The Running Point actress of the the sports comedy that reflects on female leadership, power, and the industry talks about her passion for reading
The second season of Running Point has already become the most-watched show on Netflix just one week after its release. Starring Kate Hudson and written by Mindy Kaling, the series is at a key moment in solidifying its identity as a successful comedy that combines sports, power, and family.
By diving deeper into the emotional and professional chaos of a family trying to maintain control of a Los Angeles basketball team, loosely inspired by the Los Angeles Lakers, within a highly competitive environment, Running Point has become a hit among younger audiences.
At the center of it all is Isla Gordon, played by Kate Hudson, a woman who must make her way in a world historically dominated by men. The new season expands on the internal tensions, especially when it comes to sibling rivalry. That rivalry adds humor while also taking a deeper look at what brotherly loyalty represents. Every confrontation reveals family wounds, ego clashes, and the difficulty of separating personal life from professional life.
The sports setting raises the tension because the only thing that matters is winning at all costs, and that turns every decision into a constant source of conflict within the narrative. In this context, Isla must prove her leadership abilities in a male-dominated environment where women are often underestimated. The season reinforces the idea that female leadership is still a work in progress.
For Kate Hudson, this project represents a turning point in her career. After her first Oscar nomination, her career has entered a new stage of renewed recognition. This peak moment is reflected in her performance, which is more confident, more physical, and more nuanced. Running Point grows as a series alongside the artistic growth of its lead actress. The actress confessed her passion for reading and reading Spanish authors. Her favorite book is 100 Years of Solitude from Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The epic magical realism novel is her personal "starter pack" of cultural works. When discussing the books and stories that shaped her life, she highlights Márquez's sweeping, multi-generational saga as a truly formative and memorable read.
Q: You have said you are a passionate reader… Is that true?
A: I love to read, I really, really love to read, but I grew up a very, very slow reader, and then found out later in life that I was ADD, and then really relearned how to read fast, and now I just can't stop reading. So, the bulk of what I really have read started, like, in my late 20s.
Q: And you love Spanish authors?
A: Yes. I love Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It took me so long to read his book, but I was so determined to read it because I loved it so much. It's about family and lineage. You know, you go back and forth with all of these different characters. But I loved it and I fell in love with this author's writing, and it inspired me to want to read as much as possible, and it was One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He is an inspiration for me. I had personal struggles or familial situations that were challenging. The book helped me to understand humanity and family relationships.
Q: Have you ever been to Spain?
A: Many times. I’m going to shoot a movie now with Javier Bardem. I love Spanish culture.
Q: Why do you think audiences love watching families try to run businesses together?
A: I mean, right, they say don’t get into business with your family. But I think there’s a big percentage, like some crazy percentage that, like, 80 percent or 86 percent of people get into the family business. Which makes me think that part of that means that people either get into it, take over, you know. And obviously that’s a long tradition that- that’s probably, you know, hundreds of years old that we carry on our family legacy. Um, so I think there’s something innate that we all know that running or trying to create business with family, um, if you can get it right, is incredibly powerful, almost untouchable. Um, but it can go horribly wrong. It can be the worst possible decision to make. But really, I think that’s a great question, because the truth is that- we’re almost built to be in a family business. Maybe that’s why people really enjoy our show because they feel like it is something that they relate to.
Q: What do you share with Isla as she struggles to stay competitive in the boardroom and how you’ve navigated your own career as an actress?
A: Oh, again, that’s a great question because I’ve never felt like for me, the industry I’m in, acting, storytelling, I mean, I've never been competitive. It’s never been something that does appeal to me. Art is an impossible place to be competitive and you just have to be so focused on what you’re trying to do or what you want to be able to do. Whereas sports are like the exact opposite, you know. it’s as cut as it is. I mean, if you don’t have that competitive spirit, it might be hard to be in that industry. I feel like the competitive nature of the studios in our business is interesting in that way. I think the most counterintuitive thing you could do in Hollywood is be competitive. And yet the best thing you could do in a sport is be competitive. It’s pretty linear, the thing that I do see is the dysfunction. People yelling at each other trying to get things done, trying to get things moving, high stakes, lots of money. Like, you can see that parallel, but, um, definitely not the competitive side.
Q: How has the series enlightened you about women in the corporate world and the roles they need to play or adapt to just survive?
A: This is an old question. We’ve been talking about this. We could do an entire panel on that question, you know. We could do a whole weekend retreat on that question. There’s so many things that go into it and it’s very complex. The reality is, only a few women have really had high-powered positions if you think about, you know, how many years that just humans have been on this planet, let alone, you know, women being able to vote. In America we’re still very young. You know, women in high-powered positions that are making decisions that affect big industry or, you know, banks or corporations, uh, Hollywood, uh, magazines, publishing houses. All these things are quite new. So to be underestimated, it’s kind of normal, not only is it about being underestimated from the outside, possibly, if that’s the case. It’s also about having the courage to push forward. It still takes a lot of courage and bravery to put yourself out there and risk rejection, which I think a lot of women risk all the time. A lot of women sit in a place where they put themselves out there and they’re just as good as their counterpart, a colleague who might be male and they don’t get that position, and I think the courage alone, we’re still finding that. And I think it’s a great thing to talk about this with women. Some women get nervous about speaking my truth , and I think that’s a big part of that conversation. I have this theory. My theory is that women will only have equality when female generational wealth is equal. At the end of day, like, everything moves with money. We don’t want it to be that way, but it’s how it works, right? And the more we women who are in positions of having the means to be able to distribute, we will have much more equality in how things are run. And we’re still just chugging along trying to get there. Walking- stepping on that ladder and trying to get there. It’s a journey.
Q: Who were your role models growing up?
A: Well, we gotta start with Mommy. She’s number one, of course. I mean, I couldn’t have had a better role model for someone who is not only, like, in her, like, divinely feminine power but also has a strong, you know, masculine energy that gets things done, that fights the good fight. You know, she was incredibly ambitious in getting the movies that she wanted to get made and producing them and she was the first female producer that starred in her own movies and got things done like that, so for me growing up, I mean, if that isn’t a role model to, like, you know, follow in those footsteps. Or it could be intimidating, but I’ve never felt that way because that’s now how my mom raised any of us.
By María Estévez
Correspondent writer
