The character of Elizabeth Zott has been with for longer than any other cast or crewmember of , the Emmy-nominated Apple TV+ adaptation of Bonnie Garmus’ 2022 novel of the same name. “Two years before the book was even scheduled to come out, it was sent to me by Jason Bateman and Michael Costigan’s production company, Aggregate, and it was an immediate knowing,” says Larson. “Elizabeth just jumped off the page to me, she was not hard for me to find, and that’s a testament to Bonnie’s book and how incredibly she’s able to write beautifully nuanced characters.
” Zott begins the series as a technician in a chemistry lab after being expelled from her doctoral program for refusing to apologize to her mentor, whom she stabbed with a pencil after he sexually assaulted her. It’s there that she meets researcher Calvin Evans (Lewis Pullman) and reluctantly lets down her emotional guard as the two begin a romantic relationship. Yet Zott’s trajectory continues to shift in unexpected ways when Evans dies suddenly, and she finds herself single, pregnant and unemployed as a result of her unmarried status.
“I think one of the great tasks of playing human beings is handling human issues with sensitivity and care so that we can look at them and talk about them and add to this growing conversation of support and care for others,” Larson says of Zott’s journey, which eventually leads her to host the cooking show . Along the way, Zott grapples with the unpredictability .