Amanda Peet says she’s relishing the messier, more honest moments of middle age in Season 2 of the Apple TV+ dark comedy Your Friends & Neighbors, praising creator and showrunner Jonathan Tropper for writing sex scenes — and perimenopause scenes — for her 54‑year‑old character, Mel Cooper. Peet told Glamour that it “is really nice” to have a writer willing to put those experiences on screen and that Tropper has given Mel storylines that capture both desire and frustration.
One striking sequence in the new season finds Mel on a first date whose sexual encounter in the front seat of a car is abruptly halted by vaginal dryness, a symptom of perimenopause. Peet said the scene’s frankness felt “very real,” and welcomed Tropper’s choice to fold such an intimate, commonly stigmatized issue into a character arc. “Thank goodness it’s less taboo to talk about now,” she said, noting that at 54 she is “dealing with all of that shit” and calling the period “pretty hellish.”
Peet also pointed to the continuity of Mel’s emotional life from Season 1, referencing a moment last season when the character keyed a random car — an act Peet described as rooted in the kind of pent‑up rage many women carry. That rage informs both the comedic and darker beats Tropper scripts, she said, and gives the actor richer ground to explore. “People seemed to be really into that part of Mel, so we were really into the idea that she has a lot of rage,” Peet told Glamour.
The actress credited Tropper for balancing humor with risk. “People are believing women a little bit more about what perimenopause is like, so I think Tropper was interested in making it funny and a little bit dangerous and fucked up, which are all really fun things to play,” she said. Her comments reflect a broader shift in television toward depicting middle‑aged women’s sexuality and health with more nuance, moving away from sidelined or purely comic portrayals.
Season 2, which dropped new episodes on Fridays, reunites Peet with Jon Hamm, Olivia Munn, Lena Hall and Aimee Carrero, and adds James Marsden to the ensemble. Peet expressed gratitude that her “boss” is willing to write sex scenes for her at this stage in life as well as to tackle menopause, saying simply, “Both,” when asked if she appreciated those elements being part of Mel’s story.
By foregrounding perimenopause alongside desire and anger, Your Friends & Neighbors continues to push the show’s tonal blend of dark comedy and frank interpersonal drama. For Peet, the result is work that reflects the complexities of midlife rather than softening them — a creative choice she clearly relishes.