‘The Afterparty’ Star Ilana Glazer Explains Why High School Reunions Are ‘Helpful’ (Exclusive)

The Afterparty premieres on Apple TV+ on Friday, and it takes a look at a high school reunion. For some, a high school reunion is not something they look forward to because they don’t want to look back. But for others, looking back could be the best way to move forward. Ilana Glazer, who stars as Chelsea in The Afterparty, spoke exclusively to PopCulture.com and explained why going to her high school reunion was a good thing. 

“It was really helpful to understand how much time has gone by,” Glazer told PopCulture. “And that I was, it was my 10 years. I was like, oh, I’m 28. I’m not 18. Look it up. It’s really like a helpful, you kind of just, I always feel 18 or like, I kind of always feel like I’m 15 or something. So I think that’s actually like an important milestone in your adulthood to go back and be with people, not only your best friends that you’ve been friends with for a long time, but people that you used to know. It was tricky.”

Odds are Glazer wasn’t like Chelsa when she attended her reunion. When speaking about her character in The Afterparty, Glazer said Chelsea is “a wounded train wreck, who deserves a second look at why she is the way she is, but she is a hot mess.” Glazer stars in the series with Tiffany Haddish, Dave Franco, Sam Richardson, Ben Schwartz, Zoe Chao, Ike Barinholtz and Jamie Demetriou. 

The Afterparty tells the story of a group of alums from Hilmount High School in California attending the Class of 2006’s 15-year reunion and going to an afterparty hosted by Xavier (Franco), who has become very famous. But during the party, Xavier is killed, leading to a big murder mystery where the group of guests is telling what happened to Detective Danner (Haddish) from their perspective. 

“This was like a dream project to be a part of,” Glazer said. “Coming from the mind of Chris Miller, and the team onboard Miller to the cast. It was, I mean, even before reading the scripts, I was so thrilled to have this opportunity, but then the scripts themselves were just so good as every Lord Miller production seemed to be. Just so good. That like athleticism of changing genres, but this high quality of the team was an opportunity I’ll be forever grateful for.”