The day is finally here: Grace and Frankie season six premieres on Netflix tonight. So, in honor of the hit show’s premiere, we spoke with Brooklyn Decker, who plays Mal, about everything from what to expect this season to whether she’s a Grace or a Frankie.
Brooklyn Decker Spills the Deets on What We Can Expect in ‘Grace & Frankie’ Season 6
Published Jan 15, 2020
•4:15pm
NEtflix
1. What can we expect in ‘Grace & Frankie’ Season 6?
“As usual, there are many [surprises], some heavier…and then some that are really funny,” Decker, 32, dished. “My favorite one personally is a very serious power shift in the workplace that I’m involved with that I’m really excited about.” We can’t wait to see what “power shift” she’s referencing when we binge the show.
2. How did you react to the news that the show’s 7th season will be its last?
“When we signed on for the show, we signed on for seven years. So that’s the goal, to be able to go seven years, but you rarely get to that,” Decker explained. She went on to recall a TV show she worked on prior to snagging her Grace and Frankie role that was cancelled midseason. “You lose the opportunity to say goodbye to cast mates and to crew and to close up storylines,” she shared. But, that experience makes the time she’s spent on the Netflix series that much more meaningful. “To get to seven seasons and know you have closure is such a pleasure. It’s bittersweet, of course, because you’re mourning the loss of this family you’ve become a part of, but there’s something really sweet about it as well…It feels good.”
3. What Has It Been Like Working with Such an Incredible Cast?
Acting alongside everyone from Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin to Sam Waterston and Martin Sheen has its perks, Decker said. “It’s as wonderful as you would hope and could imagine…After six years with people, you become a little family. We’re working with some mega talent and it feels like going to school every day and learning from them. But it’s also so comfortable,” she shared, adding, “We’ve also all rallied around each other with some activism, too. [Seen above.] So, it’s a really energizing group of people to work with every day.”
4. Are you a Grace or a Frankie?
“Some people identify as one or the other but there’s so much of both of them in me,” she said. Decker explained that she shares a desire to “hold it all together,” like Grace, since she’s from the South. But, “there’s also this sort of incredibly spontaneous, incredibly off-kilter version of Frankie that is very much me,” she noted.
5. Do you relate to your character Mal at all?
“I don’t think we’re alike at all, in that she’s incredibly type-A and glosses over things, has a hard time going deep and a hard time talking about her emotions. And I don’t feel like I’m quite the opposite of that but what’s similar [between us] is the weight of having children and what that means to your relationship and your career and your family dynamic and how that can radically change a person,” Decker reasoned. “I think that’s something I totally get about her…She had to defend motherhood in a lot of storylines.” Decker notes that she hasn’t had to “defend motherhood” per se, but she “understands the unique pressures that [Mal] faces as a mother.”
6. Speaking of motherhood, you returned to work two weeks after welcoming your youngest child. What was that like?
As seen above, Decker was back at it two weeks after giving birth to her now 2-year-old daughter Stevie. She recalled what it was like returning to set, saying, “It was a choice to go back because we were in the middle of production and I had given birth to my daughter. I didn’t want to affect storylines and I wanted to be at work.” She went on to say, “Frankly there’s this stage, at least for me, after childbirth where there’s this high of endorphins and lack of sleep and you’re just kind of fumbling through the earth. You’re like, ‘Everything’s great! It’s magical!’”
Decker noted that she also felt comfortable returning to work when she did because the show is home to so many female writers, producers and cast members: “Fortunately, they gave me the space and time I needed to pump. And my mom was there, my helper was there and my co-star June [Raphael, who plays Brianna] had all the bras and the stories. I had a huge amount of support behind me. It sort of feels like looking back at a dream.”
Tune in to see what happens in Grace and Frankie in season six tonight on Netflix.
