Let Natasha Rothwell Take You On A Journey

A self-proclaimed Air Force brat, Natasha Rothwell knows travel. She’s moved around her entire life, and once spent a year doing comedy in Tokyo. Today, she’s a fan of traveling solo. “[It’s] a product of not waiting to live my life for a partner,” she tells Bustle. “Travel and being in transit are just... in me.”

Lately, her expertise has lent itself to playing characters behind the scenes of the travel industry. She received an Emmy nod for playing spa manager Belinda on The White Lotus, a role she’ll reprise in Season 3 next year. And this month, she stars as Mel, a JFK cart driver who has never taken a flight, on How to Die Alone, out Sept. 13.

“Centering marginalized voices is what I’ve been put on the planet to do,” Rothwell says. “And making sure I give a voice to those folks who get us to and from where we’re going in life.”

In the new Hulu series, which Rothwell created and showruns, Mel survives a near-death run-in and resolves to transform her life to be seen, loved, and promoted, all while facing her fear of flying in time to attend her ex’s wedding in Hawaii.

“It’s much more substantive to tell a story that’s real,” Rothwell, 43, says. “Where it’s just like, I want to change. But I don’t know how. Audiences can root for her as she tries to figure it out because that’s what we’re all doing at the end of the day.”

After a decade in the entertainment industry, Rothwell — who runs her own production company, Big Hattie Productions — points to several key steps that prepared her for How to Die Alone, including teaching high school theater in the Bronx and getting a “front-row seat” to Issa Rae’s work on Insecure, in which she played Kelli and made her directorial debut.

“I just feel really grateful that life led me to this moment, and I was able to meet the challenge,” she says. “It was hard, but I loved it.”

Below, Rothwell breaks down How to Die Alone’s rom-com lineage and the viral TikTok saga she’s bringing to TV.

You’ve said that you love the “running through the airport” rom-com cliche, and How to Die Alone grounds that trope by making JFK the workplace.

Yeah, it’s one of those hallmarks of rom-coms. It was really fun to play with those tropes. Even having the documentary-style opening to the show is a nod to When Harry Met Sally... Although they were all actors [in the movie], and I lived a large part of my life thinking they were real people. They were actors.

Whoa, OK! I did not know that, either.

I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but I was devastated. They have, like, IMDb pages.

I was thinking that movie might have inspired you! So, are your interviews real?

These are 100% real New Yorkers. We had a documentary camera crew out there, and we talked to them about life, love, and loneliness. It was a way to let folks enter into each episode with that authenticity and understanding that every single person in New York — in the world — has a story. They’re not just the person driving you to the gate at the airport, doing your pedicure, delivering your mail. They have lives, wishes, hopes, and fears. I had to fight for that piece in the show. It was controversial.

What was the pushback?

You’ve seen the series. There’s so much that’s unconventional, and I don’t subscribe to precedent. I can’t tell you the number of meetings where I was like, “Precedent is based on cishet white males, and that’s not me. We can’t use precedent when we’re dealing with a different version of storyteller.” So, I was really excited that they ultimately saw its value.

Were there any other unexpected challenges?

I wouldn’t recommend shooting a show in Toronto during the winter. It introduced me to the myriad of electronic bodywear to keep you warm. For me, it was also a challenge to let it go. I’m a recovering perfectionist — thank you, therapy. I have to acknowledge it and walk away. It was hard because I loved every aspect of creating the show.

What was it like getting the call to return to The White Lotus for Season 3?

It wasn’t even on my vision board. I was so grateful for Season 1, and I watched Season 2 along with everyone else. I screamed when Tanya fell off the boat. So when [The White Lotus creator Mike White] reached out to me about bringing Belinda back, I told him what I told him in Season 1: “I will follow you to the ends of the earth. I’ll be there.”

It was also just announced that you’ll be adapting Reesa Teesa’s “Who TF Did I Marry” saga from TikTok. How are you planning to approach that?

Her series was probably one of the most radical acts of vulnerability I’ve ever seen. On top of that, she’s an incredible storyteller. I f*ck heavy with people who talk about their sh*t and know how to talk about their sh*t. So it was a real delight for Big Hattie Productions to get it.

People can expect what I feel is typical of the projects that I’m drawn to. There’ll be gravity and levity, just like her story when she tells it. She is one of the strongest people that I know. Nuanced and complex and honest, she’s all of those things.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.