Yvonne Orji on end of of ‘Insecure’: ‘We cried real tears’
EXCLUSIVE: Orji opens up about saying goodbye to the iconic role and series on "Acting Up."
In a recent episode of theGrio‘s Acting Up podcast with Cortney Wills, Yvonne Orji dove deep on the final season of Insecure, set to premiere on HBO this weekend.
Insecure may be all about Issa Rae‘s character, Issa Dee, but her relationship with best friend Molly (Orji) has truly been the heart of the show, especially in the season’s acclaimed fourth season, which saw the two go through a heartbreaking fallout. Days after wrapping the final season of the series, Wills got to chat with Orji on Molly and how it felt to close out such a huge chapter in her life.
“We were all just trying to get through last week,” she shared. “It’s funny ’cause, you know, those are real tears. I was crying for so many reasons like, my girl, the show, so many reasons.”
She added that a lot of the tears came from feeling the support of people who watched the show from when it was just “a little engine that could” all the way up to its Emmy nominations for the fourth season. “We were really just out here to enjoy life, enjoy each other and do a show that we thought we would like…and then other people rocked with us!”
She also referred to the show as, “the gift that kept on giving,” in how it launched not only Orji’s career, but her co-stars’ careers as well, like Jay Ellis and others. “Because so many people identified with our characters, it then became like, ‘We want Jay Ellis in this thing,’ or, ‘We want a Molly type!'”
Orji said she knew Insecure truly made an impact in the zeitgeist when she was asked to speak at a law firm, even though Orji is not a lawyer like her character, Molly. Still, the Black lawyers at the firm wanted to hear from her because they felt she could convey valuable and unique information to fans of the show.
She also credits the series for portraying and humanizing successful Black women. “I think we’re muti-hyphenates, right? It’s like CEO, mess, but super mom, in therapy, flawed…we created characters that were in their own way, insecure…all of our characters have cracks in them.”
Insecure premieres this Sunday on HBO at 10 p.m. EST/PST. You can listen to the full episode of Acting Up with Yvonne Orji and Emmy nominated late night host Amber Ruffin now.
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