Physical Season 2 Finale: EP Dissects Dark Cliffhanger, Shares Renewal Update: 'We Have Another Big Chapter'

Michael Ausiello

The title of Physical‘s Season 2 finale, “Don’t You Say It’s Over,” could easily double as a renewal rallying cry — although it doesn’t appear as if Apple TV+ will need to be persuaded to bring the Rose Byrne dramedy back for a third season.

Speaking to TVLine in the wake of Physical‘s Season 2 closer (which dropped Friday on the streamer), series creator/showrunner Annie Weisman says the decision to end the finale on a cliffhanger-y note was not made recklessly.

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“In an act of great optimism, we ended the season with a lot more story to tell,” the EP divulges. “We have another big chapter at least in her story. I don’t have anything confirmed to share [about Season 3] yet, but I’m feeling good about it.”

The aforementioned finale found Byrne’s Sheila preparing to fight battles on multiple fronts as she takes her aerobics empire to the next level. First, there’s her now-estranged husband Danny, who is seeking half of her burgeoning “lifestyle brand.” And then — as we discover in the episode’s final act — a new “younger and prettier and smarter” aerobics phenom has entered the fray, and she’s gunning for Sheila’s market share.

Sheila, however, is ready to start fighting fire with fire. In the closing scene, she reaches out to her unscrupulous lover, John, and convinces him to help her “annihilate” the competition.

Below, Weisman breaks down the finale’s key moments and offers a modest tease or two about a potential third season.

TVLINE | Did you always envision that the series would build towards Sheila and Danny becoming enemies?
I did envision breaking them apart this season. From the beginning of the season I had this line in my head of him saying, “I don’t like who you’ve become,” and that’s what we were [building] to in the finale. I always like to give myself a goal that seems out of reach. Sheila starts the season saying, “I hate you” to Danny. And he’s trying to earn back her love. And at the end of the season I wanted him to say, “I don’t like who you’ve become.” And that ended their marriage.

TVLINE | Sheila appeared to make so much emotional and mental headway this season, but then all of that progress was seemingly undone the moment she saw her new competition…
It’s like two steps forward, one step back. I don’t think she reverts all the way back but I definitely think she’s tapping back into some dark stuff. I believe in some evolution. But there’s regression as well.

TVLINE | Sheila told John she loved him — did she mean it?
There’s definitely some strategy going on there. It’s not entirely sincere.

TVLINE | Her final line that she wants to “annihilate” the competition suggests we’re going to see a darker Sheila in Season 3. Are we?
We’re certainly teeing up a confident businesswoman… somebody who has learned from her connection from John Breem how to navigate that world.

TVLINE | Have we seen the last of Murray Bartlett’s Vinnie?
I hope not. We would love to have him back.

TVLINE | Lastly, I’m curious about the decision to not show us the big confrontation between Danny and Sheila after he discovered she’d been cheating on him with John. Was that a timing thing?
I liked the idea of just leaping past that confrontation, because it was information we already knew as an audience… It was just an instinct I had to sort of jump time and land somewhere where Sheila got to have a lot of ground underneath her in the process of recovery.

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