'Based on a True Story' stars Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina reveal where they'd like to see their characters go from here: "I want everyone in prison" (2024)

Peacock‘s Based on a True Story hit the ground running when it debuted its first season last year. The second season of the Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina-led dark comedy series picks up some months after the onscreen couple buried their friend Ruby, who had seemingly been murdered by their serial killer/plumber podcast co-host Matt (Tom Bateman), thus making them equally as guilty as their wanted pal. Much like the first iteration, this new season is full of jaw-dropping plot twists that will leave you begging for more. But, where will it go from here? DECIDER asked Cuoco and Messina to describe what they each hope for the future of their characters.

Warning: this article contains spoilers for Based on a True Story Season 2. Read at your own risk.

Just when Ava (Cuoco) and Nathan (Messina) think they’ve rid themselves of Matt — a.k.a the Westside Ripper they mistakenly started a podcast with in Season 1 — they find out Ava’s younger sister Tory (Liana Liberato) had been seeing him romantically as they were busy navigating their first few months of parenthood. When Matt and Tory return from their Mexico retreat and the town sees a sudden increase in murders, all eyes go to Matt, who insists he’s sober from killing — a reformed serial killer, if you will.

Determined to uncover the true identity of this new slayer — who is dubbed the Copycat Killer — Ava works relentlessly to piece the puzzle together with help from Matt and her newly viral true crime social media page.

However, things don’t go as planned for Ava and Nathan when they’re trapped and tortured by the Copycat Killer in the season finale. And while Matt comes to their rescue promising to finally turn himself in, he ends up framing Nathan instead — a move he had seemingly been plotting all along. The season concludes with Nathan getting hauled away in a squad car, while Ava promises to clear his name.

DECIDER recently caught up with Cuoco and Messina, who revealed where they’d like to see their characters go from here. “I’d like to start running the jail,” Messina said, while Cuoco added that she wants “everyone in prison” — including their baby. “Our kid isn’t innocent. He watched all this go down!” she joked.

Check out our full interview with the two actors below.

DECIDER: I feel like Season 1 really held a mirror up to America’s obsession with true crime, whereas by the end of Season 2, we see how this glorification affects the families of victims. Kaley, being a fan of true crime, how important was it to you as an executive producer to shed light on this other perspective?

KALEY CUOCO: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, listen, everyone knows I love true crime. It was one of the things that actually drew me to this role and this character because I understand Ava in that way. I am obsessed. I was just saying earlier, yes, to shed light in a different way. But I think some of these stories sometimes can feel exploitative. The reason why I watch a lot of this is it actually sheds light on these people’s perspectives and these families and they have a voice and they can speak about the person or whoever this has happened to. And I think it actually can be a wonderful thing. I mean, my fiancé Tom is like, “You’re crazy. You shouldn’t be watching all this.” And I go, “No, but I look at it as them getting to tell their story, where we’re actually not hearing about thousands of things that have happened, like, these are the ones that are getting a little bit of light.”

But yeah, I think at the end of Season 2, look, they made one bad decision at the beginning of this show, right? And unfortunately, it was a terrible decision that has snowballed and they can’t get out. They’re stuck with this guy now. This guy has just as much dirt on them as they do on him. They’re kind of stuck with him in their family now. And they can’t get away from him because they’re just as bad as he is. So they’re a little bit stuck. And obviously that’s going to lead to a lot of hijinx and comedy. But also, some serious stuff happens at the end of Season 2 and some serious consequences.

Chris, Matt seems like he’s slowly trying to bring out the inner dark side in Nathan this season. Do you think that Nathan and Matt have more in common than Nathan would like to admit? Or do you think it was all part of Matt’s master plan?

CHRIS: I like that. I think there’s more there. There’s more there. Yeah, I think there is a darkness, too, to Nathan. And if we get a third season, it’d be fun to explore more of that.

Kaley, I loved watching Ava balance new motherhood with her unwavering obsession with true crime. As a fairly new mom yourself, did you see yourself in Ava during any of these scenes?

KALEY: Yeah. I mean, a lot of them derived from conversations that I was having with Annie and our writers about some situations that I was having – some mommy and me classes. There were a lot of similarities, which made me laugh. And at moments, you know, even though I’m not the type to feel like I need to be anything other than myself, when you first have a kid, you want to be perfect, you want to be perfect, but there’s no such thing. But I did want to show that for Ava a little bit of like, the chaos and her just, [like], I’m going to be the best I can [with] this and this and this. And looking all this stuff up and Googling. It doesn’t matter. We’re all doing the best that we can, but obviously it’s funny to watch. But I love that she threw that out the window. After a couple episodes, it was like, I’m doing the best I can, pour a glass of wine, turn on my podcast, and I’m going to dive back into something that I love. It’s not my child or my husband. It’s true crime [laughs]. In that order!

This season ends with this wild twist where we think Matt is going to turn himself in, but he ends up framing Nathan instead. So, a question for both of you, where would you each like to see your characters go if and when you get renewed for Season 3?

KALEY: I know where you want to go.

CHRIS: I’d like to start running the jail. Like, everybody’s super afraid of me because I’m the Westside Ripper. It’d be fun to kind of do that. Although I’d miss acting with her. I guess she could come visit me. We could do those, like, phone –

KALEY: Yeah, we’ve never seen those scenes before. Why don’t you write something original? I’m glad he’s not writing the show.

CHRIS: “Get me out of here.”

KALEY: Hand through the glass. “Get me out of here.”

CHRIS: But anyway, where would you like to see your character?

KALEY: I want them to get, like, really caught. I do want to tie this up, whatever that looks like. And I don’t know what that looks like. Look, with all the true crime I’ve watched, we watch people get off. We watch people that are guilty. We watch deals being made. Anything is possible. But I think that they need to fess up to all the stuff that has happened. And I also would like Matt to get caught, too. I want everyone in prison. That’s what I want. Including our baby. [He] goes to baby jail! It’s a really happy ending. There’s baby jails now. Our kid isn’t innocent. He watched all this go down!

CHRIS: He’s a part of this.

KALEY: He is a part of this.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Based on a True Story Season 2 is currently streaming on Peacock.