Kristen Wiig Breaks Down ‘Palm Royale’ Ahead of the Season 2 Finale as Ricky Martin Teases Season 3 “Trouble”

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Tania Hussain is an Executive Editor at Collider responsible for creative, editorial, and managerial duties. In addition to leading content ideation and development, she works to generate innovative and compelling ideas for feature articles and reviews with her editorial team across Features, Resources, Lists, and News. She has helped cover and ideate content for major events for Collider, including the Toronto International Film Festival. Tania has also conducted more than 100 interviews since her start in the business almost 16 years ago. Some favorites include Joel McHale, Charlie Cox, John Krasinski, Jennifer Garner, Tina Fey, Bob Odenkirk, Sophia Bush, Andy Richter, Jordan Schlansky, Jamie Dornan, Yeardley Smith, Arielle Vandenberg, and a reasonable toss-up between Cookie Monster and Kermit the Frog.

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Palm Royale, Season 2, Episode 9.

Summary

In an interview with Collider, Palm Royale's Ricky Martin and Kristen Wiig say leaving Palm Beach in Episode 9 reveals who these characters really are.
Ricky Martin says the penultimate episode turns Robert’s search for family into a deeper reckoning with himself.
Kristen Wiig won’t predict the finale — but Ricky Martin’s already “making trouble” by teasing Season 3.

Snow has never looked this expensive — or this ominous, but leave it to Palm Royale to set a precedent. Season 2’s penultimate episode of the season, “Maxine Hears a Confession,” drops the sunny Floridian crew into the icy Alps with a full-on blizzard and an even bigger storm brewing underneath it all. While Norma (Carol Burnett) is busy orchestrating her latest power move in an effort to secure the fortune for herself and newly adopted (very grown-up) son, Robert (Ricky Martin), Maxine (Kristen Wiig) is running amok while trying to expose the socialite matriarch.

In an interview with Collider about the second-to-last episode of the season, Wiig says the key to some serious change for these characters was always to get everyone out of Palm Beach for a portrait of their real identities. “I love the fact that we get out of Palm Beach for a little bit, because so much of these characters’ security and identity is running that town,” she explains, admitting how the chaos also forces a shaky sense of unity among the women. “Somehow, in the Alps, everyone’s on this team. But they do splinter off.”

But amid the postcard-level scenery, “Maxine Hears a Confession” also corners Robert in a way the show’s been building toward all season. When we brought up the marriage tease from earlier episodes — and how Episodes 8 and 9 flip it into something messier — Martin didn’t hesitate. “I even threaten everybody, saying that I’m leaving because I have this deep need to really find my family,” he tells Collider. “But saying I need to find my family is, ‘I need to find myself.’”

In our spoiler-filled interview, Wiig and Martin unpack how Maxine and Robert shake loose from previous versions of themselves that Palm Beach forced them to hide, while the pair insists they “can’t even speculate” about what comes next because showrunner Abe Sylvia and the writers have ideas they can’t even think about. But as it goes, Martin can’t help lighting the Season 3 flare anyway — admitting, “I have the need to say I hope we have Season 3 so we can just really show off,” before immediately laughing at himself: “Did I just say that?”

Kristen Wiig Says the Alps Episodes Strip Maxine Down (and Yes, the Snow Is Real)

Maxine’s shaken out of Palm Beach while Robert spirals toward self-discovery, as real-snow farce and slapstick chaos collide in the Alps.

COLLIDER: Ricky, I finally watched Episodes 8 and 9, and I know we spoke last time and you teased some very amazing things that I was excited to see. Kristen, the Alps episodes are so much fun, and I feel like you guys were having a ball doing those. They reminded me of those old MGM movies, but I also love how it takes Maxine out of her comfort zone. Beneath the farce, though, she has actually learned a lot about what ambition and love have really cost her at the end of this. How did those two episodes strip Maxine down to the woman we now meet in the finale?

KRISTEN WIIG: Oh my gosh, yes. Those are the two episodes that Ricky hasn't seen.

RICKY MARTIN: I haven't seen those episodes!

WIIG: I love the fact that we get out of Palm Beach for a little bit, because so much of these characters’ security and identity is running that town. So it is interesting, even though a lot of them have been there before, and it is kind of like the Palm Beach of snow, I loved that they come together there because a lot of it is everyone doing these little things to try to get what they want, and somehow, in the Alps, everyone's on this team. But they do splinter off. It is very farcical. We had so much fun. That's all real snow around. That is not green screen. Leslie [Bibb] and Jason [Canela] are on a mountaintop.

MARTIN: It was the real deal.

WIIG: It was beautiful. I watched it, and I was like, “God, people are going to think this is a green screen,” but it's real. So, we have to tell everyone that it's real.

MARTIN: We’re very spoiled.

Ricky Martin, Kristen Wiig and Amber Chardae Robinson in a scene from Season 2 of Palm Royale

’Palm Royale’s Ricky Martin and Kaia Gerber Break Down the “Crazier and Messier” Season 2 Finale

A jaw-dropping twist with "heavy consequences" leaves the group’s stability hanging by a thread.

I love the scene with Robert, Douglas, and Perry all fighting.

MARTIN: In the snow!

I was cracking up. It was so good.

MARTIN: I have not seen it! I cannot wait to see it.

It turned out amazing. It’s so funny. It's very old-school slapstick comedy, which I love so much.

MARTIN: Beautiful. We did a lot of rehearsal for it. I guess it worked.

Ahead of the Season 2 Finale, Martin’s Already Stirring Up Season 3 Trouble

Robert’s craving for family turns inward, as Episode 9 pushes him to finally confront who he is.

Ricky Martin as Robert Diaz in a tuxedo while standing in partial shadow in Episode 10 of Palm Royale

After what you teased, that he would get married to somebody, now that we've seen Episodes 8 and 9, and how that turned out, Robert has spent so much time now searching for belonging, and he has a son. So I'm wondering, how does Episode 9 change what family means for him heading into the finale, Episode 10?

MARTIN: I even threaten everybody, saying that I'm leaving because I have this deep need to really find my family. But saying I need to find my family is, “I need to find myself.” There is a scene in the season where I said, “Can I just have a normal day?” Because Robert escaped Puerto Rico, trying to find peace and trying not to be judged in any way, shape, or form, and I've encountered Palm Beach, which is, like I was saying, absurd. It's interesting. But it's a very important moment for Robert. I don’t know, I have the need to say I hope we have Season 3 so we can just really show off. [Laughs] Did I just say that?

I haven't seen Episode 10, and I'm sure there's something explosive in there, but I'm wondering what do these chapters set in motion for the finale that we can see potentially happening in Season 3? Will there be a redemption or her complete ruin going into everything that we know?

WIIG: Honestly, I can't even speculate because our writers and Abe Sylvia, the captain of our ship, always just have these ideas that I would never even think of. So I know. This season picks up where we left off. I don't know, is there time in between? I've heard nothing about it. We’re just hoping that it happens.

MARTIN: This is just me making trouble.

Palm Royale streams Wednesdays on Apple TV+