At last night’s NBC party at the Television Critics Association summer press tour, Vulture was on the lookout for anyone to commiserate with us about the upcoming final season of Parks and Recreation. Retta, mojito in hand, was more than willing to oblige. But not without shedding a few tears!
We talked about saying good-bye, the real reason behind the season finale’s time jump (read: Amy Poehler had a special request), and her upcoming cameo on Key & Peele.
What was your reaction to hearing it would be the last season?
Surprisingly calm. For the first five seasons, I panicked at the end of every season. I think we kind of knew in the sixth that Mike [Schur] wanted to wrap it up in the seventh. But at the end of every season it was like a panic attack. What am I going to do? You don’t know if you’re going to have a job. Jim [O’Heir] is my trailermate. I thought, I’m not going to be able to gossip with Jim every day? He’s a big ol’ gossip. Seriously. He’s like a Brooklyn mom. So when this news came, it was almost a sense of relief because I want to know I can work toward what I’m going to do after. But then, it was probably a week ago, I started having panic attacks about not seeing everybody.
