Do you want your sitcoms with a contact of existential dread? Then the forebodingly named How you can Die Alone could also be simply up your alley.

Creator Natasha Rothwell, recognized for roles in Insecure and The White Lotus, helms and stars on this half-hour comedy from Disney’s Onyx Collective, which creates movie and TV by artists of coloration and underrepresented voices. At a panel for the Tv Critics Affiliation (TCA), Rothwell mentioned how the idea for the collection got here from a way of vulnerability. 

“[I wanted] to essentially discover the distinction between loneliness and being alone,” Rothwell stated.

What’s How you can Die Alone about?

Natasha Rothwell, Vera Santamaria, Jocko Sims, and KeiLyn Durrel Jones on the TCA press tour.
Credit score: Disney/PictureGroup

As How you can Die Alone opens, Mel (Natasha Rothwell) is having the world’s worst birthday. Her pals have blown her off, her relationship along with her household is lower than preferrred, and to prime all of it off, she dies in an embarrassing accident. Effectively, nearly. 

That brush with demise forces Mel to re-evaluate her life and think about when she began holding herself again. Working example: She works at JFK airport, but she’s too scared to even set foot on a aircraft. Nevertheless, now that she is aware of how shortly life can finish, she’s all set to open herself up and begin taking probabilities. At this charge, her future is filled with romance, airport hijinks, and perhaps even the occasional aircraft ticket. 

However the journey might be something however linear, with no fast fixes in sight. Rothwell revealed to the TCA that the writers’ room usually used the idea of a Roomba to explain Mel.

“A Roomba has to hit partitions as a way to clear up the realm,” Rothwell stated. “Mel is a human Roomba that has woke up. She realized she’s been sleepwalking and he or she’s in a position to clear up her life, however we get to see these partitions, these moments the place it is scary and there is a possibility to give up. We needed to inform a narrative the place she retains going.”

Natasha Rothwell heads up How you can Die Alone.

Rothwell (The White Lotus, Insecure, and Wonka) created and stars in How you can Die Alone. She additionally serves as co-showrunner alongside Vera Santamaria (Pen15, Bojack Horseman). For years, Rothwell needed Santamaria as her co-showrunner, however the timing was by no means fairly proper till now.

“That is essentially the most weak piece of artwork that I’ve ever created,” Rothwell stated. “It is difficult to place your shit on the market… I needed to discover a companion who could possibly be a rock and regular my hand.”

Becoming a member of Rothwell within the forged are Conrad Ricamora (How you can Get Away with Homicide, Hearth Island) as Mel’s greatest good friend Rory; Jocko Sims (Dreamgirls, Daybreak of the Planet of the Apes) as Mel’s ex, Alex; and KeiLyn Durrel Jones (The Different Two, Succession) as Terrance, a fellow JFK worker. The latter play two attainable love pursuits for Mel, however Rothwell and Santamaria labored to ensure the dynamic between the three remained balanced.

“I did not need the triangle that was establishing for Mel to really feel like there’s an apparent alternative,” Rothwell stated. Nevertheless, she did appear enthusiastic about the opportunity of romance for Mel. “Should you ever get the possibility to put in writing a [love] triangle, do it!” she joked.

How you can Die Alone hits Hulu this fall.