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Production designer Patrick Howe joined “Only Murders in the Building” in Season 2, but there’s a very good reason he felt right at home. “I looked at the art department and went, ‘Oh, my God, I have worked with every single person in this art department except the production designer,'” Howe tells Gold Derby (watch the exclusive video interview above). “Somehow I had heard that everybody wanted to return, which is a good sign. That means you had to have had fun or there was something you loved about it if you wanted to go at it again because all Season 1s are really difficult to pull off.”

Much like how subsequent seasons of a series delve deeper into characters, Season 2 of the Hulu murder mystery reveals a whole lot more about the Arconia. Howe and his team, including set decorator Rich Murray, had to design secret passageways, hidden elevators and previously unseen apartments,...

When you take a bite of seven-layer dip — a recipe slightly more elaborate, though nonetheless desirable, than what Martin Short’s condiment-craving character, Oliver Putnam, constantly consumes throughout “Only Murders in the Building” — the desired outcome stems from simple addition: Each ingredient, or layer, compliments the next, combining to create a delicious treat, albeit one of such density to test the rigidity of any chip. While Oliver is happy to subsist on lighter toppings like Tzatziki and hummus, a seven-layer dip could reasonably be considered a meal. And even if it’s not the main course, even if Tostitos-wielding noshers only consume a few scoops or hone in on two or three flavors — carving out the beans and guac, while avoiding the olives and onions — they’re typically content with the snack, considering its versatility, its depth, its wide-ranging appeal.

Comparing a professionally made, award-winning TV series like “Only Murders in the Building...

“Steve Martin had the idea so I knew there was comedy gold in it somewhere,” says “Only Murders in the Building” showrunner John Hoffman on the show’s premise, which both honors and spoofs true crime podcasts. Hoffman was approached by Martin and executive producers Dan Fogelman and Jess Rosenthal to join the Hulu series, and they quickly dug into the question of how to make the murder mystery genre feel new. “How do we make the classic meet modern?,” they collectively wondered, and the answer was largely in the intergenerational casting of Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez. Watch our exclusive video interview above.

Hoffman has experience writing for legendary comedic duos: he executive produces and writes for Netflix’s “Grace and Frankie,” which stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. “I don’t know what star I fell under,” he says of his good fortune in working with not only Fonda and Tomlin,...