The beautifully low-key HBO comedy Looking ends this Saturday night with a TV movie that will reunite the show's main trio — Patrick (Jonathan Groff), Dom (Murray Bartlett), and Agustín (Frankie J. Alvarez) — along with supporting characters like Doris, Kevin, Richie, and Eddie, for one final lovelorn adventure through the streets of San Francisco. Though it'll be hard to say goodbye to the series, it could've ended even sooner; in March of last year, HBO abruptly cancelled the low-rated series after two seasons. In fact, we're lucky to be getting this special sendoff at all. But there are still plenty of relationships and storylines that have been left unexplored. So what would have happened in a hypothetical Looking Season 3… and beyond?
Bustle posed exactly this question to Groff, Bartlett, and Alvarez in advance of the premiere of Looking: The Movie — and their answers will just make you want HBO to un-cancel the show even more than you probably already did. The responses ranged from specific plot points to general wishes for the future; but the one thing they all had in common was that these actors clearly share a personal connection with their characters, and they'll be as sad to see them go as the audience.
Frankie J. Alvarez
"Jonathan's good friends with Alfred Molina," the actor tells Bustle. "They'd done a show in LA together [ Red , by Penny Dreadful creator John Logan], and Alfred came up for a weekend just to say hi. He loved the show, he was such a fan, and there was some chatter, maybe they would ask him to come on for Season 3 and play my dad — which would’ve been effing awesome." Alvarez goes on to outline what he felt was a "missed opportunity" for his character:
A lot of people got to check in with family life and you get a different side of who this character is, seeing their background and where they're from. There's [talk] about it with Agustín, but it's never really explored. It would've been sort of illuminating to see where he came from. And maybe it would've made a lot of sense to see where Season 1 Agustín comes from; he's probably rebelling from something, so it would've been interesting to see what he’s rebelling from. Not only for the storytelling, but just to act with an actor like that.
Beyond his own character, Alvarez would have liked to see how the show explored the ever-changing landscape of our country. "And also in this political, cultural climate, to have this character like Agustín getting on PrEP; that is a very 20-teens thing that's happening right now," he says. "The show really is a time capsule for this time within the LGBT community."
Murray Bartlett
"I'd like to see what would happen if Dom and Lynn [Scott Bakula] came back together, not necessarily in a relationship, but just to see where their connection could go," Bartlett says, before Alvarez jokingly suggests the pair could "solve murders in New Orleans." Whether with Lynn or someone else, Bartlett would also "like to see Dom have a shot, maybe an unsuccessful shot, at love, at really opening up to somebody and seeing what that does to him. And I'd like to see where the Dom and Doris relationship would go further down the track. There's some things that happen in the film that would have quite a strong effect on Dom and Doris' relationship, and I'd like to see how those things come into play in reality."
The Australian actor also gave voice to feelings about the series' relationship with real-life developments in the LGBT community:
In terms of things like marriage equality, which took great steps throughout production of the show, these sorts of historical marks that particularly impacted the world of these characters, it would just be interesting to see the things that happen in the future and how it impacts these peoples' lives. It's kind of an amazing snapshot of this moment in time for this community of people.
Jonathan Groff
"I would have liked to see — if Patrick ends up in a relationship, I'd like to see that relationship play out," Groff says. "There's a lot of falling in and falling out of relationships for all of us, but to see one actually go the distance…" the actor trails off. As dramatic as the will-they-won't they and love triangle aspects of the series were, the story of Patrick in a steady relationship could have been just as juicy.
In the end, Groff just wants to spend more time with the characters he and his cast mates have crafted:
What was cool about the movie was to see them all become adults, and I really felt proud of all the characters and where they were headed, and I would have just liked to see them continue. They're really changing, there's a lot of change that was happening throughout these two seasons and the movie. So just to continue to see how they evolve and what life throws at them [would be nice].
I guess we'll just have to get the cast back together for a reunion special a few years down the road to see how these characters have continued to evolve. In the meantime, don't miss the final (for now) chapter in their story when Looking: The Movie debuts on HBO this Saturday, Sept. 23, at 10 p.m. ET.
Images: Melissa Moseley (3), Richard Foreman/HBO
