In The Flight Attendant Season 1, audiences met Max (Deniz Akdeniz), Annie's (Zosia Mamet) super supportive and surprise-hacker boyfriend. While he stuck around for Annie's crisis of faith after she admitted that she was definitely working to cover up heinous crimes for the mob, their dynamic undergoes a shift in Season 2 of the hit HBO Max series. Throughout The Flight Attendant's latest season, Max is no longer just the voice of reason for Annie. He wants to be seen as more than just a support system and have his wants and needs heard. But before Annie can work through her trust issues to have a more open relationship with Max, Cassie's latest crime-seeking mix-up puts the two of them in dire straits with deadly consequences.
During an interview with CBR, The Flight Attendant's Deniz Akdeniz discussed how Max undergoes pivotal changes in Season 2. He weighed in on why he believes Max stays with Annie throughout their issues and teases what fans can look forward to in future episodes.
CBR: Let's talk about Max's relationship with Annie. She always has one foot out the door and is a little skittish. We see that explored a bit deeper in Season 2. Why do you think Max sticks it out with Annie?
Deniz Akdeniz: Honestly, I have no idea. [laughs] They'll be scenes that Zosia when we're filming and she'd look at me like, "Why is Max still here? What does he see in Annie?"
But I think you can tell with Annie that there's a deep level of love and a deep level of affection underneath the layers and layers of her. I think Max can see that. Max is experienced that in the first season -- though it takes some great, great trauma to get there like getting hit by a car for her to really express how she feels. I think that ushers in a new era of their relationship, which makes Max think, "Okay, it's going somewhere." I think this season -- with the engagement/not engaged thing, the accepting the ring, the not accepting and ring -- I think that there is hope. Max is very optimistic and hopeful and I think that leads him to expect that things are going to progress and certain actions that happen make him question that. Their love is tested. Annie's an amazing person. I think she's very skilled, very talented, very intelligent, and just going through a rough patch, dealing with a bit of self-fear. Whenever a relationship, anyone in a relationship is going through a crisis like that, it puts a strain on the relationship. And that's what we see in Season 2.
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Looking back at Season 1, what's a side of Max that you wanted to explore more in Season 2?
The writers have done such a great job -- Natalie Chaidez, Steve Yockey, the entire team -- of upping the ante. So we bring a lot more from what we enjoyed about Season 1 to Season 2 -- every character and every storyline gets wilder. The mischief gets way more intense, but also so do the characters. We have more time to delve into them and spend a bit more time really exploring these relationships. I think that was a really great opportunity.
We got to explore more of the fun side of Annie and Max, like them having fun in a relationship that's going kind of well. That was fun to do. Don't tell her, but I genuinely enjoy her company and generally enjoy hanging out [laughs]. But then as the season progresses, we see the strange take on it. I think that's a different side of both of them. Annie has always been quite in control and knows what she wants and can handle it. And now seeing that paradigm shift where Max is trying to find his voice in the relationship. She's trying to find herself. Hilarity ensues. There's that turmoil that was fun to explore as well.
It was fun seeing Max get angry in Season 2. Like, yes, he's been annoyed before but I think this is the first time we actually speak up and get mad. I was like, "Oh, good for you, Max!"
Thank you. I'm glad that's how I came across because I don't want it to be like, "Oh, come on, Max." [laughs] Like taking off a ring is not that big of a deal is it? I feel like if that was the reaction, I'd be doing something wrong!
Without spoiling anything, we do see a bit more of Max's hacking skills in Season 2. What's it like getting up to speed with the lingo of that world?
I did a lot of research at the beginning and expanded that as new elements of Max's ability became aware to me as they went on, and it's kind of terrifying. There's a lot that they brought up and I'm like, "Oh they can't do that." And then I'd look it up and be like, "Oh, oh no. There's a manual for it. Oh, I could learn how to do that." So it was good to obviously do my research and be comfortable speaking with some, I'll say, limited knowledge of what [hackers] can do. It's also very terrifying to realize that it's all very real and very possible.
There's a character named Marco in The Flight Attendant Season 2 who Max has a lovely bromance with and would love to hear about what it was like developing that dynamic?
Santiago Cabrera is just really cool. He's just genuinely really cool and if I could be half of how cool he is, I'd be very happy. [laughs] Reading those scripts initially, I was like, "Oh, this is gonna be some fun." When Santiago was there, a.) it made it a lot easier, and b.) the girls had a lot of fun at my expense for said bromance. I think it was just a little delightful nugget of insight into how Max sees the outside world. And he's such a great actor. The things that he does with Kaley's storyline is phenomenal.
The Flight Attendant plays a lot with iconic mystery tropes. Is there a certain one you were excited to dive into for Season 2?
They've done such a great job with this season. They go bigger and badder with all the things but then deeper as well with these characters. I love that these big deep-character relationship moments are happening while you're handcuffed or while someone's trying to kill you. It's wild and crazy. But playing the reality of that was so much fun. That's the fun side I enjoy when I watch a murder mystery or thriller.
There's a scene [in Season 2] when I'm sneaking around the house and trying to break into the house and I haven't really done that before and it was fun to play that heightened feeling of, "Oh, I could die any minute, but I need to get something very important and get out of here very quietly."
There are certain moments when characters get tied up in Season 2, what advice would you have for an actor who has to do that on set?
Moisturize! [laughs] After a few takes, your hands are red. It was one of those things where -- besides the actual discomfort of being tied up -- it made life a lot easier. The danger was all happening around you. When you have people threatening you with weapons and you're actually tied up, it gets really real real quick, and it makes everything else go out the window. You just deal with what's happening in front of you, so it was difficult -- in some sense -- but really easy in a lot of other ones.
Anything else you're excited for people to see of Max in Season 2?
Yeah, hmm, I think I'm excited for audiences to see him finding his voice. I think this season, for him, is about finding his voice in his relationship. He's always been very open about who he is and how he feels about Annie or anyone else. But that paradigm shift -- and watching them deal with Max's parents -- changes things. They're put in a weird situation that she's not very comfortable with and they just explore the different sides of this relationship together.