[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Running Point Season 1.]

Running Point may have been marketed as an underdog tale about Isla Gordon (Kate Hudson), a woman who finds herself in charge of a basketball dynasty after her eldest brother lands himself in legal hot water, but at its core, the comedy is about the forming of a new family.

Introduced as a hawker working in the Gordon family’s basketball arena, Jackie (Fabrizio Guido) quickly discovers that he’s part of the sports dynasty himself. The will of Jackie’s late mother reveals he’s the illegitimate son of the deceased Gordon family patriarch. After learning that they have a brother they never knew about, Isla, Sandy (Drew Tarver), and Ness (Scott MacArthur) welcome Jackie with open arms, but eldest sibling Cam (Justin Theroux) is rather resistant to the new addition.

Initially, the Gordon family’s lawyer who represents their Los Angeles-based basketball team known as the Waves, advised that the Gordons paid off Jackie to maintain his silence and cut ties, but Isla, Sandy, and Ness are all so easily won over by the young man who quickly becomes the heart of the series, and in turn, is embraced by them.

But unlike his wealthy siblings, Jackie is all new to the finer things in life, even if he’s working as Isla’s assistant by the season’s end, leading to some blunders along the way. One such blunder is his fumbling of romance with Waves dancer Sofia (Melissa Reyes), which is disrupted when he decides to pursue women with more calculated motives than he initially perceives. Jackie’s naivety works against him at times, but his humble beginnings serve to transform his siblings as they watch him experience the grief of losing his mother.

Below, Guido opens up about being the heart of the Gordon family’s story this season, shares Season 2 hopes, and more.

What about the role appealed to you?

Fabrizio Guido: Yeah, you see a little bit of a rags-to-riches story with Jackie and I thought that was interesting in how a young kid might handle that, on top of Jackie’s background and family dynamic. It was not only transitioning from a different job but also coming into a whole new family and how that might affect a person. I thought Jackie had such a heart and was really going to bring kindness to what this team and this family needed in that moment. I was just super excited. I fell in love with Jackie. I found so many similarities between Jackie and myself.

Jackie’s bond with the siblings grows over the season. What was it like building that dynamic with Kate Hudson, Drew Tarver, and Scott McArthur?

You start to see that it’s not only [Isla] proving herself, but her being in that position forces all these other characters to have to kind of pull their own weight in the same way that Kate sets the tone on the set of just being this lovely human being and showing up every day super enthusiastic, there’s nothing but good vibes. They’re super open to talking. I’m amazed every time I’m with Kate because she’ll be going into these stories and she has so much life experience that I honestly just love to listen — all of them, Scotty, and Drew — they all have so much to say. I found myself many times just listening in on their conversations and appreciating those moments. That being said, we would definitely carve out time to joke around in between takes, and these are some extremely funny people to be around. I love ’em.

If the show returns for Season 2, would you like to see the siblings step up for Jackie in the same way he did for them this past season?

I know at the core that Jackie has really good intentions and sometimes you only have your loyalty to offer kindness, not everything has an ulterior motive, and I think that the siblings come from a world where there’s a lot of ulterior motives. It can create a kind of hardened person in a different way. Aside from the loss and grief that Jackie’s dealing with, he’s still a young person in development. Jackie’s still a young kid becoming himself, his brain is still being molded. He’s still being influenced, and it kind of points a mirror to the other siblings to see the youngest person see their world and them having to step in and be protective at some points. I think it’d be great if our family dynamic continued to be one of all of us kind of growing together.

Jackie makes a connection with Waves dancer Sofia, but he fumbles it a bit. Do you think there is hope for them in the future?

I think Jackie’s a little bit of a hopeless romantic when it comes to someone that he genuinely has that love for. I think that he finds similarities with Sofia and it’s very easy for Jackie to connect with Sofia at an emotional level. So I think there will always be that hope on Jackie’s part.

As you mentioned, Jackie is mourning the loss of his mom over the season. How do you think his siblings’ moms might react to him as we have yet to meet those characters?

I think it makes for some great opportunities to bring in awesome talent. Honestly, I don’t know who they would have in mind yet or if they would even want to bring that in, but I’m not opposed to it. I’d love to see that ad to the family dynamic of it all. And accepting Jackie in that sense just continues to complicate and add to the dysfunction that’s going on in the family.

If Jackie’s the heart of the show, then Cam has the be the opposite of that. Do you think there’s a world in which those brothers can meet in the middle and connect?

I’d like to think that naturally, the other siblings are going to have to step in and be a voice for Jackie in that sense and establish that respect. You’re definitely right. We are at opposite ends. That in itself I think would be super, super interesting. But yeah, I think it does live on [Isla]’s plate, not only getting back to the position she may want to be in, not only keeping the team together but keeping this family together.

Running Point, Season 1, Streaming now, Netflix

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