17 Times Actors Took What Was In A TV Show's Script And Ended Up Adding Something While Filming

Throughout Dead to Me, Linda Cardellini and Christina Applegate improvised several hilarious Jen and Judy moments.

There are obviously MASSIVE spoilers ahead!

1. First, in Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 2, Episode 6, Andre Braugher improvised when Captain Hold exclaims, "Hot damn," after he correctly guesses why Amy is late for work.

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Andre said he mostly stuck to the script on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. However, Andy Samberg recalled sometimes he would throw "a crazy, out of left field, improv at you at the end of a scene and just destroy the crew."

2. In The White Lotus Season 2, Episode 2, when Valentina compares Tanya's all-pink ensemble to Peppa Pig, Sabrina Impacciatore actually improvised the now-viral line. She adorably didn't even know the line made it into the final cut of the episode until she was told during the press tour.

HBO

"Oh, it's in the show?! I'm happy about that!" Sabrina exclaimed when Access Hollywood told her. 

Throughout Season 1 and 2, a lot of improvising made it into the show, particularly in scenes involving Jennifer Coolidge. Both Haley Lu Richardson and Natasha Rothwell said they had improvised scenes with Jennifer, too, with Natasha saying it was a dream to get to a comedic performance alongside her.

3. In Wednesday Season 1, Episode 4, Wednesday's viral dance to "Goo Goo Muck" was something Jenna Ortega came up with herself, meaning it wasn't choreographed prior to filming. "I choreographed that myself, and I think it's very obvious that I'm not a dancer or choreographer," Jenna said.

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In an interview on The Tonight Show, Jenna explained even further how the dance came about, saying about a week before filming, Tim Burton asked if she was ready and had prepared anything, and at the time, she "had not gone over it at all." Jenna added that she "didn't sleep for two days" leading up to filming; she watched a ton of videos, and then on the day she just did it.

"I knew there were certain things I wanted to do," Jenna said when referencing how she purposefully paid tribute to Lisa Loring, who played Wednesday in the 1960s TV show.

4. In The Bear Season 2, Episode 6, Jon Bernthal improvised Mikey's table flip at the end of the episode, which happens after Mikey throws yet another fork at Uncle Lee, who is played by Bob Odenkirk.

Hulu / FX

Jon said he was given the "green light" by series creator Christopher Storer to flip the table because he wanted to "go crazy" during at least one take but knew how "meticulously laid out" the table and set were.

5. In Euphoria Season 2, Episode 5, when Rue and her mom fight after her mom finds the drugs hidden in her room, the fight was improvised by Zendaya and Nika King. "[The script] said one line [of stage direction]: 'Rue and her mom have a fight.'" Zendaya recalled.

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"So I'm thinking, okay, I'll slam the door, or whatever, but this isn't what Sam [Levinson] had in mind," Zendaya recalled. "He wanted us to improv the scene. He said, 'I want you guys to go at one another's necks. Just go as hard as you want to go. If she goes hard, you go harder.'"

Zendaya said that because she's a "very calm person who doesn't argue," she found the scene challenging because she would "never say" those kinds of things to a parent or anyone. She added,  "So, having to put myself in that kind of situation and say and do those things, that was one day when I felt sick. I was like, I was going to vomit; I was lightheaded."

6. In Abbott Elementary Season 1, Episode 11, when Barbara exclaims, "Sweet baby Jesus, and the grown one too," it was something Sheryl Lee Ralph said while filming, and it wasn't scripted that way. It was one of the few times an improvised moment made it into the show.

ABC

Talking about filming the scene, Sheryl explained she had performed the line "five times" while filming where they had her say "Sweet baby Jesus" a few different ways. On the final time, Sheryl said she was asked to do it however she wanted, and she said, "Sweet baby, Jesus, and the grown one too."

Sheryl added, "That literally is something that my friend Norman and I are always saying. Norman and I will be up there working on something, and I'll say, 'Oh. Sweet Baby Jesus," and he says, "And the grown one too." It's just something we always say, and when I was given the opportunity, I just said it."

7. In Succession Season 4, Episode 3, when Shiv, Roman, and Kendall hug following Shiv's press conference announcing Logan's death, the hug was not in the original script, but rather something Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, and Jeremy Strong instinctually did while filming.

HBO

Director Mark Mylod explained that several moments from this monumental episode were unscripted, including the three-way hug, the awkward hug between Roman and Connor, and Kendall trying to find Shiv at the wedding to tell her about Logan. 

Mark added, "When Jeremy went downstairs to find Sarah, he didn’t know where Sarah was, so he had to look for her. It seems quite petty, but when you get into the edit, you get the sense of those characters discovering the moment as [they] go."

8. In House of the Dragon Season 1, Episode 8, when Viserys walks to his throne in order to back Rhaenyra and Daemon's claim that their son, Lucerys, should be Lord Corlys' heir, the moment when his crown falls off his head, and Daemon helps him was unscripted. The little moment happened during rehearsal, and they ended up adding it into the final episode.

HBO

Episode 8 director Geeta Patel explained Paddy Considine and Matt Smith creating this heartbreaking and brilliant moment, saying, "When we were shooting that — I think the rehearsal again, the first day — the crown fell off of Paddy's head and Matt picked it up and we just kept going. We didn't stop [filming]. There was a discovery there of this moment. So then the three of us got together, and they were like, 'We felt this. This felt like the turning point in our relationship.' It's just a silent moment."

9. In The Haunting of Hill House Episode 8, Nell popping out from the backseat of the car was written in the script. However, Kate Siegel and Elizabeth Reaser didn't know exactly when it would happen. So, you can see their genuine reactions in the final cut.

