Netflix’s GLOW season 2 focuses on characters clashing outside of the ring

GLOW season 2 on Netflix takes us behind the scenes of the wrestling show-within-a-show, and exposes the tense power dynamics that come with the territory outside of the ring.

GLOW season 2 hits Netflix on June 29,  and with the stress of producing their own GLOW series, there’s more drama between our favorite characters than between their wrestling personas as they fight to keep their audience and network happy.

We caught up with Marc Maron and Alison Brie earlier this year, who play Sam Sylvia and Ruth Wilder on the show, teased the major clash that we can expect to see between the two characters this season following the aftermath from last year. “Ruth and Sam got so close last year and really developed actually a really nice friendship over the course of the first season, and then [Sam] ruined it,” Brie said. “[He] had to exert [his] power over Ruth right away. It doesn’t feel good for anyone, and it takes a long time for Ruth to get back in Sam’s good graces in season 2.” Commenting on that eventual forgiveness, Maron assured us that “it’s very satisfying when it happens.”

After getting the wrestling show picked up by the network, the characters’ motivation in GLOW season 2 is to keep the show popular amongst its (mostly male) audience. “Last year it really felt like everyone was doing this for themselves,” Brie said. “It was about self-growth and women self-empowering. Even for Sam, who was kind of doing his own thing his own way, and in season 2, they really have to reckon with limitations that are put on them. Having to impress an audience, and how an audience is reacting to them and dealing with their feelings about their predominately male audience wanting to sexualize them and things like that.”

In GLOW season 2, Sam is now a middle man between the network executives and the wrestlers, shifting his place in the power hierarchy a bit. “There’s a power structure now. We have a network to reckon with,” Maron explained. “There’s the owner of the network, then there’s the network executives, then there’s me, and then you have Bash, who’s not as necessary as he was initially, and then the power dynamics change among the girls a little bit in their roles.” Maron and Brie confirmed that season 2 is absolutely going to feel like more of a “show within a show,” but Maron teased that there will be a major surprise with this in episode 8.

GLOW season 2 also shows us just a little bit more of Sam’s “fatherly” side now that his daughter is in his life. He might not be dad of the year, but Maron commented on how the relationship Sam has with his daughter supports Sam’s character development.

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“I think the entire experience of wanting to show up for her, makes him a deeper character. It sort of changes him as a person I feel,” he said. Maron knows that Sam is far from father of the year, but the choices that Sam makes about staying in her life, in his opinion, is what truly counts. “I do think that in his mind, and in reality, he is showing up for her, even though he may not know how to be a father,” he said. “But I think he wants to.”

Ruth and Debbie’s relationship in GLOW Season 2

Having more wrestling time on-screen for the fictional series also means we’ll be seeing more of the wrestling characters in costume in GLOW season 2. “Last year when you saw us in our wrestling outfits, it was right when we were getting in the ring to do our big match in the finale,” Brie said. “This year, I’m Zoya the Destroya every day. So you see a lot more normal conversations happening between Ruth and Sam, or Ruth and Debbie, as they’re dressed in Zoya and Liberty Bell, and it sort of adds a fun element to the show.”

Aside from Ruth’s clashes with Sam, Ruth will also be looking to mend her relationship with Debbie. “Certain circumstances that exist in season 2 make it very difficult for [Ruth and Debbie] to move forward. In season 1 they were learning to work together in the ring, and now they’re learning to work together on a real day-to-day basis while making this show,” Brie said. “This year we’re kind of getting to the heart of their issues as friends, outside of the cheating incident from last year. There are some sort of deeply rooted issues to their friendship that will bubble to the surface, and I actually think, because once they face them head on, they’re in a better place to move towards becoming friends, but TBD.”

When asked about the aspect of GLOW season 2 she found to be most challenging, Brie said it was navigating that Ruth and Debbie friendship. “I’m very lucky to get to act opposite Betty Gilpin, who is an incredible actress, and she and I are constantly talking about this relationship and what it means and where they’re at,” she said. “In season 2, on both of these women’s parts, there’s a lot of vulnerability, maybe even more so than in season 1. I think that’s the challenge, is trying to tap into where they are and keep it interesting, and keep it evolving.”

Watch the new GLOW season 2 trailer below:

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GLOW season 2 debuts June 29 on Netflix!