Dead To Me: How One Raunchy Chat Set Christina Applegate & Linda Cardellini Free

While some projects are largely built on the improvisational skills of their actors — think Rob Reiner's "This is Spinal Tap" and Christopher Guest's "Waiting for Guffman" — most performers stick to their scripts. Some actors are turned loose to improvise after they've cited what's on the page, though, which sometimes results in some unexpected riffs. That's what "Dead to Me" creator Liz Feldman discovered in Season 1 of the Netflix dark comedy hit when she discovered the improv talents of series stars Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini.

"Dead to Me," which ended its three-season run on Netflix in 2022, examined the unlikely friendship between Jen Harding (Applegate) and Judy Hale (Cardellini) after they meet at a grief support group. What Judy fails to mention to her new bestie, though, is that she was driving the vehicle that killed Jen's husband in a hit-and-run. Furthermore, Judy's emotionally abusive fiancé, Steve Wood (James Marsden) — who was in the vehicle with her at the time of the accident — threatens to tear their friendship apart by revealing the truth to Jen.

In a 2022 interview with Variety, Feldman discovered Applegate's and Cardellini's improv talents in a very shocking way: "In Season 1, they have [a] whole conversation about Steve's penis. That's something I wouldn't have written — it's not in my wheelhouse," Feldman exclaimed. "They just improvised one line and I was like, 'Okay, let's pause there and then I want you to just talk about his penis and get back into the scene.' That was maybe the first time we really did it where almost the entire scene is really just them. Absolutely some of the funniest moments from all seasons come from them improvising."

Since their improvisational chemistry was so strong, Christina Applegate told Variety that she and Linda Cardellini riff "in almost every single scene when it's just the two of us."

Cardellini was quick to add, however, the respect she and Applegate had for the "Dead to Me" writers. "We were never just free-wheeling and throwing the script out the window," she told Variety. "We would not do that to our writers because they are so talented. It'd be a disservice to the show, but they'd let us go after [to] get everything we need."

Chief among the writers encouraging the improv, Cardellini said, was Liz Feldman. Cardellini revealed to Variety, "Never have I been on a set where the showrunner knew improv so well. It really encouraged us to stretch ourselves."

Gaining that ability to stretch apparently paid off, as "Dead to Me" in its first season earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Applegate for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series. For their work on Season 2, both Applegate and Cardellini earned nods for lead actress, while Feldman and her fellow producers were nominated for outstanding comedy series.

Christina Applegate said she felt refreshed by the opportunity to improvise on "Dead to Me" under the auspices of Feldman because, in her past experiences working in improvisational situations, she felt women's abilities to riff were being undermined.

"Having worked with other people in my past where improv was their jam — I'm gonna say it — the women are not as much ... encouraged in that department," Applegate told Variety. "And I'm not talking about 'Anchorman,' because that was like a love fest of support, but I have been in situations where I felt like [they were thinking], 'The women aren't the funny ones. You guys stick to the script, let's have the boys rock it out!'"

While "Dead to Me" gave Applegate and Cardellini a chance to utilize their improv skills, it also presented James Marsden his first opportunity to play twins in a project. Lifting the lid on "Dead to Me" in a Season 3 exclusive interview with Looper, Marsden initially thought of "Dead To Me" as a 'one and done' type of project until Feldman brought him back for Seasons 2 and 3 as Steve's much nicer brother, Ben.

Marsden told Looper that he was grateful for the opportunity to work two more seasons with Applegate and Cardellini, praising, among other things, their sense of humor. "If you're lucky enough to work with someone like Christina and Linda Cardellini, [who] are the most warm, wonderful, talented, funny-as-hell, compassionate human beings, then you do grow attached to those friendships," Marsden said. "There is a goodbye here because we're saying goodbye to these characters, but I'm not saying goodbye to these friendships."