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Creator Mike Flanagan explained, "The girls had another half page of dialogue to go through as written, and so Elizabeth and Kate were just in the scene and they knew they had another half page of words to get through before Victoria [Pedretti] would appear, and she just bolted upright in the middle of their lines, and so their reaction is completely genuine."

Mike added, "It also scared the shit out of all of us at the monitor."

10. In The Last of Us Season 1, Episode 6, when Joel gives his emotional monologue to Tommy about his fear of failing Ellie, Pedro Pascal added in one of the most heartbreaking lines. "'All I know is that when I wake up, I know I've lost something,' that was something from Pedro directly," showrunner Neil Druckmann revealed.

HBO

Showrunner Craig Mazin added, "That notion that when you wake up, you just have a feeling that you've lost something. It's so beautiful, and it's so confessional. And this is not at all like something we saw from Joel in the game. This is different. This is sadder, I think. It's a little more broken down, and it's a little more upsetting."

Director Jasmila Žbanić, who directed this episode, also told Variety, "[Pedro and Gabriel] would be reading it, act, repeat, and trying different stuff. They also suggested some changes, so it was very deep for both of them in each scene. It was so beautiful because it's a very long scene in the shoe shop."

11. In Dead to Me Season 1, Episode 4, Judy and Jen's entire conversation about Steve's penis was unscripted, and something Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini came up with at the moment. It's creator Liz Feldman's favorite improv moment in the show, and it made her realize they needed to factor in time during filming so Linda and Christina could do takes where they just improvised.

Netflix

In an interview with BuzzFeed, Liz elaborated, saying, "I feel like in one take they didn't quite get a line right, but then they ended up starting to talk about his penis. It was so funny and not something I would ever have written, you know? It was just so funny that I said, 'Okay, take the scene up to that point. Do it as it is on the page, but then just start talking about his penis.' They just riffed on his penis, and it was so funny because it felt so real. It felt like two friends."

12. In Fleabag Season 2, Episode 6, Phoebe Waller-Bridge originally didn't have the Priest telling Fleabag he loves her too. However, Andrew Scott arrived on set for filming determined to get a take where the Priest says it back. He felt so strongly about it that it was the take they ended up using.

Prime Video

Phoebe explained, "It was meant to be [Fleabag saying] ‘I love you’ [and the Priest responding], 'It will pass,' but I wasn't sure if he should say it, too. Andrew came, and he was like, 'I'm saying it.' Basically, like, 'I'm not giving you another option because I have to say it.' You know when an actor feels that strongly about something, and they're right? Especially someone like Andrew, and he had a huge input into the whole thing, but I actually think the clincher of the whole thing is that he says it. He was so right, and we have him to thank for that."

13. In Bridgerton Season 2, Episode 3, when the Bridgertons and Sharmas play the iconic (and ruthless) game of Pall-Mall, the game itself was improvised by the actors on set. "We just set up in a certain shot, and it was all improvised. It was a really fun moment to go, 'Let's just have a real game and just get really competitive,'" Luke Newton explained.

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Bridgerton writer and showrunner Chris Van Dusen told BuzzFeed, "At a certain point when we were filming that sequence, we set up the cameras and let the actors play and say whatever they wanted to say. Honestly, that was the first and only time there's been improvisation on set, and we even used some of it!"

14. In Hawkeye Episode 5, Yelena insulting Kate's cutlery after she breaks into her apartment and makes macaroni and cheese, wasn't in the original script. The hilarious line was something Florence Pugh came up with on set, so Hailee Steinfeld's reaction is genuine.

Marvel / Disney+

In an interview with BuzzFeed, director Bertie explained, "When they were rehearsing, Florence was like, 'I'll need to get some implements. So, we'll go over here.' She picked it up and just went, 'There's one fork! There's only one fork!' So, that's where that dialogue came from."

While the props team searched for other forks, they added Florence's hilarious reaction to the scene between Yelena and Kate. Bertie added, "It was perfect, and it all went into the script, and we came out with this hilarious Yelena and Kate scene. Florence and Hailee are just so relaxed with each other that Hailee could come out with the 'I'm one person' line as response to Florence running with the cutlery joke. It was funny but also very Kate."

15. In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 2, when Bucky and Sam go to therapy together, a large amount of the scene was unscripted, so it was simply Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan playing off of each other.

Marvel / Disney+

Amy Aquino, who played Bucky's therapist, explained that they knew "the shape of the scene" and "what they needed to do and eventually get to," but director Kari Skogland let them just have fun.

She said, "There was no way to completely do it according to a script. So that was largely improv. Not the beginning and the end of it, we had to start where we started, and we had to get to where we got with the point that I intervene, but everything in between, that was them. That was all these years of their relationship."

16. In Heartstopper Season 2, Episode 1, when we see Charlie and Nick just being boyfriends and the adorable early days of their relationship, Charlie losing then messing up Nick's hair was unscripted. So, Kit Connor's reaction was genuine.

Netflix

Director Euros Lyn said, "We improvise lots of these things with the actors, and when we decided to do that, I whispered it to Joe, and we didn't tell Kit it was going to happen. So, that reaction that you see on screen is completely genuine. Kit's going, 'What the hell?! You're doing this to me when I'm on television?!' That sense of fun was really important and really key for that sequence."

According to creator Alice Oseman, many small moments between the couples in Heartstopper are actually improvised because they want those moments to "feel real and spontaneous."

17. And finally, in This Is Us Season 1, Episode 16, Randall and William's conversation when they go to a barber shop in Memphis was unscripted. Sterling K. Brown and Ron Cephas Jones simply talked about their memories of their first haircuts in real life.

NBC

The story William tells about his first haircut was something William also mentioned earlier in Season 1, too.