In 2020, we were introduced to Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, a unique musical dramedy about a computer coder (Jane Levy) who suddenly began to hear people’s innermost thoughts through song, allowing for many impressive performances and some of our favorite moments of TV to this day. After two seasons at NBC, it was canceled, but then fans got a follow-up movie on The Roku Channel, Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas, in 2021. So what are the chances for more of any kind? We’ll take another season, movie, anything!
“I’m sitting right now in the production office of Zoey’s because we actually shoot on this exact same lot,” Skylar Astin (who played Max) tells TV Insider while discussing his current hit show, So Help Me Todd. “I’m currently in what was [Zoey’s creator] Austin Winsberg’s office. So it’s always a bit of a time warp to come here to work.”
He doesn’t rule out the possibility of more Zoey’s at some point. “Never say never. We love it. We all miss it. I’ve spoken to Alex Newell and Jane Levy, and we all miss doing it,” he continues. “I think if there ever was an opportunity where we can even make another movie or another limited series for whatever network would be interested, I know that they’d have a lot of people who would want to get back to work and give people that great escape. I’m caught up right now a little busy doing Todd, but if we could fit it into the schedule, I’d never say no.”
The 2021 movie began with Max also being able to hear people’s “heart songs”—that was the cliffhanger the series ended on—but he lost it by the end. “I like the idea that maybe Mitch [Peter Gallagher] or the universe gave Max the power as a way to allow Zoey to finally be with him,” Levy told us in 2021. “It also just gave them great intimacy and ultimately trust. Zoey was very afraid and she seems less afraid, and that’s beautiful.”
What the movie didn’t do—and therefore something that could be explored in any sort of follow-up—is choose a reason why Zoey gained the ability in the first place. “Maybe I got these powers because the universe was trying to tell me to look up,” Levy suggested. “When I read that, I thought, look up from her computer screen and see Max sitting next to her and this person who, while you’re losing one love of your life, you’re gaining another. There’s deep sadness in that and then there’s also profound love.” Her theory was her character “got them because of losing her dad and instead of becoming more withdrawn from life to become more involved with it.”