Natasha Rothwell doesn’t want your pity. She just wants your attention. The writer, comedian, and scene-stealer from Insecure and White Lotus has now created, starred in, and soul-bared her way through How to Die Alone, a Hulu series that walks the tightrope between devastating and hilarious.
She plays Mel, a TSA agent at JFK who’s never been in love, is painfully stuck, and only starts living after a near-death experience. The premise sounds like the beginning of a rom-com, but that’s exactly what Rothwell is subverting.
“This show is about exploring the difference between being alone and being lonely,” she says. “I grew up on rom-coms. I thought the only way to fix loneliness was to find a man. That’s what the movies told us.”
Instead, the show—eight episodes of deeply awkward, unexpectedly moving chaos—centers on the love you don’t usually see elevated: platonic love, chosen family, love of self.
“I was blinded to the love that already existed in my life,” Rothwell says. “This show was a way of flipping the script. Of reminding people that being the hero of your own story isn’t just a nice idea. It’s a necessity.”
It also took forever. Rothwell first started developing the idea back in 2016. “I was given every opportunity to give up,” she laughs. “But something in me knew this was going to be healing. Not career-wise—personally. This was going to change me.”
The show is sharply written, fast-paced, and deeply sincere—without ever losing its grip on humor.
“There’s a Stephen Spielberg quote I love: ‘If you can make them laugh, they’ll trust you to cry.’ That’s how I write,” Rothwell says. “Life is bonkers. You’ve got to laugh at the absurdity before you can deal with the heartbreak.”
And laugh you do. The show is loaded with observational zingers and background weirdness. The supporting cast—including the always-welcome H. Jon Benjamin—are both grounded and just left-of-center enough to match the show’s vibe.
So is the soundtrack. “I’m genre agnostic,” Rothwell says. “You’ll hear Band of Horses and Sly and the Family Stone and White Snake. We let the scene dictate the music.” She credits music supervisor Kier Lehman as her “partner in crime,” trading playlists and geeking out over which song belongs where.
The karaoke scenes were personal. “I was in a karaoke league in New York,” she admits. “It was a passion. It’s cathartic! It’s like feeling like a rock star in a world that rarely lets you feel that way.”
The series also incorporates documentary-style testimonials from real New Yorkers, stopping to talk about love, loss, and what it means to be alone in a city of millions.
“I had to fight for those,” Rothwell says. “It’s unconventional, but I wanted to slow things down and show that every person on the street has a story. I love real people telling their truth. That stuff hits.”
And then there’s The White Lotus. Rothwell’s character, spa manager Belinda, returns for Season 3, though she can’t say much. “I’ve literally been shaken down for spoilers,” she says. “But I will say—this season is going to blow your socks off.”
That show, like How to Die Alone, dances with themes of death, longing, and quiet desperation—albeit in very different tones. “Belinda and Mel both work in service jobs,” Rothwell notes. “They both get overlooked. They’re both seeking something.”
Ultimately, Rothwell says, her mission is to give voice to the marginalized, the messy, the characters who usually exist just outside the frame.
“I love writing people who feel real,” she says. “Because we’re all ridiculous. And complicated. And worthy of love—even if we never find the movie version of it.”
It’s a mission that took years to manifest. But it was worth the wait.
Watch the interview above and then check out the trailer below.
