An Interview With ‘Sort Of’ Co-Creator Fab Filippo

When we last we saw Sabi (Bilal Baig) they had just kissed Bessy (Grace Lynn Kung) and were still reeling from the sudden loss of their father (Dhirendra). Now Sort Of is back for its third and final season and Fab Filippo (who co-created the series with Baig) was able to answer some questions about it:

Rachel Bellwoar: In addition to acting as an executive producer, you also directed four episodes this season and wrote or co-wrote four as well. How did you decide which roles to take on when, and is there a hat you enjoy wearing the most?

Fab Filippo: Actually I really enjoy getting to switch hats throughout the process and there isn’t one I like more than the other. Though I will say, writing is the hardest for me. It’s such a privilege to get to work with so many of the different departments and very satisfying to get to guide the creative from beginning to end. In terms of deciding, for instance, what episodes to write and what episodes to direct, Bilal and I have a lot of conversations along with our producer, Jennifer Kawaja, to figure out where my skills are best served.

Bellwoar: Each episode this season is framed around how much time has passed since Sabi’s father’s death. Why was it important to keep that loss at the forefront of viewers’ minds?

Filippo: It’s this idea that grief is something that lives inside you and shifts and changes as you shift and change. It’s a part of the  overarching theme of transition that hovers over the Sort Of. Life changes us. Death changes us. Everything changes us.

Bellwoar: I don’t think I’ve ever seen Muslim funeral rites portrayed on television before. Was it always the plan to spend episode two on Chaliswan?

Filippo: Yes, absolutely. Ian Rashid who wrote that episode I thought did a beautiful job of bringing out humour in such a potentially dark subject matter. I love the music our team (including editor Hugh Elchuk) laid over the prayer sequence — it’s so kinda singular, from Sabi’s lens, giving us a feeling of how these ancient rituals are connect[ed] to present day.

Bellwoar: How did having Sabi step away from working for the Bauers change their dynamic with the family this season?

Filippo: Amazing question! It kinda changed everything. It was the first time Sabi existed next to Paul and Bessy and Henry and Violet as someone who was not obliged to them in a professional way. There was an inescapable power dynamic that came with Sabi being their employee in the first season, and then Sabi becoming Bessy’s PSW in the second. By the final season, Sabi exists as just a person in their lives because they want to be there.

Bellwoar: Episode three (which you wrote) is a big episode for Sabi and their sister (Supinder Wraich). Is that a relationship you’ve enjoyed watching evolve over the course of the series?

Filippo: Sabi and Aqsa have such a complex relationship. They are both breaking out of some very deep cultural expectations and they’re doing it in very different ways. And I guess what I love about it is that they can both be allies for each another even when they are at odds. Also, their different lenses shed light on how we can view gender from different points on the spectrum.

Bellwoar: It’s also a big episode for Paul (Gray Powell). Why do you think now was the right moment to address Paul’s binge eating?

Filippo: Feel like in the first two seasons way too much was going on for Paul for him to address his stuff. Season three has Bessy being out of the woods in terms of the accident and her rehabilitation and I think that’s why we felt it was right for Paul to finally start doing some work on Paul.

Bellwoar: In episode 7, Sabi and their mom (Ellora Patnaik) go to the cinema. Is the film they see an actual film?

Filippo: Yes! It’s a clip from Kabhi Khishi Kabhie Gham and if you’re Pakistani from a certain gen you have definitely seen this movie.

Bellwoar: What was it like getting to cast Angelica Ross as a guest star this season?

Filippo: I mean it was a huge thrill. I’m a massive fan of her work as an actor and she is also just like this all around accomplished human — that she wanted to do the show was major validation that we were doing something right.

Bellwoar: Season three also sees the return of Mackenzie (Alanna Bale), a character most fans might not have thought about since season one. Did you always intend to bring Mackenzie back?

Filippo: Bilal had a special love for Mackenzie, and we were always trying to find a way to get her back. In season one, when she sort of bitterly calls Sabi cool, even though that moment may not have seemed like particularly positive, the fact that this woman is achowledging Sabi as just like a cooler woman meant a lot to Sabi.

Bellwoar: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Fab!

New episodes of the third and final season of Sort Of stream Thursdays on Max through February 8th.