As the first season showed us by the end, there’s a lot more (or less, hair-wise) than meets the eye when it comes to Giorgio (Josh Segarra) on The Big Door Prize.
The Apple TV+ drama follows those in a small town after the Morpho machine mysteriously appears, promising to reveal everyone’s true potential. Season 1 ended with a message on the machine asking if they were “ready for the next stage.” What is that exactly? Here, Segarra ponders that, looks back at Giorgio’s journey so far, and shares his hopes for Season 2.
What stands out to you about Giorgio’s journey over the first season?
Josh Segarra: I’m very fortunate in these characters that I get to play. Giorgio, to me, he’s a former New York Ranger. I’m a Rangers fan. He’s a former athlete; I’ve always wanted to play an athlete on screen. And then he opens an Italian restaurant/sports center? I used to work at the Olive Garden. I have a lot of OG legendary tips if you need any for the Olive Garden. And a sports center? I love arcades. I am a product of Orlando, Florida. Many restaurants I went to were basically themed restaurants.
I just love Giorgio. He’s very loyal. He loves very hard. Sometimes it’s misplaced love. Sometimes he speaks a little at an inappropriate volume. Sometimes he’s what we call the opposite of humble. But you come to realize that it’s just because he’s coming from a little bit of an insecure place. He’s trying to remain a superstar like he once was, and he’s expressing that sometimes inappropriately. But you learn why as you peel those layers back with Giorgio, those figurative and literal layers.
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And we’re starting to see the real him by the end of the season.
Exactly. See what’s inside. And you realize that he might be putting on a little bit out of his own insecurities like we all are. We all just want to be told that we’re doing OK. We want to be told that people are proud of us, and he’s looking for that. So by the end, you realize when he starts feeling that from certain characters, you get to see the real him.
And it seems like he might be forgetting about Cass (Gabrielle Dennis) a bit with Nat (Mary Holland) in the finale.
She comes into his life, and she’s having a very good effect on our boy Giorgio.
The finale ended with the Morpho Machine asking if they’re ready for the next stage. Do you think Giorgio is, at that point, ready for whatever it is?
I think Giorgio is ready for anything at all times. So when it comes to that next stage, I’m sure he is, especially where you see where he ends up, and you see there’s a gleam in his eye for Nat. So I’m sure he is ready for the next stage. I think that’s one of the best things about playing Giorgio is that he’s all in. He’s a very all-in character. Headfirst he dives and he does it with all his power and all his being, and it makes his actions very clear and concise.
What do you think the next stage is?
I feel like this first stage is telling everybody their potential. And the show discusses this idea of potential versus destiny. Destiny is something that’s bound to happen, and potential is something that could happen, potentially happen. And one thing that I’m fascinated by with the show is this idea of the saying “seeing is believing,” but I’ve heard that the saying should be “believing is seeing,” right? Where if you believe something hard enough, that’s what you’ll actually end up seeing in its place.
So if this first season is forcing people to shift their view — sometimes for the good, sometimes for the bad — you’re going to see that it’s making people happy. They’re pursuing these dreams that they might have always had. And the next stage is maybe them realizing that what they had might have made them just as happy, or if they put as much love and energy into what they had, who knows where they’d end up now? So I think the next stage just goes deeper on this idea of what you have versus what you had and what you will have.
What else are you hoping to explore in Season 2?
I just want to see where Giorgio ends up. Once he finds a little love in his life, that could be very fun to see how that manifests itself. I’d love to see him franchise some more restaurants, maybe open up a Giorgio’s 2, maybe a Giorgio’s pop-up, maybe a fast food Giorgio’s. Or maybe he becomes part owner of the local hockey team; we see him coaching a little bit. There’s a lot that Giorgio could do.
The Big Door Prize, Season 2, TBA, Apple TV+