Cush Jumbo may be best known for her work as Lucca on “The Good Wife” and its spinoff “The Good Fight,” but now she’s branching out beyond acting.
Jumbo made her podcast hosting debut earlier this month with the launch of Sony’s “Origins with Cush Jumbo.” Each episode features Jumbo interviewing a bold-faced name about three experiences that have had a significant impact on their lives.
Her first guest was none other than Anna Wintour. Jumbo tells me on this week’s “Just for Variety” podcast, “I ed her and said, ‘I’m doing a podcast about really inspirational people that I love who are made up of wibbly wobbly jigsaw pieces and these origin stories. I’m not doing a career trajectory podcast. I’m not doing a, how-I-got-there and how-you-can-get-there-too podcast.’ You’d be surprised what this person’s origin stories are and how looking back at them, they make sense now.’”
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Additional guests have been “Bridgerton” star Golda Rosheuvel and model-actress Poppy Delevingne. Coming up is Jumbo’s “Good Wife” co-star JuliannaMargulies. “Jules became one of my best friends after we worked together,” says Jumbo, who currently stars on Apple TV+’s “Criminal Record” with Peter Capaldi. “We only did that last season together, but we really had created a bond on the show. She was such a good mentor and so inspirational to me in many, many ways. I think I learned a lot about looking after people, and being a leader, and stuff like that.”
Jumbo says she didn’t ask Margulies about the recent backlash she received for comments she made around the Israel-Hamas war that were perceived by critics as racist and transphobic. “It’s not in my interest to ask anybody to come on and feel uncomfortable,” she explains. “And it just never came up as a thing. And personally, I didn’t feel like it was something I wanted to approach in questioning, because I know Julianna really well. I know her heart. I know who she is. I know what the miscommunication was. I know what the context was. So, it wasn’t of interest to me, to be honest.”
Jumbo also reveals it took her some time to overcome the end of “The Good Fight” because the COVID-19 pandemic put an unexpected end to the cast and crew filming together. “I did a final episode, but it was in London,” remembers Jumbo, who begins to tear up. “The same day they told us to leave the set, they said, ‘You’re going to be back in three weeks.’ I never went back. In fact, I went back to pack up my stuff and leave. And I really suffered with that for a while because I’d spent years with this woman. I had a permanent desk with her stuff. I knew where all her pens were. I knew where her work was. I knew where her costumes were. I lived in that building. I had my son there. I was pregnant as her. And then in 20 minutes, she was done. I actually felt for a while like I’d abandoned her in the building. It still makes me quite upset.”
The pain had been so heavy she never contemplated playing Lucca again. To move on, Jumbo wrote a letter to Lucca and watched the complete “The Good Fight” series, something she never had the time to do while the show was being shot. “I think I’d love to do it with Jules again,” she now says. “I’d love Alicia and Lucca to be back together.”
You can listen to the full interview with Jumbo above or find “Just for Variety” wherever you download your favorite podcasts.
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