“I couldn’t have been more excited when I heard this is what this season is doing Europe, north to south,” proclaimed comedian and actor Eugene Levy at a TCA press conference for Season 2 of The Reluctant Traveler With Eugene Levy, premiering March 8th on Apple TV+. The series debuted last year, taking the confirmed homebody out of his element to far-flung places for the Canadian native, including Japan, Finland, and South Africa. This season, he got to sample one specific region of the world. “I thought, wow, all the great cities,” Levy recalled, “And then I found out exactly where they were going.”
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“This isn’t a trip through the capital cities of Europe,” explained executive producer David Brindley. “This isn’t London, this isn’t Rome, this isn’t Paris. We actually take Eugene very much off the beaten track. So most of the destinations that we go to would be quite unexpected I think for a seasoned traveler.” Eugene Levy may have been a little less reluctant the second time around, so the creative team made sure he was still very much out of his element. “This series is slightly different from season one in that it's an A to B journey. We go from the very northern tip of Europe to the very southern tip of Europe, and those episodes play in order. From an outsider's point of view, you really see Eugene grow tentatively across the series. I think it's a much more personal series as well.”
Among the historically significant destinations is Scotland. “My mom was born in a section of Glasgow called the Gorbals,” Eugene Levy shared, who was born and raised in Ontario. “I would ask her when I was a kid about what life was like when she was a kid because she left for Canada when she was 12. I'd say, ‘Do you ever want to go back to Glasgow?’ And she'd say, No.’ Because the Glasgow she knew was the Gorbals. She never saw the rest of the country. So, I never really had any desire to go back to Scotland even though that's where my mom was from. It was brought up in the first season in a list of potential countries that you might want to go to. And I said ‘Scotland? I don’t know. It's just the weather's bad. It's windy, and it rains a lot. Yeah, no. Scratch that off the list.’ And back then, I was still looking at, well, if it's not going to be fun for me, why go? But we did go this season, and the connection I actually felt as soon as I got to the country was very palpable, the connection to my family, to my mom and my mom's family.”
Prior to Schitt’s Creek, which Eugene Levy co-created and co-starred in with his son Daniel Levy, which also featured his daughter Sarah Levy, the comedian’s private life was a closed door to the public, and in many ways it still is. But the second episode of this season, titled “Scotland: My Mother’s Country,” features some very personal moments for the actor being shared with the world. “Actually doing it, and being able to do this on-camera, I think was good,” he explained. “It was like a catharsis or something.”
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While exploring his Scottish heritage, Eugene Levy was surprised by the intersection of another piece of the puzzle that made him who he is.“I didn't know Jews had their own tartan,” he shared about the Scottish fabric used to make kilts. It’s one of Eugene’s prized souvenirs from this season’s travels. “I'm trying to figure out how to kind of put it in some kind of presentation or frame that would make it stand out,” he shared. “I really don't want it sitting in a drawer. But if I put it in a glass case somewhere, when am I going to wear it? I don't know. It's a dilemma for me.”
Eugene Levy’s European vacation kicks off with Sweden and Scotland through a double-episode premiere, with additional locations finding him in France, Germany, Italy, Greece, and Spain. “I'm loving the show for what it's actually doing for me,” the actor shared, feeling more enlightened for having explored more of the world. “I really love my interaction with the people… I mean, I appreciate a building that has been standing since the 14th century, but a building is a building. But it's the people. It's learning about the culture through the people that I'm actually meeting, and I'm finding I'm having a great deal of fun doing that.” But the reluctant element of the show still rings true, with Levy confessing that there’s no place he’s dying to visit, but he’s open to wherever the show may take him. “That general sense of curiosity and adventure hasn't quite kicked in, although, I'm kind of loving the experience of doing what I'm doing through the show. I truly am.”
The first two episodes of The Reluctant Traveler With Eugene Levy premiere Friday, March 8th, on Apple TV+, with new episodes released on Fridays through April 12th.