Broad City has built itself around the close chemistry of its leads, which hovers between friendship and something more — especially on the side of Ilana, who is open about her feelings for Abbi. But at the Tribeca Tune In: Broad City event, a part of the Tribeca Film Festival, on Sunday, show creators Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer dispelled the idea that their characters would ever hook up, even though everyone keeps asking. Moderator Kelly Ripa, who appeared on the show in season two, asked Jacobson and Glazer to explain how they perceive the dynamic and whether Abbi and Ilana would ever get married, in real life or on the show. Their response:
Glazer: We’ve been getting asked a lot lately, like, Are they gonna fuck? over and over again. So much lately, right?
Jacobson: It’s, like, coming up.
Glazer: But I think that we cover — I think that they are married already in the way that they need to be right now. I think, also, I’m pretty sure they’re not going to hook up because it’s just Ilana’s love of Abbi is just that part of friendship that we all experience, right? I think it’s just an aspect of their friendship that will always be there.
Jacobson: Yeah, something about that would ruin — I don’t think it would ruin their friendship, but it would almost ruin the amazing friendship that I feel like Ilana and I actually have and the characters.
Glazer: Well it would enhance it, but I just think that [us getting married would be] good for us as business partners. [Laughs.]
The romance, Glazer later explained, works best if it stays right in the sweet spot between affection and something real. “I think it’s just part of — it’s almost like New York,” she said. “It’s part of the setting of the show rather than a plot point. It’s this feeling that’s always going to be there in the show. And I think the feeling, we like that feeling … It’s like general romance that we don’t want to use necessarily if it becomes super hotly sexual.”
