Before the release of Season 1, The Second Best Hospital in The Galaxy showrunner hinted at the story in the upcoming Season 2.
The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy is set to premiere on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, February 23.
The sci-fi animated comedy stars Maya Rudolph, Keke Palmer, Stephanie Hsu, and Kieran Culkin. The series was already greenlit for two seasons, giving potential fans a lot to look forward to in the future.
Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy Season 2 Plans Revealed
During an exclusive interview with The Direct's David Thompson, The Second Best Hospital in The Galaxy showrunner Cirocco Dunlap revealed the focus of Season 2.
Audiences will learn Season 1 is "Klak’s journey," and Season 2 will be "a little bit about Sleech:"
"Oh, wouldn’t that be great? We’ll see. Because Season 1 is sort of Klak’s journey, the teaser for Season 2 is a little bit- Well, no spoilers, it’s a little bit about Sleech."
She then added that in potential future seasons, "you’d get a different character" to focus on:
"And so I would imagine going forward, you’d get a different character each season, sort of a little deeper dive on each one."
Dr. Sleech (Stephanie Hsu) and Dr. Klak (Keke Palmer) lead Season 1, with the emphasis on Klak being primarily focused on her lifelong battle with anxiety.
Dunlap added that dealing with similar issues and getting "on meds" several years ago made it "inevitable" that the show would focus on anxiety:
"You know it’s funny, it didn’t start that way but as someone who recently- I got on meds I don’t know four years ago and it was life-changing. I think it was almost inevitable that the show was going to be about that."
She added that the show is about to show "a variety of examples of anxiety" rather than just a stereotypical representation.
"Because it was just my own experience and one of the cool things in the show that I think we were able to do is show a variety of examples of anxiety. In a lot of shows they’ll be- or in a lot of media in general the example of anxiety will be 'I can’t choose between these two shoes.'"
Diving into one plot detail of the series, Dunlap describes how Klak's "to-do lists" ultimately barr her "from intimacy:"
"That’s one very real way, but we were able to show it in multiple ways like there’s an episode where Klak has lists, she has to-do lists, and they really help at first and they pop up on screen and then towards the end she is actually barred from intimacy because her to-do lists are so- they’re blocking her from this like cute new girl she meets."
She further explains how she believes The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy uses examples that are "really cool ways of showing rumination or OCD tendencies:"
"I feel like those are really cool ways of showing rumination or OCD tendencies. There are just all these different ways we tried to show it and I pray we succeed but I really just think there’s a lot of nuance to anxiety."
Beyond the topic of anxiety, Amazon Prime Video's new animated series draws inspiration from shows like BoJack Horseman and Grey's Anatomy, according to Dunlap.
She also admitted that by Season 17 of Grey's Anatomy, the series was no longer research:
"The big influences were 'Futurama', 'Bojack Horseman,' 'Grey’s Anatomy.' Which I started watching after I wrote the pilot, I started watching 'Greys' as 'research' and then by season 17 or something I was like 'I don’t think this is for research, I think I love this show.'"
Dunlap added that "there's a million" inspirations for her new series but Doctor Who and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy were two specific influences:
"Yeah I think that’s a lot of them, 'Doctor Who' is one of them '[The] Hitchhiker's Guide [to the Galaxy],' there’s a million."
The entire interview can be seen below:
What is The Second Best Hospital in The Galaxy About?
The Second Best Hospital in The Galaxy follows alien surgeons tackling bizarre medical cases, from anxiety-eating parasites to deep-space STIs, while grappling with their own personal struggles.
Viewers quickly learn that Klak has a toxic relationship with her mother regarding her anxiety, and it becomes a plotline throughout the entire season.
As Dunlap alluded to, Season 1 is focused on Klak, with Sleech being the next focal point of Season 2, potentially followed by characters like Dr. Plowp (Kieran Culkin) and Dr. Vlam (Maya Rudolph) getting the spotlight in future seasons.
The Second Best Hospital in The Galaxy premieres on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, February 23.
