‘PEN15’s Maya Erskine Graduates From Seventh Grade After Sharing Her Most Embarrassing Moments
deadline.comIn recalling stories from seventh grade, Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle and Sam Zvibleman were so entertained by their own memories that, in 2019, the close friends created PEN15, a comedy series where Erskine and Konkle, then 32, portrayed their semi-autobiographical journeys through middle school.
Little did the audience know that through the eyes of two adolescents they would get a lesson in the relevance of teenage issues and emotions. “At the time we were conceiving it, we would go to these parties and feel like we were back in middle school,” Erskine says. “We were having an epiphany that the 13-year-old inside of you is always there.” Here Erskine talks about the catharsis of going back in time, and why it was time to bid farewell to her tween self.DEADLINE: When you announced the end of the series after its second season, it was met with such profound sadness.
Did you expect that reaction?MAYA ERSKINE: No, I didn’t. I think I felt profound sadness, too, even though it was our decision.
Then, to hear other people be sad about it, just amplified how we felt about it. It felt like the mourning and grieving commenced at that point.
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