‘The Afterparty’ Star Sam Richardson Details ‘Hopeless’ Role in Apple TV+ Series (Exclusive)

The Afterparty premieres on Apple TV+ Friday and features an all-star cast, including Sam Richardson. Over the years, Richardson has appeared in various films and TV shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, New Girl and most recently Ted Lasso. PopCulture.com recently caught up with Richardson who explained his role in The Afterparty. 

“Well, Aniq is a bit of a nerd, but not like a super dork nerd like his tattoo on his face would say,” Richardson told PopCulture. “He is a hopeless romantic, and his point of view is told through romantic comedy, who was coming back to this reunion to hopefully spark up a love connection with his high school would-be sweetheart who was in love with Zoe. And then everything goes afoul and he’s then made the prime suspect, so it’s up to him and his best buddy, Yasper, to try and actually figure out who the real killer is and who knows who it is.”

The Afterparty focuses on a murder mystery at a high school reunion. The eight episodes in the series feature a retelling of the same night through a different character’s perspective. Aniq tells his story in the first episode, and as Richardson mentioned, he is does everything he can to clear his name. 

When asked what made him want to join the series, Richardson said, “The chance to get to work with a brilliant cast, the concept of a murder mystery whodunit, where everybody’s recollection of a story is told through a different genre of film. I don’t think it’s ever been done before, so it was such a fun and interesting take on the classic whodunit, and then also to work with Phil (Lord) and Chris (Miller). “They’re geniuses, and I speak for both them and myself, but anything that they’d ever do, I want to be a part of.”

Richardson starts in The Afterparty along with Tiffany Haddish, Dave Franco, Ben Schwartz, Zoe Chao, Jamie Demetriou, Ilana Glazer, John Early, Ike Barinholtz and Genevieve Angelson. Miller and Lord and the executive producers with Miller also being the creator and showrunner. They drew inspiration from numerous movies from various decades and wanted to include genre elements that would be recognizable to the viewers.