EXCLUSIVE: Issa Rae on her Emmy nomination and ‘Insecure’ Season 3

Rae reveals where she was when she heard the big Emmy news.

Jul 23, 2018

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Issa Rae is on fire and shows no signs of slowing down.

The actress is gearing up for the third season of her hit show, Insecure and riding high after her recent Emmy nomination.

We caught up with the talented beauty at #Insecurefest in Los Angeles over the weekend to find out how she feels about scoring an Emmy nomination for Lead Actress in a Comedy.

It turns out, Rae was working when she heard the big news.

“I was working. I was on set filming a scene with Marsai Martin from black-ish and Will Packer came out and was like, ‘I need your attention, drop everything,’ and I was like ‘Oh sh*t, what did I do wrong?’

He announced that black-ish was nominated again and I was so happy for Marsai. Then he was like, ‘For the the first time ever…’ and I was like, ‘Shut the fu*k up!’ I just couldn’t believe it. I was also embarrassed because he did it in front of all those people, but it was just a magical moment.”

Even though Insecure has prompted tons of fanfare, Rae says she tries to tune out the noise when she’s creating.

“I try not to think about it. Sometimes it does because especially this season, I have been seeing people think the season is going to be something it’s not. They will take anything and run with it and I’m like, ‘I haven’t even said anything yet!’ So there are expectations people have but I’m just shrugging my shoulders like, ‘Y’all are gonna get what you get. If you like it, I hope you do and if you don’t we will see what happens next season.’”

While she was tight-lipped about where the story will go in season 3, Issa Rae explained what an important role music plays on the series.

“Music is so important. Year-round, I’ll hear a song and not even know what the story line will be but know I want to use it. I love finding new artists and base it off my tastes,” she says. “It’s my favorite part because that can make or break an episode to me. I won’t like a cut if the music isn’t right. It won’t be good until every song and every piece of score… shout out to Raphael Saddiq who does our score. That has to be right.”

Insecure returns to HBO on August 12.