Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat Cast On How Anthony Stole Their Hearts and Hilarious Scenes That Nearly Broke Them

In 2023, Jury Duty documented the inner workings of an American jury trial through the eyes of juror Ronald Gladden, who quickly captured everyone’s hearts with his genuine and kind demeanor. The big twist? He didn’t know everyone except him was an actor.

Now the hit series returns for a second season with Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat, introducing us to a new hero in Anthony Norman. Like Gladden, he’s the only non-actor in a fully staged world. This time, it’s set at a company retreat for the eccentric, family-run Rockin’ Grandma’s Original Hot Sauce. The cast of Company Retreat spoke with Pop Culture Planet’s Kristen Maldonado about building a story around a real person, moments they nearly broke, and how Anthony stole their hearts.

“First of all what needs to be paid is respect to Jury Duty the first season because without them we're not here. Ronald Gladden, the world fell in love with that guy, so Anthony had to not only succeed in our show, but he had to meet the expectations of other fans,” enthused Jerry Hauck, who plays retiring CEO Doug Womack. “He had a double duty that he had to serve. And this guy, there just aren't words that can describe how awesome he is. What you see on that screen is him. It's not manufactured. This is the man. And we are all just in love with the guy.”

“He wanted to do the work and he wanted to do a good job. Anthony's someone that runs head first into being of service and just into joy. He has such a pure heart,” continued Emily Pendergast who plays Amy of customer relations. “We were lucky too that he did do those things for us. He really gave great advice individually to all of us at different times.”

“He gravitated towards us pretty early on. There was a lot of jokes being thrown out, a lot of things happening where it could get a little wacky. He would look to us to make sure like, ‘Yo, y'all see this too, right?’ And we’re like, ‘Mhm, it's fine. That's how she is. Don't worry about Amy. She going to be all right,’” Marc-Sully Saint-Fleur, who plays receptionist PJ, said. “So we were like a good anchor for him to gauge of how much he could play and enjoy this and not be worried or make sure that he realized that this is grounded. This is real.”

With a premise that thrives on unpredictability, Company Retreat often feels like it could go off the rails at any moment. According to the cast, keeping a straight face was the biggest challenge, especially during group settings like seminars and interviews. “I struggled most [in] the seminars where we're just in one space and you have to try to be not laughing,” said Rachel Kaly, who plays introverted web designer/IT. “That just makes me want to laugh more.”

Saint-Fleur agreed, adding: “There were some incredible seminars. Some of them were real with real people teaching us about like time management where PJ decided this is a good time for a nap. But the ones that we had to actually do where we got story beats out of those were really hard ‘cause those improviser actors were hilarious. It's just like swallowing the laugh a lot for me.”

“Rob Lathan who played Other Anthony would sit behind us [in those group interviews] and we would forget [....] he was there. He'd be quiet for extended periods and then he would just have these one liners. ‘Oh, I love applesauce.’ It was almost impossible. He's one of the funniest people,” laughed Alex Bonifer, who plays Dougie Jr, the CEO’s well-meaning but aimless son. Hauck continued, “I would be cackling in the middle of the night in my room keeping all the wildlife awake.”

Despite the chaos, the cast revealed that staying on track narratively wasn’t as difficult as it might seem, mainly because of Anthony himself. “Anthony has such good heart and is so genuine. We definitely saw how he really treated us as family right away. There were times that we definitely said, ‘Oh, wow. He's going in the direction that we wanted. Okay, we're good. We don't have to push,’” shared LaNisa Renee Frederick, who plays working mom of three Jackie from distribution and logistics. “I will say there were times I was like, ‘I had the perfect line I wanted to say.’ But we didn't need it because Anthony, in his being such a good genuine person, just drove the story in the direction that we all were hoping for.”

“He was so playful that it let us do sometimes more than we anticipated,” added Kaly. “Like when we were shooting and Cole the Malibu realtor comes on and Anthony's says to Marjorie like, ‘Let's mess around with him.’ Then the writers were like, ‘Okay, well, let's figure out, what are they going to do today?’ It was something I don't know if they were expecting to happen, but it let them play.”

“Brilliance was born in the moment,” agreed Frederick.

They were really able to thrive thanks to a strong sense of trust among the cast and creative team. “It took a lot of us knowing each other and being able to feed off of each other. We had such a talented group of writers that really set the stage in terms of what the story would look like. But in the moment, we relied on each other,” said Frederick. “[Folks] wore ear prompters. Sometimes we would have someone saying, ‘Hey, we're going to go in this direction or, hey, let's lay back on that.’ […] It helped us like just build the story out more and stay on script to respect what has been written as well as give us a little freedom into going in the direction that we wanted to go.”

With today’s job market being notoriously difficult, the cast imagined what their characters’ LinkedIn taglines would be based on their journeys this season.

“I'm the boss of the sauce,” joked Hauck.

“I would probably say Jackie's would just simply be, ‘I need a break.’ That's it. Jackie needs a break. It's pool time,” said Frederick.

“I feel like Amy's would be a few decades too late,” Pendergast added. “It would be like, ‘Live, laugh, love.’”

“PJ’s would be, ‘Hello. Yeah, it's me again. Tell me everything,’” said Saint-Fleur.

“I think Claire's would be, ‘I don't really want to be here,” Kaly said.

And for Dougie? “Dougie’s would probably just be plain and simple. ‘One love,’ Bonifer laughed, throwing up a shaka hand sign.

If the first season of Jury Duty proved anything, it’s tat you can’t script a genuinely good person. But somehow Company Retreat has managed to find another loveable hero in Anthony.

New episodes of Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat air Fridays on Prime Video.