The Parker family is on the road again in the fourth season of "The Detour," but this time, they’re the ones doing the chasing.
After a road-trip escalated into an attempt to evade the police, the latest season of the TBS series centers around a search for missing Parker child, Delilah — although, Delilah (Ashley Gerasimovich) isn’t exactly longing to be found.
"This family works as a unit, and with one piece missing, the unit is no longer intact and when a unit is no longer intact, it doesn’t function all that well. Not that we were functional to begin with," says actress Natalie Zea, who called NYC home for a decade, "nearly 100 years ago!" Currently, she’s based in Los Angeles, California.
"I never really had any intention of ever leaving. It was my home. It was established," she says of the city. "Then, I ended up getting a job [in ‘Passions’] on the West Coast, and it was something I couldn’t say no to. I took the job knowing it would be temporary, and I ended up being bicoastal. Then, something clicked and two weeks before that job ended I woke up and realized I’d fallen in love with L.A. It took me by a huge surprise."
Zea, who plays Delilah’s mom, Robin, has appeared since 2016 alongside co-creator Jason Jones in the series that’s inspired by his relationship with his wife, comedian Samantha Bee.
Zea temporarily steps out of her "dysfunctional mom" role in "The Detour" this season to play her character’s twin sister Bluejay, who’s added into the mix amid the rest of the ongoing drama. The actress says the search for Delilah makes the season’s complications "more real."
Previously, the "dysfunction was personalized. It was monogrammed just for us," she says. "Now, it’s outward. It’s something they’ve never experienced before and it really, really tests the limits of the family and the relationships of not just the three of them who are left, but also the relationships from afar with their daughter."
"The Detour" is known first for its family dysfunction, and second, for its setting-jumping plots. Past filming locations include New York City and Georgia, and this season, a little movie magic will take the clan all around the globe.
"Everywhere," Zea says about the new season’s locations. More specifically, "We go to New Zealand, Tibet, Japan, Peru, Syracuse and Russia."
Zea slipped into the director’s chair on the series’ set for the first time last year, a post she returned to this season. Given the series’ unique traveling setting, Zea says making her directorial debut on "The Detour" was, and remains, challenging and rewarding in its own ways.
"You know, it’s a different experience, certainly, when you’re doing it on a show that you’re also acting in. Not only because you’re doing double duty, but because people have a sort of preconceived notion of who you are and it’s not the easiest thing to break free from," Zea explains.
She continues: "There are challenges in doing this show that I won’t have doing other shows. Then, obviously, there are challenges I will have doing other jobs that don’t come up [here]. I’m given a lot of leeway because I am doing double duty. Also, fortunately or not, Jason is incredibly hands-on. At the end of the day, everything is based upon the vision that he has. There aren’t a lot of decisions I get to make which is again, both good and bad."
"The Detour" airs new episodes Tuesdays at 10:30 p.m. on TBS.
