By Hope Sloop

Running Point Season 2 is finally here and with it is a new season chock full of nods to famous shows and movies, including one of Kate Hudson‘s biggest films to date. According to EP David Stassen, she couldn’t have been more game.

**Spoiler alert for Season 2 of Running Point, now streaming on Netflix**

In Episode 6 of the new season, as Isla (Hudson) is dealing with the fallout of telling her fiancé, Lev (Max Greenfield), that she cannot marry him — literally the night before the wedding — he calls her a bad person and tells her goodbye, prompting Isla’s voiceover to state, “Ladies and gentlemen, that is how you lose a guy in 10 minutes.” The line is a direct reference to Hudson’s breakout role in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, and it’s something that Stassen attributes to series co-creator and noted rom-com fanatic, Mindy Kaling.

“Mindy wrote that line — that’s a great line — and Kate loved it,” Stassend told DECIDER in an interview for Season 2.

The show certainly has not shied away from referential jokes and bits in the past, even having Brenda Song‘s real-life husband, Macaulay Culkin, appear in Season 1 as a fan of the Los Angeles Waves, the fictional basketball team led by Isla Gordon. Culkin also appears in Season 2, once again as a fan and on a TV screen in an earlier episode as Song and Hudson’s characters are seen in a college dorm room watching My Girl.

Stassen says the entire writers room has a field day coming up with those moments that the fans eat up and really only restrict themselves when it comes to one thing: real-life basketball.

“The one thing we try and pull back from is, we don’t do a lot of real-life basketball references, if any, because we’ve worked hard to sort of establish our basketball world as the world. And so if we mentioned Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, I think it would be a little confusing and take the audience out of it,” he said.

Stassen added, “My Girl and ‘that’s how you lose a guy,’ those are just fun little nuggets that I think the audience enjoys.”

Check out DECIDER’s full interview with Stassen, including his thoughts on bringing in Hudson’s mom and stepdad, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, below.

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We have to start with Episode 3, Ali and Isla are in their dorm room watching My Girl fun little meta moment, then we see Macaulay again in Season 2 later on. Is this the plan from here on out?

Yeah, Mac is Waves’ superfan number one. Like a year ago, I guess he was doing press and they’re asking what he was working on and he said, ‘Well, I’m working on Running Point,’ and Brenda was like, ‘You have to stop saying that. You’re like an extra. You’re in the background of a show.’ But Mac’s got a great sense of humor and he just loves basketball. He obviously loves Brenda and wanted to be a part of the world. And we love having him come and play and just be this sort of superfan with a lot of personal issues. Will we get the clearance to use more Macaulay Culkin movies in the future? I don’t know. That can get expensive.

But it does highlight the fact that the show really is like a family affair. Ike, Oliver Hudson, so many people come in this season. What was it like expanding the Running Point family for Season 2?

It’s so much fun. The only downside is everyone gets along so great. It kind of makes rehearsals take forever because there’s a lot of catching up and joking around. And, you know, time is money when you’re in production. But Oliver was so funny playing one of the brothers of the rival hockey team, and of course, Ike joined the cast this year as a cousin, which was, you know, like family joining the show, literally in our world and in the Running Point world. It’s just fun that we know all these people who are in the business and want to come play. It’s a blast coming up with these ideas for all of our friends to have roles.

I would be remiss if I didn’t ask, are there any calls out to Kurt and Goldie for maybe Season 3?

You know, maybe it’s come up here and there. Kurt’s pretty busy, I think he’s doing a Taylor Sheridan show now, so. And I’m sure Goldie also has a lot of work herself. Nothing specifically yet. I thought you were going to say Mindy.

Well, that was next: Where’s Mindy at?

Mindy loves the show and I think she does get a little jealous seeing, like you said, Ike and Oliver come to set and play with our incredible cast. So we’re about to start Season 3 writers’ room, so we’ll see if there’s something in the cards for Mindy.

Before we go, I have to ask about the line, “And that’s how you lose a guy in ten minutes.” You guys seem to have a lot of fun with the referential stuff. How much fun do you guys having getting those in there and do you ever pull back on things that might be too meta?

Mindy wrote that line, that’s a great line, and Kate loved it. If we have pulled something back, I can’t remember. The one thing we try and pull back from is, we don’t do a lot of real-life basketball references, if any, because we’ve worked hard to sort of establish our basketball world as the world. And so if we mentioned Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, I think it would be a little confusing and take the audience out of it. But yeah, My Girl and “that’s how you lose a guy,” those are just fun little nuggets that I think the audience enjoys.

Running Point Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.

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