Comedian and actress Leanne Morgan sat down to talk about LEANNE Season 2, but the fellow Tennessean first needed to say goodbye to country music icon Dolly Parton.
“Honey, there’s nobody like her. There was nobody like her,” Morgan told TV Insider last week.
Morgan had just performed five shows in Memphis, where reminders of another Tennessee legend had her thinking about how few entertainers ever become part of a place’s identity.
“There’s not many people like Elvis and Dolly, and we had two in Tennessee,” she said. “I mean, she was something else, and we’re all devastated.”
Parton died Aug. 25 at 80, her family announced. Bryan Seaver, Parton’s nephew and longtime head of security, said the singer had asked him years earlier to share the news when the time came, according to USA TODAY.
Parton’s impact ran far beyond her hit records. The Country Music Hall of Fame, which inducted her in 1999, credited Parton and fellow pioneers Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette with revolutionizing country music for women before Parton crossed into pop music, acting, business and philanthropy.
“But she gave it everything,” Morgan said. “Didn’t she give us so much joy?”
Related: Dolly Parton, Faith-Filled Country Icon and Movieguide® Award Winner, Dies at 80
“And she would want us to keep making people laugh,” she added.
That conviction gave Morgan a natural bridge back to LEANNE, her Netflix comedy about a Southern woman starting over after her husband of 33 years leaves her. Season 2 arrived Aug. 27 with Morgan, Kristen Johnston, Celia Weston, Blake Clark, Ryan Stiles and Tim Daly returning alongside new guest stars Lainey Wilson, Jaime Pressly, Billy Gardell and Tyne Daly.
The new episodes find Leanne nearing 60, caring for aging parents and learning that keeping everybody comfortable is not the same thing as finding peace. Morgan said the character’s growing willingness to speak plainly mirrors a change in her own life.
“I do know what I need,” Morgan said. “I can’t just sit and make fake peace anymore. I got to have real peace.”
“But you’ve got to be able to take care of yourself and tell people what you need, and I think that’s important for women to see that,” she continued. “And I’m getting there in my life, in real life.”
Movieguide®’s review of LEANNE Season 2 found the opening episodes funny and heartfelt, with strong family ties and scenes involving prayer. The review also cautioned families about foul language, alcohol use and off-color jokes, making the show a better fit for discerning teenagers and adults than children.
Netflix has not yet renewed LEANNE for a third season, TV Insider reported, but Morgan already knows the word she wants to guide it.
“Victory,” she said when asked to choose one word for a third season.
Morgan hopes her character can pursue a long-deferred dream, whether that means work, school, a business or a nonprofit. She wants the show to honor the years Leanne poured into her family while still giving her room to discover a purpose beyond motherhood.
It is a forward-looking hope on a day marked by loss. Morgan’s tribute did not pretend the sadness was small; it answered that sadness with the work she believes Parton would have wanted her to continue — making people laugh.
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