NEED TO KNOW
Wendi McLendon-Covey tells PEOPLE St. Denis Medical season 2 will feature lots of romance
The Goldbergs alum also teases the new season will include a number of notable guest stars
St. Denis Medical season 2 premieres Nov. 3, at 8 p.m. EST on NBC
Love is in the air at St. Denis Medical!
Ahead of the Monday, Nov. 3, season 2 premiere of the critically-acclaimed NBC sitcom, Wendi McLendon-Covey teased what’s ahead for her character, Joyce, the executive director of the hospital, as well as the rest of the doctors and nurses who make up St. Denis Medical‘s zany, but hardworking staff.
“Joyce, we’re going to see not only her personal life, but we’re going to get into the personal lives of a lot of the characters, specifically the romance part,” McLendon-Covey tells PEOPLE. “We’re going to see a lot of that. So not just Joyce, not just the other characters that we’ve set up to maybe fall in love — who knows if they will or not — but we’re going to see a lot of romantic backstory and it’s going to be hysterical.”
F. Scott Schafer/NBC
Wendi McLendon-Covey
She adds that she can’t wait for the fans to “see the spouses or former spouses that come back,” as well as meet Ron’s (David Alan Grier) son after several mentions in season 1. The St. Denis staff will even be leaving the hospital this year, which McLendon-Covey jokes was “weird.”
“We’re used to just being on that brightly lit hospital set all the time,” she explains. “So when a couple of times [we] get to wear normal people clothes and go out, it feels so weird.”
But first up, Joyce is celebrating “a big career win,” after the hospital received a $10 million donation at the end of last season. In the season 2 premiere, “Aloha, Everyone,” fans will get to see how the enthusiastic hospital executive puts all that money to use.
McLendon-Covey, 56, reveals, “She was right on the verge of spending it all, but then she got herself on track, and she’s going to have a nice big win with a birthing center. Now, that doesn’t mean this is going to go flawlessly, it doesn’t mean that it will pass inspection the first time, but she does have something that she can call her own, her baby, and it’s a birthing center with themed rooms.”
The themes prove to be both varied and hilarious with The Goldbergs alum noting, “You can give birth in the outback if you want to.”
St. Denis Medical season 2 will also feature a number of notable guest stars with some serious comedy credentials. “We’ve got, I can tease this, someone who was very prominently featured on Seinfeld, someone who was very prominently featured on Veep … also What We Do in the Shadows. And then a lot of amazing character actors that you’ve seen in just about everything,” McLendon-Covey says.
So far, NBC has confirmed Ariana Madix (Love Island USA), Kristen Schaal (What We Do in the Shadows), Lauren Weedman (Hacks), Frankie Quiñones (This Fool), Lauren Lapkus (The Big Bang Theory), Tim Baltz (The Righteous Gemstones), Jonah Beckett (The Sex Lives of College Girls) and Jeremiah Brown (Love Island USA) will guest star this season.
Justin Lubin/NBC
Allison Tolman (left) and Wendi McLendon-Covey on St. Denis Medical
For McLendon-Covey, another season also means another chance to delve deeper into Joyce, a character that she tells PEOPLE she sometimes channels her own mom to play.
“My mom, I love her so much, but she’s been the inspiration for a lot of my characters over the years … I remember my mom, she might as well have just been running a marathon. From the minute she put her suit on in the morning to the minute she fried up tacos for us at night, it was like, where’s my badge? Where’s this, where’s that?”
She adds, “Got to keep it professional. That harried sense of, damn it, there’s just not enough hours in the day. That’s something I take from my mom and also other women that I’ve worked with.”
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Ultimately, Joyce is the hospital’s biggest cheerleader, but there’s also vulnerability behind all of that determination, which McLendon-Covey gets to share in quieter scenes, like one she shares with costar Allison Tolman in the season premiere.
“I think it is important that we show that Joyce is not just an overachieving weirdo,” she shares. “She does have a heart, and she does love the people that she works with.”
St. Denis Medical season 2 premieres Monday, Nov. 3, at 8 p.m. EST on NBC. Season 1 is streaming now on Peacock.
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