‘Good Trouble’ Boss Talks Maia Mitchell’s Return, Evan’s Fate & More From Season 5 Premiere

SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details of Freeform’s Season 5 premiere Good problem.

Maia Mitchell is back at La Coterie – but not under happy circumstances. The premiere of season 5 of good problem ends with Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) and Callie reuniting in their old shared room at the co-living space after Mariana spent the night in the hospital with her former flame (and boss) Evan Speck.

The episode picked up where Season 4 left off, with Mariana trying to escape a cult while rescuing Joaquin’s sister, Jenna. Joaquin (Bryan Craig) was informed that Mariana was missing by a concerned Evan (TJ Linnard), who joined in to save the women. In the opening minutes of the episode, someone fires a gun in an attempt to stop the group from escaping, and the bullet hits Evan in the chest.

They rush him to the hospital, where Mariana spends the night with him. In the morning, she learns from Evan’s lawyer that he made her his proxy, which means she’s technically the interim CEO of his tech company Speckulate.

“She’s going to feel so responsible and so guilty that he came looking for her,” said showrunner Joanna Johnson, who added that it was the “better emotional story” for Evan to be shot rather than another. character.

In truth good problem fashion, this is not the only situation that is happening at La Coterie. Isabella (Priscilla Quintana) gave birth to her and Gael’s (Tommy Martinez) daughter, then disappeared with the baby at the end of the episode. Davia (Emma Hunton) and Dennis (Josh Pence) are finally a couple, but they’re reluctant to tell anyone when so many of their friends are struggling. Malika (Zuri Adele) has been offered a massive promotion, but she’s beginning to realize that her dedication to her activism is causing growing chasms with her family and friends. And Luca (Booboo Stewart) is still trying to find a job, but he can’t until he sorts out his birth certificate.

Johnson explained all that and more on the Season 5 premiere with Deadline.

DEADLINE: Did you know that when Maia left last season, she would return so quickly? And if not, how did it go?

JOANNA JOHNSON: Well, when I left, there was always the door open. She said she would come back and do episodes. I think Maia just wanted to go back to Australia for a little while. She missed her family and I think she also wanted to be open to other things. But she always said, “I’d love to come back when I’m available, if you want me.” And we’re like, ‘Well, sure, you’re welcome anytime.’ So as far as timing and everything goes, it worked really well. I didn’t have that in mind when she left, because we just didn’t know when she would be able and ready to come back. She will always be part of this show. She likes it. It’s like she’s coming home.

DEADLINE: It makes sense for Callie to return to Los Angeles, considering everything that’s going on with Mariana. How did you decide that Evan would be the one to get shot?

JOHNSON: We thought about it for a while. At first it was like Mariana was getting shot, then the whole family came back. But the best emotional story is clearly Evan [getting shot], because she’s going to feel so responsible and so guilty that he came looking for her. And it’s going to give us tons of stories to mine. Rather than seeing Marianna recover from being shot, it’s so much better to see her struggle with the guilt.

DEADLINE: Well, and now she’s Evan’s proxy. She is supposed to take over as interim CEO of Speckulate. How will she handle this?

JOHNSON: She tackles it with her usual intensity. She feels like this is her way of making amends to Evan and that she has to protect him. It’s something she has to do. She needs to do something about the guilt she feels, so she needs to do something to help it, and it’s a huge thing to step in. [this role] and return to Speckulate. Plus, the powers that be aren’t thrilled to have him there. So, it seemed like another big story for her to come back to Speckulate. So we were happy about that.

DEADLINE: How do you think Mariana has grown over the past few seasons to be able to handle a situation like this?

JOHNSON: She’s just matured a lot. She will always be a little impulsive. It’s Mariana, and it’s something she’s going to try to work on this season. It was an impulsive decision to go to the farm and not tell anyone, and to stay for the night because Jenna wasn’t there. Funny, Mariana got more impulsive than Callie. But it grows and it matures. We were looking for a flashback to the first season the other day and when I saw it, I was like, “Oh my God, she looks so much younger.” She’s just matured into this beautiful woman and the character has definitely gotten a little smarter and wiser, but still has this impulsive thing.

DEADLINE: There’s a lot going on in this episode. Isabella gives birth, then at the end of the episode, she flies away with the baby. How will this affect Gael, especially since he was defending Isabella to some of his friends who were concerned about her well-being?

JOHNSON: I think Gael is such a nice guy, and I think he really loves and cares about Isabella. He saw the other side of her that’s so damaged, and I think that’s why he stands up for her, because he sees that she’s not a bad person. She’s just someone who had a bad childhood and didn’t learn to overcome the places she’s broken inside. But I think he’s caught off guard when she leaves with the baby. From his point of view, she is afraid that he will take the baby away from her. We all know Isabelle. She can go ahead and be fine, and then something can break her, like when she broke her parents’ car. This is where she kind of keeps you on your toes as a character.

DEADLINE: Then there’s Luca, who’s trying to get a job but can’t because he doesn’t have a birth certificate to get ID. How did you decide to add Booboo Stewart to the Coterie and how did you develop this story for him?

JOHNSON: I think the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles is huge and we didn’t feel like we wanted to ignore it. So many young people, of all ages, from all walks of life and for all kinds of reasons, sometimes find themselves homeless. A lot of people have a job, and they still don’t have a home. So we really wanted to do something about that. It was interesting, we also read Booboo for the role of Joaquin, and we liked him, but we didn’t think he was made for this role. We thought Bryan [Craig] was so good for the role. But we all loved him and wanted to find something for him. So it was a natural place to put that character and see a character trying to pick themselves up without those bureaucratic things. I think people forget that people who are not housed — they also have dreams. They have things they want to do. And it’s fun to see that through him. And we’re in the fifth season, so it’s nice to see new people.

DEADLINE: Malika is also involved in the housing crisis, but politically. I found it interesting to watch her realize the impact her work and activism has had on her personal life in the premiere, when it’s something she’s faced before and has refused to see. She and Isaac used to argue about it.

JOHNSON: Malika wants to help people so much and wants to change the world. [She’s been doing that with] activism and then now she’s trying to see if she can bring about change from within politics. A lot of our stories of social issues fall on her as well, and we really felt like the character was missing some of that personal life over the past few seasons. We also just wanted to explore this idea of ​​work-life balance, which is, I think, it seems to be very much in the minds of millennials and Gen Z. They seem to have a better sense of work balance -lives than previous generations. them who tended to think you just work, work, and that’s ethics. I think it’s important to have a balance. So we really wanted to explore that story through someone like Malika, who had no poise and just saved the world 24/7.

DEADLINE: Of course, I have to ask about Davia and Dennis. With everything going on, they are still reveling in the joy of their new relationship. How do you balance that with the other serious storylines you create?

JOHNSON: One thing that’s really important to me about the show is that I’ve always loved this idea of ​​mixing the tone and mixing different kinds of stories. I remember when I was younger watching Terms of endearment, and it’s this comedy that suddenly becomes very, very emotional. But it’s still funny, even through the pain of Emma’s illness. And I thought, ‘I like that.’ I like to mix and match tones. So we’re going to have fun with Davia and Dennis, because we’re going to explore just the fun of this newness of finally being together, but also the ins and outs of relationships where you both live under the same roof. They’re both going to have career things that haven’t been introduced yet. And how do you maintain a new relationship when you’re suddenly really busy? With Alice we always have comedy in her story and with her and Sherry it’s so funny. We also want the show to stay funny. When you watch, I think our show can be very funny. I think our show can be very dramatic. I think it could be a lot of different things. It’s really fun to write, and I hope it’s fun for the audience to watch.