she’s looking for all the time.”
Peterman even has ideas for who could play her dad, telling Us, “Jason Alexander would be very funny and completely unexpected. And then I’m gonna throw this out, because I believe in manifesting things and saying them out loud. Jennifer Coolidge as my aunt. Wouldn’t that be amazing, to reunite [Best in Show’s] Jennifer Coolidge and Jane Lynch as sisters?”
Looking ahead, Lynch made it clear to Us that she’s “interested in returning” to the show for more episodes. (It has been confirmed Val’s arc will extend beyond Friday’s episode of Happy’s Place.)
“I love being in the skin of this character,” she gushed. “Going face-to-face with Melissa has just been a joy. So I was delighted to hear they perhaps want me back for more.”
Happy’s Place airs on NBC Fridays at 8 p.m. ET before streaming the next day on Peacock.
