Rose Byrne, Dierdre Friel and Rory Scovel Talk the Role Reversal of ‘Physical’ Season 2 (Exclusive)

Grab your legwarmers and leotards, because Physical is high-kicking its way into a second season on Apple TV+ June 3, and things are looking totally different for Sheila Rubin and Greta. Ahead of the Season 2 premiere, stars Rose Byrne, Dierdre Friel and Rory Scovel opened up to PopCulture.com about the “role reversing” that goes on now that Shiela’s fitness empire is on the path to success. 

“[Sheila is] out of her shell, she’s really cracked open and she’s in ‘recovery’ [from her eating disorder], but there’s ‘recovery’ and there’s recovery,” Byrne told PopCulture, noting just how “different” her character is from the deeply insecure and unhappy woman we met in the first season. It’s not until Sheila can find “true recovery that anything will be real or honest in her life,” Byrne added. “Any given relationship, whether it’s with her daughter or with her boss. That to me is always kind of the huge crux of her relationships.”

Sheila’s relationship with husband Danny (Scovel) also has been flipped on its head after his political and professional dreams came crashing down at the end of the first season, just as her fitness business really began to take off. “I think it’s a great moment of growth and change for Danny, and luckily in a way that maybe creates a little bit more likability for him as a character in the show,” Scovel told PopCulture. 

“[He’s] having to finally face the fact that he’s been very selfish, very self-centered, very egotistical in Season 1, but now that he’s been fired from his job and that he’s lost an election, he kind of doesn’t know which way to go,” he continued. “I think it’s almost a mental breakdown – a little midlife crisis – until he realizes that his main job has got to be trying to salvage his family and actually be a better dad and be a better and more supportive husband.”

Byrne said she loved the “clever and interesting” decision of “role reversing” Sheila and Danny in Season 2. “Isn’t that interesting to have this guy who’s always been somewhat of an opposition to Sheila and a repressive sort of marriage situation really try to change?” she asked. “And for Sheila to be confronted by that – right when you’re ready to say goodbye to something and walk away … she’s faced with someone asking for a second chance.”

Also facing a whole new world is Geta, who Friel told PopCulture that her character is finally starting to ask herself some major questions after accepting her role as a traditional housewife early on. “This is the first time anyone is asking her, ‘What do you want?’ … and she really doesn’t know,” she explained. “So it is an exploration of that for her, and it’s also a lot of empowerment comes through it I think as well. Greta really starts to stand on her own a little bit and stand up for herself a little. It’s a big change for Greta this season.” Physical Season 2 premieres on Apple TV+ Friday, June 3, with new episodes premiering weekly on Friday.