Glover set out to make season 2 stand on its own
LOS ANGELES — Call him Childish Gambino, Lando Calrissian or Earnest Marks.
Whatever you call Donald Glover, the name will be associated with the steady success the actor, musician and producer is having.
Glover can be seen tonight in the second season premiere of “Atlanta,” the FX comedy about two cousins trying to make it in the Atlanta music scene. The series has already earned Glover a best-actor Golden Globe as well as Primetime Emmys for acting and directing.
“Atlanta” was the most decorated comedy series in the history of FX for a first season.
Instead of trying to repeat the success of the first season, though, Glover focused on making the second season as strong on its own merits.
He turned to a unique source for inspiration.
“We definitely went into this season trying to figure out what we liked about the first season,” he said. “We just looked at it as 30 minutes on television. We weren’t trying to think about it in terms of sitcoms or, like, tropes or what had come before.
“I feel like if you do that as a producer of television or any sort of art form, you tend to be risk-averse. We really just tried to beat ourselves."
The “Atlanta” work coincided with his work as Lando Calrissian, the coolest man to ever fly through the galaxy, in the “Star Wars” prequel “Solo: A Star Wars Story.”
Glover took on one of the most iconic roles in science fiction as part of one of the biggest franchises, but he said he never felt any extra pressure.
In addition to the TV and film jobs, Glover has excelled in the music world under the name Childish Gambino, picking up a Grammy for best traditional R&B performance for his “Redbone.”
The 11-episode second season of “Atlanta” will rely heavily on music, as did season one.
“The music of the show is such a different part of it,” Glover said. “It’s kind of the mouthpiece for Atlanta, the actual city, the way we use the music in the show.”
To tell the story of Atlanta on “Atlanta,” Glover and the other executive producers have been supportive of the rap community. The inclusion of home-grown artists has given them a large platform to be a part of what “Atlanta” is trying to say. Their music helps Glover look at the bigger social, political and financial elements that define the people.
“We always talk about gray areas,” Glover said. “Everything’s so fire and ice, and most of the world most of the time is in the middle, and most people are in the middle.
“Specifically, with being black and making money, you start to realize how much of that is tied to being poor — and how much of that identity is part of the things you can’t have and the things people won’t let you have, and you don’t know where the lines are anymore.”
The way Glover sees it, he said, the best part of his life is remaining close to his family. (His brother, Stephen, is also an executive producer and writer on “Atlanta.”)