Warning: This story contains spoilers from season 1 of Adults.
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Described as a Gen Z version of Friends, Adults has captivated audiences with its fresh take on a group of twentysomethings living together in New York City as they navigate the ups and downs of entering the adult world.
Over the course of season 1’s eight episodes, Samir (Malik Elassal), Billie (Lucy Freyer), Paul Baker (Jack Innanen), Issa (Amita Rao) and Anton (Owen Thiele) find themselves dealing with insurance issues, overcoming dating hangups, hosting dinner parties, organizing a last-minute wedding all the while they suss out their own feelings for each other.
Notably for Paul Baker, who goes by both his first and last names, that meant racing the halls of a hospital while Billie got tests done, bringing friend Julia Fox to a dinner party while inadvertently sending Issa on shame spiral and catching feelings for Anton, who steps up to marry him after his green card expires.
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As Innanen, who has amassed millions of followers on TikTok before landing his first major on the FX comedy, tells PEOPLE, Adults was a show he completely identified with.
“I laughed out loud at the script and I remember what really stuck out was it was so real,” he says. “It was the first piece of Gen Z writing that I was like, ‘Oh, these are real people. This is actually how I speak to my friends.’ ”
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When it specifically comes to Paul Baker, Innanen, 26, says, “That’s just me at 22. It’s like I don’t really feel like I have to act that much.”
Certainly a moment that didn’t require any “acting” was the wild dinner party episode, which saw the roommates hosting the likes of Fox and Billie’s boyfriend, Andrew (Charlie Cox), while serving the entire group raw chicken.
And according to Innanen, yes, there was uncooked poultry on set.
“Disgusting,” he says of being served “real raw chicken,” while noting that Cox, 42, was given “gelatin or something” since he had to eat his on camera. “I don’t do well with raw meat, and I was for real gagging a decent amount of the shoot. That was foul.”
He then adds, “And the worst part was we had chicken for lunch after, and I think it stayed untouched.”
However, watching Cox go crazy in front of them was hilarious. “The hardest part of shooting the whole show was keeping a straight face,” he says of the scene. “It’s so funny because candidly, I was mildly starstruck in a way. Like, I was ‘Oh yeah, Paul is supposed to be best friends with Julia Fox and I’m there hugging Julia Fox thinking this is so crazy.’ And I remember Charlie’s energy too, he was really just in it.”
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While Paul Baker has a lot of fun moments throughout the season, Innanen’s biggest chance to shine was during the finale.
“I think that was the first time there was any drama really for a lot of us… so yeah, that was daunting,” he recalls of reading the script, which detailed how his character learns that his green card was expiring before Issa volunteers to marry him at city hall.
The episode then ends with a surprise twist after Issa backs out and Paul Baker ends up getting hitched to Anton, with the two sharing a loving kiss after growing closer to each other all season.
“I think what came across really beautifully is that Anton sees Paul Baker and I don’t think Issa quite sees him how they see each other,” he says of the new dynamic. “It was so fun getting to have that reward of Paul and Anton having that connection out in the open, also right in front of everyone ’cause it has been teased for a long time.”
“I really hope for a season 2 because there’s so much to explore there,” Innanen continues. “The fact that Paul and Aton really see each other, I don’t see that ever going away.”
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Season 1 of Adults is now streaming on Hulu.
