Rachel Sennott opens up about finding her voice in “I Love LA,” the NYC-set finale, messy relationships, and why Season 2 has endless possibilities.
Rachel Sennott’s I Love LA may be rooted in the chaos, ambition, and awkwardness of Los Angeles, but its freshman season ends somewhere unexpected: New York City. And according to the show’s creator and star, that choice was very intentional.
The HBO comedy, which follows 20-something talent manager Maia (played by Sennott) as she tries to survive LA’s influencer-driven entertainment world, closes Season 1 with a trip back east — a move that mirrors Maia’s emotional reckoning just as much as her professional one.
“I think both cities are characters in the show,” Sennott told Deadline. “New York sort of represents their past.”
Throughout the season, Maia struggles with her place in LA, juggling a demanding job, messy friendships, and a relationship that’s quietly falling apart. When her best friend and only client Tallulah (Odessa A’zion) re-enters her life from New York, it pulls Maia back into old patterns she hasn’t fully dealt with.
For Sennott, sending the characters to NYC in the finale was about forcing them to confront that past before choosing what comes next.
“I wanted them to go back and face their demons and then leave being like, ‘We’re going back to LA,’” she explained. “The last line is literally, ‘God, I miss LA.’”
That emotional tug-of-war is especially clear in Maia’s complicated relationship with Tallulah. Maia risks everything — including her job — to help Tallulah attend a flashy influencer dinner, only to watch her friend make careless, self-absorbed decisions that highlight how uneven their friendship really is.
At the same time, Maia finally stands up to her boss Alyssa (Leighton Meester), who has spent the season steamrolling her under the guise of “that’s just how the industry works.” For Sennott, that moment is about Maia finding her voice, even if it means burning bridges.
“Alyssa wants to support Maia — but only to a point,” Sennott said. “Maia is doing things recklessly and not by the book, but I think she sort of has to.”
That dynamic, Sennott believes, reflects a real tension many young women experience: following the rules set by those who survived a broken system versus tearing it down and starting fresh. It’s a theme that hits close to home for the 30-year-old creator.
“Fresh out of school, I really wanted to be accepted by the cool film guys,” she admitted. “I kept waiting for someone to give me an opportunity.”
Instead, Sennott realized that most of her early success came from creating work alongside friends — not waiting for industry gatekeepers to open doors.
“All the opportunities came from looking to who was right next to me,” she said. “It’s scarier to do your own thing than to lean into someone who already has power.”
But personal growth doesn’t come without mess — and Maia’s romantic life proves that. Her relationship with boyfriend Dylan (Josh Hutcherson) is strained after Maia prioritizes work and humiliates herself at a game night with his coworkers. While Maia suspects chemistry between Dylan and another teacher, she doesn’t yet know he’s already cheated — just as she nearly does herself.
Sennott is very aware of how polarizing Maia can be.
“Everyone’s like, ‘Oh my God, she’s such a bitch,’” she said. “But have you ever tried to have a job and support your boyfriend? It’s a lot.”
Rather than villainizing either character, Sennott wanted to show how relationships can fall apart even when no one is entirely wrong.
“I still love this person, but we are not meant to be together,” she said of the mindset that shaped Maia and Dylan’s arc. “That’s sometimes more heartbreaking.”
With I Love LA officially renewed for Season 2, Sennott says she’s excited — and a little nervous — about where the story could go next.
“There are so many directions,” she said. “We teed ourselves up for a lot of action.”
As for the show itself, Sennott feels it found its rhythm later in the season, especially during Episode 6’s infamous game night.
“I’d rather people like it more as it goes on,” she joked, referencing the viral “badly drawn horse” meme. “I don’t want to be that horse.”
All eight episodes of I Love LA Season 1 are now streaming on HBO Max — and if the finale is any indication, the mess is only just beginning.
