I was late to the game with The Studio. Apple TV+’s 2025 TV schedulehit was sold to me by friends as something that I’d truly dig, a fact that I actually knew from a moment in the series’ first trailer. Between that moment, and the new behind-the-scenes facts Ron Howard shared behind its inspiration, I’m now convinced that the already-greenlit Season 2 needs to continue an important plot thread.
Ron Howard’s Big Outburst In The Studio Was Unscripted…But Very Much Appreciated
Back when The Studio’s Season 1 trailer landed, the snippet where a very angry Howard threw one of his trademark baseball caps at Continental Studios’ head Matt Remick (Seth Rogen) stuck out to me. As it turns out, I owe a debt to the director of A Beautiful Mind, as he admitted in the latest Variety’s Making a Scene that this gag was a “Ron Howard Original.” Here’s how everyone else on set learned of its existence in real time:
So I didn’t tell anybody this. I just went through, and I wasn’t even sure I was gonna do it, as the rehearsal unfolded. But the energy was there, and I just did it. I just fired my hat right in Seth’s face, and he kind of went back. He didn’t do the fall in rehearsal, of course, but he immediately went into the Seth laugh. ‘Oh, ok! We’ve gotta keep that in, man.’ So that led to him getting a hat in the face maybe, I dunno, 12, 14 times. But they liked it, and they kept it.
You read that right, Ron Howard, Academy Award-winning director and star of one of the best sitcoms of all time, really wanted the “asshole version” of himself to deliver a 100% cotton beatdown to Seth Rogen’s protagonist. But as you’ll see in the trailer for The Studio Season 1, that instinct was a beautiful one:
For a man who’s considered as wholesome as frequent collaborator Tom Hanks, it’s a heel turn for the ages. Thanks to Ron Howard’s acting and directing muscles, what could have been a simple guest spot became what I think should be a fixture of The Studio’s foreseeable future.
Ron Howard’s Instincts To Be ‘Actually Good’ Have Created The Studio’s Ultimate Nemesis
Every hero needs a nemesis, and most shows tend to have a “gimmick” episode that push these sorts of themes. After watching “The Note,” I now think The Studio has found itself a formidable foe in Ron Howard. That notion is another cause for thanks, as the Happy Days alum shared with co-creators Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg this important note of his own:
I just sent word [that] I’d just love to have a conversation about it. Really I just wanted to say to them, ‘It’s great, but this is a big part. I mean this is not just kind of a cute cameo, this is a real role. And if I do it, I’d like to try to be actually good. Not just kind of cameo good…’
Mr. Howard succeeded in his quest to be “actually good,” so much so that I can’t imagine future seasons of The Studio not building on this story. While there’s already a celebrity in mind for Season 2’s planned episode “The Test Screening,” I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a mention of the now infamous A Beautiful Mind incident Matt Remick will forever be known for.
But why not have Ron Howard recur every season, further inching him towards fulfilling the threat to “fucking destroy” Matt Remick? Maybe Bryce Dallas Howard can make her own appearances, helping push the family feud whenever her father’s out of town? Or perhaps Martin Scorsese can form an alliance with the Splash helmer, building a foundation of ultimate Tinseltown terror.
For now, the future of the Remick/Howard feud remains under wraps; which is great because I still need to finish The Studio Season 1. If you’re on the same lot, or if you just want to hear Mr. Howard swearing his head off again, the entire first season is now available to stream only on Apple TV+.
