Annaleigh Ashford Brings Comedy To 'B Positive' With A Side Of Giving

(CBS) - B Positive is going a new direction in season two with the focus shifting to Gina (Annaleigh Ashford) as she takes over the assisted living facility she works at thanks to a large inheritance.

CBS' Matt Weiss spoke to Ashford about her new role on the show, new castmates and B Positive's message of giving.

MW- Hello Annaleigh, nice to see you again! B Positive is in the midst of its second season now and congratulations on that. How's it feel to be back?

AA- Oh my gosh, we are so grateful to be back at it. It's just been such a gift to return with all these incredible actors telling these magical stories.

MW- The show has taken a bit of a shift in season two. What are you most excited about for B Positive 2.0?

AA- Yeah, the show at its core, it's always been about the act of giving. In the first season I gave my kidney to an old friend from high school and everything went beautifully and then the second season I want to keep that giving going.

That really gave my life purpose and direction and at the start of our story this year I inherit a large sum of money from a resident who lives at the assisted living facility that I work at. I want to keep that giving going so I decided to buy the assisted living facility. Now the hope is to make the lives of the people who live there better.

MW- And along with that there's a whole new cast of characters. What's it been like welcoming them into the family?

AA- Oh, just a dream come true! Working with all of these incredible talents who are not only my friends now but have been idols of mine for my life as an actor. We have Linda Lavin coming back, Héctor Elizondo, Jane Seymour, Jim Beaver, Maria Horsford, Priscilla Lopez, I mean the list just goes on and on.

MW- That theme of giving was such a big part of season one like you said and now seems to be a major factor again in season two. How much does it mean to you on a personal level to put that message out there?

AA- You know, being on a comedy is always a blast for us as actors. We love to make people laugh and it makes us feel good, makes us feel like we're making the world a better place. There's always something even better, I think, when there's a message behind that.

For that to be the core of our show, I think is not only timely and relevant, but I also think it was just a great reminder every week. If you can give a little it's probably going to make you feel even better than the person who's receiving.

MW- And we'll see more of that tonight in a brand-new episode, what do we have in store for us?

AA- So tonight, we're gonna dive deeper into the world of these incredible residents at the assisted living facility and what their life looks like. Norma's contemplating getting a hip replacement and how she doesn't want to go under and how people at that age have such a great fear of going under. Then Héctor Elizondo, his character's losing his wife, played by Priscilla Lopez, to a terminal cancer diagnosis and now they're struggling with that.

Then my character, Gina, sees an old boyfriend out with a girl for the first time and decides to have a couple cocktails and cry on her old friend Drew's shoulder. Then while she's crying on his shoulder she realizes that she thinks he smells pretty good and so things get awkward from there.

MW- Thank you so much for the time Annaleigh, always a pleasure and all the best moving forward!

AA- Thank you, have a good one! Take care.

B Positive airs Thursdays at 9:30PM ET/PT on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. Check your local listings for more information.