Justine Lupe has a way of drawing you in. Over the course of an hour-and-a-half lunch at Gemma, a cozy Italian spot at The Bowery Hotel, I’ve already opened up about my parents’ divorce, the time I broke up with an ex over a tarot reading, and how much I miss my long-distance dog, who shares a nickname with her 14-year-old rescue, Lilly. Lupe partly blames it on her sign — as a Gemini, the actor says, “I’m probably a little too curious” — but it’s also because she can relate: She, too, has been through it, and now that she’s on the other side, she’s compelled to reassure me that there’s light at the end of the tunnel. “You’ll come to a point where you’ll go, ‘Oh, this is why it happened this way,’” she tells me. “Believe that.”
The 36-year-old Colorado native met her artist husband, Tyson, with whom she shares a 1-year-old daughter, Ellis, after a string of heartbreaks and rejections, including ending an engagement. In retrospect, she’s grateful that all her failed attempts at love led her to her partner. “It’s the same feeling that I now have with work,” she says. “You learn that what’s meant to happen will happen, and that you’re going to get the things that you’re supposed to.”
Her career in Hollywood was slow going at first, despite graduating from Juilliard. But after landing roles in Madam Secretary, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Succession — in which her deadpan portrayal of escort-turned-trophy-wife Willa Ferreyra stole the show — more things are working out in Lupe’s favor. In fact, she just came from a Today show appearance to promote the second season of Netflix’s Nobody Wants This, in which she plays the quick-witted Morgan, younger sister and podcast co-host to Kristen Bell’s character. On air, she exuded polish and sophistication in a blue midi with an exaggerated collar. Here, she’s more relaxed, dressed in a Goodwill-sourced, striped T-shirt and straight-cut jeans — the exact outfit she wore the day before. She pulls up a Getty photo from the day prior as proof. “I’m not a fashion person really,” Lupe explains.
The actor has a reputation for unabashed candor. During the press cycle for Nobody Wants This Season 1, Lupe went viral for her unfiltered responses. She’s repeatedly discussed bodily fluids and orifices, to the point that reporters have joked about wishing her PR team luck. (“Shout out to Brenna,” Lupe says, nodding to her indefatigable press rep.) But she can’t help it — it’s genetic. “My dad is like this. He finds joy in the goof[iness] of life and things that are a little bit less manicured and curated. … So I could talk about anything, and I don’t feel any reservation about it. Come on. We all have pooped our pants.” She turns to me. “‘Have you not shit your pants?’”
When I inquire about whether her team has ever brought up media training, she says, “We’ve had some gentle steering, but I also think they know who they’re dealing with. It’s a lost cause.”
Another personality trait she attributes to her dad? Being gushy. “I’m a love-bug person, so I really like just telling people how much I love them. Almost too much,” she shares. A recent recipient of her gushy texts was Timothy Simons, who plays Sasha on Nobody Wants This. “We spend a lot of time talking about how much we mean to each other … There’s a real verbal appreciation of how lucky we are to have found each other on this job, and our spouses are close and double date.”
Their on-screen dynamic is a little more complicated. For starters, both Morgan and Sasha are siblings of the main couple (Sasha is the brother of Adam Brody’s Rabbi Noah Roklov), and Sasha’s wife, Esther (Jackie Tohn), disapproves of their friendship. But it’s also hard to parse the nature of their relationship. Sasha often sneaks to the bathroom to accept Morgan’s calls, even for relatively anodyne conversations. “There’s been moments where I’m trying to understand what their dynamic is as we’re shooting,” she says. “In retrospect, after seeing the first season, I realized the vagueness is actually quite compelling.” Now that they’re both ending Season 2 single, fans are clamoring for a Morgan-Sasha romantic arc.
Earlier this season, though, Morgan set her sights on a different love interest. (Major spoilers ahead.) As she came to terms with losing her sister to her relationship, Morgan started dating her therapist — an arc Lupe found both “bonkers” and extremely exciting. “There was so much potential for bizarre behavior,” she says. Adding to the fun, Lupe reunited with her Succession co-star Arian Moayed, who plays the therapist. When she heard that producers had their eye on him, she stepped in, calling him up and recommending he watch the show. (“He’s so good at the part,” Lupe gushes about Moayed. “I just find him such an awesome mix of charismatic and boundary-crossing. You buy that he could do things that are questionable.”)
When I ask where she thinks Morgan might head next season, Lupe demurs — a rare instance of caginess on her part. Regarding everything else, she’s been an open book. “I feel like we were on a date,” she says as we prepare to say goodbye, having plowed through a series of topics including Paris Fashion Week, the current political climate, and the Eras Tour (which she saw with her high school ex-turned-friend).
As we leave the table, it occurs to her there’s one thing we forgot to discuss. “Can you show me your dog now before I go?” she asks.
