[Exclusive Interview] HouseBroken’s Clea DuVall And Sharon Horgan Sat Down To Discuss Their Show And A Possible Love Affair With Pedro Pascal

On March 26th, HouseBroken’s second season will premiere as part of Fox’s Animation Domination lineup. The show follows a group of neighborhood pets and various stray animals as they attempt to heal themselves inside and out in their very own therapy group. From the death of a beloved companion to discussing the fruitless efforts of making new friends, no topic is off the table for these four-legged friends.

HouseBroken debuted in 2021 with a limited 11-episode order, but it now looks to establish itself as an animated powerhouse with a full season in its sights. HouseBroken’s cast is led by Clea DuVall, who plays Elsa, a friendly Welsh Corgi. DuVall is also one of the show’s creators and writers. She is joined by Sharon Horgan, who plays Tabitha, an aging beauty queen Persian cat. Horgan additionally serves as Executive Producer on the show. Lisa Kudrow, Will Forte, Sam Richardson, Nat Faxon, and Jason Mantzoukas round out the remainder of the all-star cast.

DuVall and Horgan sat down to discuss the direction that the show is heading, the story behind the show’s inspiration, and the amount of fun that they have putting the entire show together. Spoiler alert: it’s a lot.

Matthew Swigonski: Could you tell us what viewers can expect from the upcoming season?

Clea DuVall: Well last season was our [Co-Creators Gabrielle Allan and Jennifer Crittenden] first time working in animation and we have learned so much. So in season two, we were really able to kick it up a notch and really take advantage of not only just the animation but how big our stories could get. So we have some pretty wild, really out-there stories and the characters get to really sort of grow and expand and become…well let’s just say the therapy is definitely not working for anybody (laughs). There are also so many incredible guest stars coming up. We have Melanie Lynskey, Natasha Lyonne, Brie Larson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bowen Yang, and Pedro Pascal. So many people came to be a part of the show that we were just so excited to have them.

Sharon Horgan: My character gets to have an almost love affair with Pedro Pascal, or at least his character.

Matthew Swigonski: I mean, close enough, right?

Sharon Horgan: (laughs) I just feel like I’m in an incredibly envious position right now…as a cat.

Matthew Swigonski: The show has collected such a diverse cast of talented comedic actors. Is there a lot of improv used during the recording?

Clea DuVall: We record separately so it makes improv kind of tough. But definitely, if something comes to you then you can throw something in because we really do have some incredible improvisers on the show and they definitely do make it their own.

Sharon Horgan: It’s really the most fun thing to do in my working week. I go to a studio and just play around. I mean, you obviously do the story as it is but then you just sort of get to mess about and sometimes you get to play other smaller characters. I crop up as a sheep in one of my favorite performances (laughs). It’s really good fun.

Matthew Swigonski: Can you talk about the most challenging aspect of making HouseBroken stand out to attract a wider audience, especially when measured against shows like The Simpsons or Family Guy?

Clea DuVall: In our first season we did not have that many episodes and also it has kind of been a while [since last airing]. So I think it’s really just getting the traction of being on the air. And luckily this year we have more episodes and we’re on Sunday nights and in a place where people are more used to watching Fox Animation, we’re really excited about that. And obviously, Hulu is such a big part of people finding the show as well. These episodes have just taken things up a notch, so I think it will create more interest and get more people to find the show.

Sharon Horgan: Yeah, it has really come into its own just by taking an already kind of crazy situation of animals in therapy and just going quite surreal with it, really pushing the animation and the stories. It doesn’t feel that it’s like anything else, you know? I mean it’s about all the other things that great animation is about, like friendship…and anxiety (laughs). But the show is doing it in its own way. It’s a great new season.

Matthew Swigonski: Could you talk about your starting point into the creative side of production? What inspired you to work behind the scenes?

