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'The Resort' cast discovers subtleties of past, present characters

Emma (Cristin Milioti) and Noah (William Jackson Harper) arrive at "The Resort." Photo courtesy of Peacock
1 of 5 | Emma (Cristin Milioti) and Noah (William Jackson Harper) arrive at "The Resort." Photo courtesy of Peacock

LOS ANGELES, July 27 (UPI) -- The Resort, premiering Thursday on Peacock, tells parallel stories of mystery in 2007 and the present.

Actor William Jackson Harper said his younger character bears subtle differences from his present-day one.

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"There was maybe a little less psychological weight," Harper told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. "Honestly, I know I've changed in the last 15 years, but I also think I haven't changed all that much."

Harper, 42, and Cristin Milioti, 36, play Noah and Emma, a couple on vacation at a resort and hoping to work on their relationship. Flashbacks to 2007 show the difference between their courtship and current status, which Milioti said illustrate the decline of their relationship since 2007.

"I think we really found, in that scene, who they were before the weight of time and disappointment, and all these things begin to change them," Milioti said.

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Emma finds a cell phone in the woods that belonged to Sam (Skyler Gisondo), who went missing on the island in 2007. Sam's phone also contains photos of him with Violet (Nina Bloomgarten), who also went missing.

Investigating Sam and Violet's disappearance brings Noah and Emma closer together. Gisondo and Bloomgarten only appear in 2007 scenes, and Gisondo opted not to read the present day portions of the scripts that did not involve his character.

"I feel like that's taking away from being able to be present and just do your thing," Gisondo said.

Gisondo said when he played Gideon Gemstone on The Righteous Gemstones, he caught himself thinking about other characters' storylines. So he tried the new approach on The Resort.

"It's not like I regretted anything," Gisondo said. "I just thought, 'OK, well, I did that. It might be interesting to try out just being in the dark.'"

Gisondo and Bloomgarten said writer-director Andy Siara made them playlists of 2007 music to bring them into the era. The playlist included songs by The Gorillaz and Belle and Sebastian.

"I was texting a lot of my friends who were Violet's age in 2007 to add more songs," Bloomgarten said.

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Luis Gerardo Mendez, 40, and Gabriela Cartol, 33 also play characters who span from 2007 to the present. They play Baltasar and Luna, hotel workers who have been employed at the resort since 2007.

"I like to play songs from that time before going to set to remember how horrible the music was in that moment," Mendez commented on the 2007 playlists.

Cartol said Luna's 2007 reminded her of her own youth. She attended high school in Acapulco around 2007.

"It was a time to be extravagant," Cartol said. "Ten years later, it was like oh no, now I am responsible. I always remember how 10 years ago, I was a completely different person."

Mendez said the theme of the show is how time can change people, for better or worse. Losing hotel guests with no definitive answers weighed on Baltasar and Luna.

"That's also the theme of the show: how time destroys everything or heals everything or changes everything," Mendez said.

The Resort involved physical challenges, as well as psychological ones. Investigating the mystery requires Noah and Emma to climb over fences and poke around abandoned hotels.

"I'd get there and I'd be like, 'Right, uh, right. I've got to climb it,'" Milioti said. "It was very, very physical, a lot of bruises."

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The Resort filmed in Puerto Rico, where the cast visited the El Yunque rainforest and beaches during their down time.

"It felt like we were always in motion," Gisondo said.

New episodes of The Resort premiere Thursdays on Peacock.

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