Emma Myers Unpacks Evolving Style, Nostalgia, and A Good Girls Guide to Murder Season 2

Actress Emma Myers is busy, starring in some of the most beloved and popular IP franchises today. When she isn’t fighting off monstrous classmates or doing spellbinding choreography (calling all “The Dead Dance” fans!) in Wednesday or venturing into the Overworld in A Minecraft Movie, the actress is solving murders as the charismatic Gen Z sleuth Pip Fitz-Amobi in A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, which just returned for its highly anticipated second season.

Even when we speak over Zoom during a press cycle for AGGGTM, the sweet and shy Myers is in the midst of filming season 3 of Wednesday. It’s giving “No sleep. Bus. Club. Another club…” But Myers wouldn’t have it any other way. She notably lights up when we dive into all things Pip and AGGGTM season 2. Following the massive ratings success of the first season on Netflix, the mystery thriller is back to deliver fans of the Holly Jackson best-selling YA series and show a new nail-biting investigation to solve and plenty of Pip-Ravi moments to make us swoon. Pip is growing up this season, but so is Myers.

You are filming Wednesday season 3. How’s it going?

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We’re just about halfway now, almost halfway. It’s going really well. It’s flown by, this season, which is crazy, but it’s been really fun.

Any new dance sequences this season?

I don’t even know. I haven’t read all of the scripts yet. They don’t give them out very willingly. I don’t have the scripts until right before where we’re about to shoot the block, so who knows?

Were you surprised by how much the Dead Dance took off?

Not really because it’s Lady Gaga, so I knew it was going to be a moment. I am so glad that the people were so receptive to it, and the fact that me and Evie [Templeton] got to dance at the O2 [Arena] as a result, that was crazy. But I definitely knew that people were gonna go crazy just for the song because it’s Lady Gaga.

Well, the real reason we’re chatting today is your other Netflix series, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. You return as Pip for season 2. What excited you about returning as the teen sleuth?

I like each book more than I did the last one, and I had such a good time on the first one. I made so many good friends, and I also feel very unsettled if I start something and I don’t finish it. So I was like, “I have to get back in and finish this next season.” I think the show deals with a lot of important topics, and I like to be able to bring awareness to that, but also, playing Pip is such a challenge for me. It is nice to stretch those muscles and be challenged. I love the books, I love the cast, and it was kind of a no-brainer.

With season 1 under your belt, did you feel more confident as Pip going into season 2, or were the nerves still there?

It’s a mix to be honest. I felt a bit better because I had one season under my belt, but going back in, I think we were all so nervous because there are so many expectations around it following the books. But [A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder author] Holly Jackson did write this season, so I feel good with the material and stuff. She knows her story best, so I felt okay in that aspect. But still, going back into it, especially in an accent that is not my own, it’s a bit daunting. You’re excited to do a new season and bring a new story and keep going, but then you also want to make sure you’re getting everything right. So I think it’s a bit of a mix of fear and excitement.

Do you have any tricks for yourself in terms of finding your English accent? How do you prepare?

I don’t watch anything because Pip’s accent is so region-specific. I’m not trying to do a London accent. I’m not doing a northern accent. It’s Standard Southern British [English] (SSBE). I have a dialect coach who’s amazing. Her name’s Elsbeth, and she’s the best woman ever. I’m so glad that I have [her] because, on season 1, I didn’t have my dialect coach with me on set. I would do the session once a week, which was definitely not enough, but I joined super late last season, so I only had a few weeks to learn the accent in the first place. Going back into the second season, my stipulation was my dialect coach has to be on set every day, and I have to run my lines every day. It also helps just being around the entire cast, who are English. It helps when you’re around people 24/7 who are speaking like that. I was living in Bristol, and a lot of my friends are English, and I genuinely think it has a lot to do with the environment but also a dialect coach.

How has Pip evolved from season 1 to season 2?

Well, somebody attempted to murder her, so that definitely changes a lot for a teenage girl. She’s definitely maturing. She’s trying to move on from everything that happened last season, but of course, she can’t really help herself. She gets stuck back into another case, and Pip always feels like everything is on her shoulders, even if she has nothing to do with the situation whatsoever. So you’re just trying to move on, trying to grow and walk away from it. She can’t help it. I definitely think that she’s changed so much because going through what she went through in season 1 would change anybody, especially a teenage girl.

Season 1 ends with the long-awaited kiss between Pip and Ravi. Where do we find them now?

They’re a bit older now. Their relationship is heading in a more mature direction. This is Pip’s first big relationship and Ravi’s first real one, I would say, since everything’s happened. They found comfort in one another, so they’re both trying to move on together. … They both went through this huge thing together, and I think that really bonds two people. So they definitely have a much stronger relationship this season. I like their story arc. It will be fun for people to see the Pip-Ravi moments.

What was that like, building on that dynamic with Zain Iqbal, who plays Ravi?

