Ramona Young is ready to show audiences a different side of Nicole Lee. In the second season of Peacock’s “The Paper,” the “Never Have I Ever” alum gets considerably more room to explore the ambitions, romantic complications and occasional internal chaos of a character who spent much of the show’s first season quietly observing the eccentric newsroom around her.
It’s a newsroom with some very familiar DNA. Twenty years after a documentary crew first arrived at Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch, “The Paper” takes the mockumentary format of “The Office” and turns its cameras toward the Toledo Truth Teller, a struggling Midwestern newspaper being revived under the idealistic leadership of editor Ned Sampson (Domhnall Gleeson). More importantly, this isn’t simply a spiritual successor. Within the show’s fiction, it is the same documentary crew that chronicled Dunder Mifflin, now searching for a new story.
Created by “The Office” developer Greg Daniels and “Nathan for You” co-creator Michael Koman, “The Paper” surrounds Gleeson with an ensemble that includes Sabrina Impacciatore as Esmeralda Grand, Chelsea Frei as Mare Pritti, Melvin Gregg as Detrick Moore, Gbemisola Ikumelo as Adelola Olofin and Young as Nicole. Oscar Nuñez provides the most direct connection to Scranton, reprising his role as Oscar Martinez, who is now working for the company that owns the Truth Teller and is understandably less enthusiastic than his new colleagues to find himself in front of documentary cameras again.
Season 2, which launched all 10 episodes on Peacock on Sept. 9, finds the Truth Teller staff coming off a successful showing at the Ohio Journalism Awards and beginning, however improbably, to mature as reporters. Ned goes searching for a larger journalistic crusade while navigating his feelings for Mare, while the rest of the newsroom gets pulled into increasingly ambitious stories and their own personal complications.
For Young, Nicole’s expanded role also reflects something Daniels has said about the unusual process of building this ensemble. As the writers spend more time with the performers, the distinction between actor and character begins to narrow. Daniels describes it as actors and characters gradually beginning to “merge” in the writers’ minds. Young immediately recognized that process in Nicole, whom she calls the character most similar to herself that she has played in her career.
That closeness also gives Young an opportunity to bring more of herself to an Asian American character whose ethnicity doesn’t define every storyline. It’s a responsibility she admits she thinks about, particularly after spending four seasons working with Mindy Kaling on “Never Have I Ever.” “I do kind of put that pressure on myself,” Young tells Character Media. “I’m like, ‘Okay, I kind of have to represent,’ but I also have to focus on being a real human being and being in situations and telling stories where it’s universal and relatable.”
Character Media spoke with Young about finding more of Nicole in herself, the cast’s newfound freedom in Season 2, what playing a journalist has taught her about the profession and why she hopes opportunities for Asian American performers continue to grow.
Ben Lei: Nicole takes on a bigger role in Season 2. What was the most fun part of getting to explore a different side of her?
Ramona Young: I think it’s really fun, especially working with the creators, Greg and Michael, and all the very talented writers. I feel like, as an actress, that really benefits me because I get to try things that I’ve never tried before. We get to go through all these really funny story plotlines and side quests that I think are way, way funnier than even Season 1.
BL: Greg has talked about how the characters and actors begin to merge over time and how he writes the characters around the actors. Now that you’ve spent more time with Nicole, how much of Nicole is part of you, and how much of you is part of Nicole?
RY: Yeah, I think that’s a really true statement. I’ve said this before, but I feel like Nicole and me, Ramona, are the most similar out of any character that I’ve ever played in my career. A lot of that has to do with, from the beginning when we got the auditions, these characters didn’t really have a real name. They weren’t real sides, and there was no character description. So there really wasn’t anything for me to latch onto except to bring myself and my own interpretation.
I think that has bled into really working on set and with these other actors. Really, all you have is to bring yourself, and it’s worked so far because we’re now premiering Season 2. So I would say that’s a very true statement.
BL: Is there an arc Nicole takes on in Season 2 that you’re particularly excited for viewers to see?
RY: Yeah, I feel like this season the audience will see different sides of Nicole that we didn’t get to see in Season 1. I would say in Season 1, Nicole was kind of reserved a little bit. She was a little cautious. But in Season 2, you really see her ambitions come out.
You also see the internal chaos of how she deals with things romantically, and that’s also really fun. You get to really see a side of her that she would normally hide from the public.
BL: Now that you’ve had a full season together, did you feel more freedom to improvise and play off each other in Season 2?
RY: Yeah. I would say in Season 1 everyone was really nervous. In Season 2, we’re all just way more familiar with each other. We’re all friends now. We’ve all hung out outside of the show, and we all love each other and get along, fortunately.
So I would say in Season 2 we have a lot more grace, a lot more casualness, and we feel way closer. It is easier to improvise and to have a little bit more fun.
BL: You’re at a press junket right now talking to journalists, and you play one on the show. What have you learned about journalists from playing Nicole?
RY: I really learned that it’s a very honorable job. I think it’s very difficult. There are a lot of things to manage that are outside the integrity of the journalist, and it’s really up to them to find that character and to find that integrity and to find the truth and be objective, and know how important it is to share that with an audience.
BL: There haven’t been many Asian American characters at the center of this particular workplace-comedy world. How much do you think about representation when playing her, and how does your own identity find its way into the performance?
RY: I was a big fan of Kelly Kapoor, Mindy’s character. And I worked with Mindy for “Never Have I Ever” for four seasons, and she’s such a huge influence.
But yeah, a majority of the time, I do kind of put that pressure on myself. I’m like, “Okay, I kind of have to represent,” but I also have to focus on being a real human being and being in situations and telling stories where it’s universal and relatable. Ultimately, I am incredibly proud to be a part of the show. I’m proud to represent my heritage and have that be a part of the show. And yeah, I hope it continues. I hope there are more opportunities in the future.
