Jason (Rafe Spall) and Nikki’s (Esther Smith) path to becoming parents hasn’t been the easiest.
When Trying Season 3 Episode 1 kicked off, the pair had Princess and Tyler under their roof.
However, Tyler was never meant to be there, and the social worker made a plan to collect him at the end of the day.
When Jason and Nikki’s families got wind of this, they joined forces to help prove the couple could be parents to two children.
Ultimately, the social worker relented, and they get to keep Princess and Tyler … for now.
They have three months to prove they are capable parents.
I asked Spall and Smith whether they thought this would hang over James and Nikki like a dark cloud.
“They want to make the best out of it. They want to prove to themselves that they can be as good parents as possible,” Rafe shared with TV Fanatic, adding that they want to prove to themselves — and the kids.
“There is this, as you put it, a dark cloud that hangs over them that the more that they connect to these children, the higher the stakes because they might get taken away.”
“And that makes for a really good level of jeopardy in the season as they have to get close to them to prove to themselves, to the kids that they are worthy parents and to the local authority.”
“The closer they get, the bigger the risk becomes,” Spall adds.
“That makes for lots of drama and funny moments and bittersweet moments. That all makes for a very, very satisfying season of trying, I think,” he concludes.
Esther believes that Jason and Nikki’s actions this season prove how much they want to be parents, but each stage seems more complicated than the last.
“To kind of get through, and even now being this close, there is still opportunity for them to be like, ‘Oh, this is too much. This is too hard. This is just too going to be too painful,” Smith adds.
“I think it’s a real testament to how much they want this, and as Rafe said, the closer you get to something, the harder it is.”
“They really put themselves in the firing line for that even more so now because they’re trying to do it with these two people, but they’re only approved for the one.”
“It’s going to be interesting to see how that plays out.”
Another shocking moment from the premiere involved Jason revealing he would give up his job to allow Nikki to continue with hers.
I asked Esther and Rafe whether this could lead to resentment from either party down the line.
“The position that they’re in now, their whole world is changing. And so those kinds of decisions, I guess, and also because Jason says that, so kind of quickly, it’s a quick abrupt decision,” Esther shares, adding that he didn’t really think about it.
“I guess there is an opportunity for that, and again, that’s all part of those kinds of things that you need to navigate as a parent, but they’re having to do it and think about that really quickly.”
Trying continues Fridays on Apple TV+.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.