Questions continue to swirl about whether HBO's The Rehearsal is real, but that question could be missing out on what the show is trying to accomplish. The premise is that Fielder helps participants practice real-life confrontations they're nervous about, but that setup doesn't last long. The Rehearsal introduces Angela, a devout Christian who wants to rehearse being a parent with the right father. After failing to find a match for her, Fielder offers to help be the "pretend dad" in Angela's practice. The show brings in a rotating group of child actors to help immerse Angela in the experience.

Angela quits The Rehearsal at the end of the penultimate episode, citing creative differences with Fielder. One of the child actors grows an attachment to Fielder and believes the comedian is his real father. Even Fielder himself begins to wonder about the point of his entire show, but one reading makes the case that it's a fairly unique spin on an otherwise familiar TV trope: the initially likable protagonist goes too far, pushes boundaries, and hurts people to achieve his goals. With season 2 premiering April 20, 2025, it opens up questions about how far Nathan Fielder will take things.

What Makes Nathan Fielder An Anti-Hero In The Rehearsal

Fielder Often Takes It Too Far

In The Rehearsal season 1, episode 1, "Orange Juice, No Pulp," Nathan Fielder helps a participant come clean to a friend about a lie they've been telling. Fielder goes to great lengths to accomplish this. He builds replica sets, hires extras, and stages circumstances perfectly. Viewers are promised, implicitly, that every subsequent episode will follow roughly the same template of an amiable and inventive Fielder going hilariously big to fix a relatively small problem, but that's not what happens.

Instead, Fielder loses himself in Angela's parental rehearsals. Initially, he's frustrated because Angela's practice doesn't seem to be going as smoothly as fixing a small lie between friends. Fielder doesn't seem to appreciate that parenting and a relationship aren't things that can be mastered through the magic of television and a crafty crew working with the resources that come with a prestige HBO show. Whenever Fielder encounters even a minor inconvenience, he endeavors to rehearse it until he feels he's gotten it right.

The Rehearsal becomes increasingly about what Fielder wants. He says that Angela isn't taking the parental practice seriously enough and routinely breaks character. She leaves because she feels that her rehearsal is no longer about her. It isn't, to be fair, but it does show how deep Fielder goes to prove that his method of practice can be applied to everything.

Fielder ultimately uses the child's confusion and sadness as the basis of one last rehearsal to give himself a false sense of resolution.

The Rehearsal season 1 finale, "Pretend Daddy," demonstrates that the practice has worked too well in one specific case. A six-year-old child actor named Remy grows attached to Fielder during their time rehearsing together. The fatherless Remy is distraught that his role in the HBO TV show is over and clearly doesn't understand the difference between acting and reality. Though he tries to cheer Remy up, even talking to the boy's mom and visiting his home, Fielder ultimately uses the child's confusion and sadness as the basis of one last rehearsal to give himself a false sense of resolution.

How The Rehearsal Mirrors Other Anti-Hero Prestige Shows

Fielder Doesn't Quite Change His Ways

By the end of the season, Fielder realizes that what he's doing is wrong. He feels bad about it, and questions himself and his tactics. He takes healthy steps to fix his mistakes, such as when he visits Remy. In the end, Fielder again retreats back into the false world that he's devised. He goes back to his rehearsals, even knowing the damage that it has caused, not wanting to stop even if it means hurting others.

Fielder could well be asking the audience how much they would enjoy an ingenious and obsessive antihero once the trappings of prestige drama are removed and the stakes are more real, and, indeed, that final reveal in The Rehearsal divided audiences. Some believe that utilizing Remy's sadness for one last twist is a step too far given that the child can't reasonably consent to being filmed and might not grasp the meta concept of his role. Others argue that Fielder is acknowledging and interrogating the faultiness of his own work and that the experimental HBO series shouldn't be taken at face value.

Fielder could well be asking the audience how much they would enjoy an ingenious and obsessive antihero once the trappings of prestige drama are removed and the stakes are more real.

The Rehearsal questions Fielder all the way through. Angela confronts him about his lies, and one actress calls out the entire conceit. She asks if the idea is for the audience to laugh at participants like Angela. Is it worth the damage it causes to other participants, like Remy? These questions are no different from how Breaking Bad and The Sopranos utilize an interesting main character and a clever premise to then slowly pick and prod viewers, leaving them to debate among themselves.

Fielder changes it up. He fuses reality television with scripted comedy to create one of the funniest and most bizarre shows in years. On a fundamental level, though, the story tracks and critiques the flawed protagonist who ends the first season by leaning even harder into his destructive habits, which will be interesting to see play out in The Rehearsal season 2.

Nathan Fielder's Antics Are The Key To The Show, Regardless If It's Real Or Not

Actual Authenticity Isn't The Key To The Rehearsal

It doesn't seem like there will ever be a conclusive answer to whether The Rehearsal is real or not, even as the premise of the show itself causes the lines to blur. That's not the point of the show, though, and not why viewers tune in to see The Rehearsal each week on HBO. Nathan Fielder's antics are the driving force behind the enjoyment of the entire series. Watching him do what he does throughout is why it actually works so well, and the idea of how much of The Rehearsal is real or not doesn't matter.

As The Rehearsal continues to evolve over more seasons, it is possible that Nathan Fielder will take the series in one direction or the other, focusing more on the authenticity of it all, or going into complete fiction. Either way, the premiere of The Rehearsal season 2 sees Nathan Fielder returning to his usual antics, as the series continues to be one of the most interesting, offbeat comedies on television.