Clea DuVall: The first thing I ever wanted to be was a writer and then started acting when I was really young and got very lucky and did well in that. And then I just reached a certain point where I just really missed writing and wanted to explore it again. I started with no intention of doing anything with it. It was just to teach myself how to do it and it was so fun and inspiring and I felt like it even made acting feel more exciting. And so I just kept going with it and then eventually wanted to direct as well. I was lucky enough to be able to do that. To write and direct my first film [The Intervention] was like a light bulb that went off where I was like “This is what I want to be doing with the majority of my time” which is good because it all takes a very long time.

Sharon Horgan: I’m slightly different than that. My route initially was acting, but I started writing sketches and just making stupid little films. I broke in via sketch comedy and then took the sitcom route, writing sitcoms. As the years go by, I’ve found that you’re always really drawn to the material and what you feel you want to be spending your time on. For me now, it’s really about the people. Who’s going to be lovely to hang out with and work with. And it helps with creativity as well. So, that’s a big factor for me and for a lot of what I do now.

Matthew Swigonski: What would you say are the biggest pros and cons of animation versus live-action production?

Clea DuVall: Pros are that you could really write anything. When I’m writing something live-action, there’s always the producer in my head going “that’s too expensive.” But that person does not exist in animation. You can’t go too big and animation and that has been so fun creatively to just have no restrictions. The con so far in this process, which I hope will change, is that because of COVID-19, we haven’t been able to have the whole cast together. Our group is so incredible, that if we were able to be in a room together it would just add just a little something extra.

Sharon Horgan: I’m obviously not behind the scenes as much as Clea, but whenever you make something, you kind of want to get it out there and you want to see what people think and then you want to keep on making more of it. But all that takes such a long time in animation. The pros are that you can be any character you want to be with animation. And you can really go wild and have fun. There are not many areas in live-action where you can go as nuts as you do with animation. It’s just like being a kid again.

Matthew Swigonski: So the creative team behind the show is made up of a lot of women, is that something that you take a lot of pride in?

Clea DuVall: Yeah, it is for me personally. Getting to work with Gabby and Jen and Sharon and Lisa and Maria…I really can’t believe it. When I look at the list of people that are a part of this, it is really exciting. These are women who I’ve learned so much from, but from afar. They have always inspired me. And now I have their email addresses! It is really cool. I’m too scared to use them obviously (laughs). I’m still hanging back, but I could.

Sharon Horgan: We could do that. We could call them any day of the week!

Clea DuVall: I’m going to call her right now.

Sharon Horgan: I feel really, really lucky. I had worked with Jen and Gabby before on a couple of projects. And they told me about this idea, which all stems from Clea’s cat. I hope that the cat has a good agent. But to be brought into this show, I feel really really grateful. It’s an amazing creative team behind the scenes with just a ridiculous amount of talent.

Matthew Swigonski: So do you like to draw inspiration from your pets for each of your characters?

Clea DuVall: I have cats, so it doesn’t affect my character [Elsa] but I think it makes it really fun to write for Tabitha, The Gray One, and Chico. But I mean, this whole show is inspired by one of my cats who just seemed so perpetually dissatisfied and me wishing that I could go to therapy with her so I could just give her what she needs and wants. So I think in that way, they are a huge inspiration.

Sharon Horgan: For me, nothing specifically, but I mean animals are hilarious. And if you took every other content away from all the platforms and just left animals, we’d still be really happy I think. So I’m sort of reminded of that when I’m in the booth doing the voices and thinking how fun it is to tell stories through an animal’s point of view and you know, all the stuff that you kind of recognize. But also a bunch of extra kinds of crazy stuff on top of that.

Matthew Swigonski: Do you have a specific long-term plan for HouseBroken?

Clea DuVall: We just want to go as long as we’re allowed to. It’s so much fun. We feel so grateful to have a home at Fox and to get to make this show with this incredible cast and the amazing writers. It really is a dream job.

Sharon Horgan: When you make anything you’re proud of, you really want to get it out there. That would be the dream, to get this lovely, big audience and then watch as the show continues to grow.

Season Two of HouseBroken premieres on March 26th at 9:30 (EST) on Fox.