Note: This story contains spoilers from “That ’90s Show” Part 3.
“That ’90s Show” closed out its third season with a shakeup in dynamics, with the future of Laura Prepon’s character intentionally left “open-ended,” according to Prepon.
As summer in Point Place started to wind down, Donna (Prepon) revealed to Leia (Callie Haverda) in Part 3’s penultimate episode that her father, Eric (played by Topher Grace, who has not appeared in the show since its inaugural season) scored his dream job in California. Donna told Leia she could spend the school year in Point Place as well, while Donna commutes between her job in Chicago, Point Place and the West Coast — a suggestion which Leia immediately jumped at.
With Leia’s friendships and relationships cemented in Point Place, Donna eventually agreed to the plan, which Prepon, who also directed all the episodes in Part 3, said was fueled by knowing how badly Leia wants this dream to be a reality.
“I’ll do anything for my kids,” Prepon told TheWrap. “There are times where, as a parent, you do have to have self care and focus on yourself for a second … but in that moment, Donna was purely thinking about what is the best thing for Leia, what is going to be the most stable thing for Leia?”
With Leia set to spend the year in Point Place, Donna couldn’t help but consider staying in Point Place herself, though she reminded her father — and herself — why she left town in the first place. By the end of Part 3, it was unclear if Donna had decided to stay: Red (Kurtwood Smith) told his support group she was, though Donna never explicitly says so.
Prepon clarified the ending is left “open-ended,” and was an intentional choice from the writers amid uncertainty whether “That ’90s Show” might receive further season orders from Netflix or would conclude with Part 3.
“I don’t know if the show is going to go longer — I really hope it does, because the cast is wonderful … and crew is just phenomenal,” Prepon said. “I’d love to direct more … and be a part of it, but I just don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Below, Prepon unpacked directing on the set she grew up on during Part 3, how Donna handled a sensitive conversation with Leia and why she loves seeing “prickly Kitty,” played by Debra Jo Rupp.
You got to direct all eight episodes of Part 3. Why were you interested in directing and what was the experience like?
The experience was amazing. I’ve been directing for a while — when I was on “Orange [Is the New Black],” I directed … multiple episodes on that, I directed in this show last year as well. It was really nice being able to direct a whole slew of episodes at the same time, because you really get to sit deep in the saddle and go. And being able to go back onto a set that I know so well. And not only the set, but the showrunner I’ve known for 20 years, because he was a writer on “’70s” and Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner, Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner — all these people I’ve known for a very long time — and they’ve trusted me to take the helm of these eight episodes for Part 3 was really wonderful, and I had a blast.
Do you have hopes to direct more?
I love acting, but directing is what I want to do. I’m like a fish in water when I’m doing it, and acting makes me a better director. There’s nothing I’m going to ask this cast to do that I’ve never done myself, the understanding and the empathy is so high because I’ve been doing this for so long. I understand, especially on this show with these sets — talk about being there, I’ve physically, emotionally been there. I do hope to do more [but] it takes me away from my family longer. But my husband, we’re both in the business, and we just figure it out.
This season saw Don Stark returning in a bigger role as Bob, where he and Leia got to have some more bonding time. What was it like reuniting with him and what was it like seeing Bob and Leia together?
It’s so nice to be able to work — not only as an actress with Donna, but also as a director — with Don, Debra Jo and Kurtwood. They come up and hug me and just be like, “You’re doing such a great job. We’re so proud of you, kid.”
Don had some really fun stuff this season as well, and it was so fun to direct him in those scenes and work with him in those scenes. Seeing Leia and Bob together, it’s very cool, because especially when there’s a show you love — a lot of people love “’70s,” it was a staple show — when shows like that end, it’s a bummer. You’re like, “Oh, I’m gonna miss these characters.” And what’s so nice is being able to see Donna as a mother and as a wife, and be in these scenes now with her dad and her daughter.
Early on in the season, we see Donna give Leia some advice as she gets more comfortable with her sexuality. How did you want Donna to approach having a talk like this?
They went through a couple of different iterations of that scene before we landed on that. It took a minute to figure out, “Should Donna be a little bit nervous at first?” We tried it a couple different ways. And then, the writers landed [it being a] really empowering moment for Donna to be able to have a calm conversation with her daughter, always with some jokes, but have that stable conversation. I was really happy that we end up going that direction … I love the way it was written. And I thought it was really empowering for her daughter and empowering for Donna as well.
After Donna agrees to let Leia stay in Point Place, we see Donna and Kitty bump heads after being pretty amenable. What was that like to play?
It was so hard to get through that scene. We just kept bursting into laughter, we just had a blast. That was a fun thing for Debra Jo and I to be able to play with, the weird Kitty versus Donna thing. We’ve never done it before. Donna’s an upstairs person, now, she’s not in the basement, which is one of Red’s lines.
Kitty thinks that Donna stole Eric away … and I just think that Kitty just wants to be surrounded by family. So I think the fact that Donna is this self-empowered woman and is a little bit of a threat to taking her family away, it’s just kind of funny. Of course, there’s deep love there, but it was just kind of funny to see Kitty prickly, who doesn’t love prickly Kitty?
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
“That ’90s Show” Parts 1-3 are now streaming on Netflix.
