TheQuartering [8/15/2022]
From co-creators and executive producers Abbi Jacobson and Will Graham, the Amazon Studios original series A League of Their Own embraces the spirit of the 1992 film from director Penny Marshall while delving much deeper into its 1940s/World War II time period and what the dream of playing professional baseball meant to a generation of women. When Carson Shaw (Jacobson) leaves her life behind to try out for the Peaches, she meets a team of smart, funny women, each of whom is trying to overcome their own obstacles in order to find themselves out on the baseball field.
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, D’Arcy Carden (who plays the equal parts sassy and confident team player Greta Gill) talked about how much she wanted to be a part of A League of Their Own, her background with baseball, and what it was like to work with the professional players. She also spoke about the challenge that came with wearing the gloves for the era, the Greta and Jo (Melanie Field) friendship, and what she thinks might need to happen for Greta and Carson, if they get to continue telling this story. She also talked about whether she’d be game to appear on the CBS series Ghosts, alongside her longtime friend Brandon Scott Jones.
COLLIDER: Because you’re good friends with Abbi Jacobson, who created the show and is pretty much a one-woman creative band, did you know that she was working on this, as she was developing what it ultimately came to be? Did she ever say, “Hey, this is what I’m working on,” or, “I’m writing this character for you to play?”
D’ARCY CARDEN: Yeah. I knew she’d been working on it for years. I came on in 2019, but I think she started working on this in 2017. Abbi’s one of my best friends, so we always update each other on what’s going on, in our lives and careers. I remember when she told me about this meeting she had about A League of Their Own. I also knew how much she loved the movie and had always been a huge fan of the movie, and I remember thinking, “Oh, my gosh, that’s perfect for her. That is the perfect place to do this.” But then, I was also like, “Poor me, I wanna be a part of it too.” I felt really excited for her but really jealous for me, which is not my favorite feeling because I don’t love that. But I couldn’t help it because I love the movie, I love sports, I love Abbi, and the whole thing. It was just like, “Oh, man, I can’t picture a better thing for me to do. Too bad she didn’t ask me, and I can’t do it because I’m doing other things.” And then, the timing of it really worked out well. When The Good Place ended, that was when they were starting to cast the show. I never expected it. I thought maybe someday, some season down the road, I could be a player on a different team or something like that. But I didn’t think I’d get to play Greta Gill.