It’s good fun. There’s a scene this season that’s very dramatic, and I’m not spoiling anything, but it’s nice to have somebody that you know when you’re doing these big scenes. Otherwise, it would just be like the worst thing ever. The content that we’re shooting, it can get repetitive and stuff if you don’t mix it up and try to have fun with one another, and I think we both try to make jokes out of it, honestly. Pip has to explain things so that the audience understands. We definitely try and have good fun with it when we can because it can get so expositional.

You said this season has been really special to you. Can you elaborate?

Season 2 felt like a huge step up for some reason. It felt so much bigger when we were shooting it than it felt shooting season 1. It’s so special to have Holly write the scripts herself, and it’s nice to have her on set constantly because if I ever have any questions, if anybody has any questions, she’s always there to answer. I also was so creatively involved in this season, getting the script drafts and giving notes and deciding things. That was really fun for me because I am on set all day, every day, and it’s nice to be able to express your opinion and have it be listened to. This whole crew is just so amazing with collaborating. I love our directors this season, and I love our set pieces, and our new additions to the cast have been amazing. So it was genuinely the best time.

If a third season happens, what would you like to see next for Pip? Is there a particular book you are excited to do?

I think that’s Holly’s goal—to follow the books as closely as possible. That would be my goal as well. There are so many fans of this series. I want to do them justice. But the third book’s my favorite, so I would love to be able to do all the stuff that happens in the third book. It gets so big and crazy and emotional, and it’s a really good read, so I’m excited to see how that would translate on-screen.

You’ve described your teen self as being in an emo era. How would you describe your 20s self?

Oh, that’s a good question. I’m finding out a lot of things about myself that I would never have thought in my teens. I think the past couple of years have been filled with a lot of big firsts for me, and going through those experiences, you learn so much about yourself. So I would say maybe my 20s [are]… It sounds so influencery corny but like self-exploration. [It’s] my self-exploration era.

You recently turned 24. Are you ready to move on from playing teen characters? Is there something you’d really love to explore next?

Yeah, I would love to start mixing things up with adult roles. I know that I do not look that old. How realistically I can portray somebody who’s actually my age is debatable, but I do want to start doing more mature things. I’d love to do a sci-fi project, and I’m obsessed with Backrooms that’s coming out. I was obsessed with back rooms online when I was a teenager, so something of that nature would be so fun. But I don’t mind playing teenage characters because I was a teenager, and sometimes, I still feel like I’m 14. If the role is right and the character is right, I have no problem playing whatever age. I just want to be able to connect with the character. I’d like to start mixing up, but for Minecraft, I drive this car, and I drive this moving van on the back. I got so many comments from people in my life being like, “You do not look old enough to be driving that van around.” So I think it just depends on how much somebody can age me up.

You have talked about being guarded on social media. How do you decide what you share in that space versus what you keep private?

Most of my Instagram is used mostly for work things now. I don’t post too much outside of work. I do occasionally like to do a photo dump of pictures, but they don’t really reveal too much about me. I just like to post things that I find or my friends and stuff. And all of my friends who post pictures of me, everything that they post is always approved by me, so it’s not like things are being shared about me that I don’t know. When my Instagram was first blowing up, I would be pretty open about my life because I’ve always been an open person. I’ll share details about myself, but it’s when people start crossing lines and start getting weird… Because you’re sharing things about your life, they assume that they know you more than they actually do and then make assumptions. It just goes down a whole rabbit hole, so I pulled back on how much I post to save my own sanity and the people around me.

You get to explore different fashion styles through the characters you play, but how would you define your own personal style and relationship to fashion in your everyday life?

It’s changing up so much. I’ve always been drawn to baggier clothing and I guess more street style just because that’s something I’m comfortable with. I grew very much a tomboy and never really wanted anything feminine to wear, but now, I’m getting to that point where I’m like, “Oh, maybe I do want to wear a dress. Maybe I do want to wear a skirt.” … Within the past few weeks, I just bought a bunch of skirts because I’m like, “I can force myself to wear these because I want to be able to.” So I always feel like it’s changing. I think it definitely depends on the season. I will not be in anything but jeans and a sweatshirt in the winter because it’s too cold.

Is Enid creeping in a little bit?

There’s some feminine wardrobe that I think is cool, but I would not wear the color palette that she wears, so I’d have to find an equivalent to my color palette. Her fashion sense is great, and it works for her.

So from a style perspective, you’re more of a Pip?

Definitely. A lot of Pip’s costumes for season 2, I was always like, “Oh, this one feels great!” I think I’m definitely more aligned with her style.

I know nostalgia is a big thing for you. What are you nostalgic about right now?

You know what I’ve been nostalgic about is my friend Asha Banks. She has been doing so well recently. She has a film coming out. I just watched her perform in London. There were so many people in the audience screaming these songs back to her, and I remember when she came to visit me [while] shooting season 2 of Wednesday before any of her music was released, and she showed me a few demos of her songs. It’s crazy. She was such a baby when we first met, and now, she has done this world tour and has so many fans. She’s got these films coming out. I’m super proud of her, so Ash is who I’ve been nostalgic about.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.