Spoiler alert! Below, you’ll find spoilers for the series finale of Grace and Frankie. If you want to avoid spoilers, stop reading now. You’ve been warned. We just used the word spoiler three times!
It’s 9 to 5 all over again for the Grace and Frankie series finale, with Dolly Parton dropping in for an A-list cameo opposite pals Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. But how did Grace and Frankie manage to nab the hardest working woman in show business, and how did the series’ writers land on the role that Parton would play? Here’s the scoop from the show’s creators, Marta Kauffman and Howard J. Morris.
There is a much ballyhooed cameo in the Grace and Frankie series finale...
Howard J. Morris: I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have no idea. I’m completely shocked you’re even bringing this up.
People are excited! What can you tell us about how the Dolly Parton cameo came to be, and how long had it been in the works?
Marta Kauffman: You know, in the very, very beginning of the series, we didn’t want to bring Dolly on yet because we wanted to establish Grace and Frankie as Grace and Frankie, and not the two ladies from 9 to 5. But then, somewhere around the third season, we were like, “OK, we can do it now. We’ve established these characters.” And then it took us four more seasons to make it work. The timing was wrong. The schedule was wrong. She was busy. We couldn’t shoot when she was available. I mean, it was years of going through this.
Morris: We even wrote another character that we thought she was going to play that she didn’t end up playing.
Kauffman: And then, one day, we read an article where Dolly said she wanted to be on the show, and we were like, “All right, we’re jumping on it now. We’ve only got this last season, so we’ve got to make it happen.” And we did. And she did!
How would you describe her character? Is she an angel or is she St. Peter? A heavenly receptionist?
Kauffman: We call her a middle management angel.
How did you land on that character for Dolly?
Morris: A lot of trial and error. You want something special because she’s a special person and they all have a special relationship. It’s just a lot of batting it back and forth. It also depended on where the show was because, at the end of the show, it’s a much different Dolly cameo than it would be in year four. So, you weigh everything and you just keep talking it out.
The final season of Grace and Frankie is available to stream now. For a look at the Boston origins of the struggle for workers’ rights that inspired 9 to 5, check out 9 to 5: The Story of a Movement.
