5 Things You Don’t Know About Weeds

Kevin Nealon and the show’s creator cut through the smoke of Showtime’s highest-rated sitcom.

As Weeds’ third season ended, Nancy Botwin’s (Mary-Louise Parker) career as a pot-dealing soccer mom went up in flames, as wildfires chased her family out of cannabis-loving suburb Agrestic. What happens in season four? We asked series creator Jenji Kohan, executive producer Roberto Benabib, and star Kevin Nealon for  some inside scoop.

Goodbye, agrestic. Hello, Mexico!
“This season’s theme is change,” says Kohan. Adds Benabib, “We’re relocating to a beach community near the Mexican border, dealing with immigration and border security.”

Ganja isn’t the show’s only temptation.
“Doug (Nealon) and Andy (Justin Kirk) meet an illegal Mexican girl and fight over her,” Benabib says. The jury’s out as to whether she’ll be as tempting as Mary-Kate Olsen’s herb- and God- loving hippie, Tara, was in season three.

Nancy gets even deeper into the game.
The new setting pushes our heroine into an even “more dangerous side of the biz.” We suspect smuggling, though Benabib won’t confirm. “Let’s just say Nancy will be drifting into uncharted waters,” he says. “It’s frightening.”

The actors don’t actually toke up…
“During the pilot, I had to smoke tons of weed—actually a honey rose herb,” Nealon says. “I couldn’t believe I’d probably given myself lung cancer for a silly Showtime pilot that might not get picked up.”

…or maybe they do.
“During one scene in season two,” Nealon continues, “Justin and I smoked so much honey rose herb we became lightheaded and were barely able to stand. Hmm, maybe it wasn’t honey rose herb after all.”

Weeds isn’t the only show worth watching this summer. Check out our Summer TV Preview