LOS ANGELES, CA — Since ‘Trying’ debuted on Apple TV+ in 2019, ‘Nikki Newman’ played by Esther Smith has quietly become the emotional center of a show that balances heartbreak and hilarity with rare tenderness. As Season 5 arrives, Nikki’s arc feels less like a series of gags and more like the ongoing work of a person reshaped by parenthood, responsibility, and the small humiliations that make growth real.
“She’s come a long way from season one,” Smith told Nitecast Media. “Life has thrown her so many things that inevitably there’s like a maturity there… She’s so young in that, slightly naive. And just full of insecurities, which she still is, but those insecurities… are shaped differently, because when you become a parent, things shift.” For Nikki, that shift means her anxieties are no longer central… her child is. “Any insecurities that you might have feel like they have to come secondary. Because your focus… is, I guess, the sacrifice, isn’t it, for your child.”
That sacrifice is at the heart of what makes Season 5 feel earned rather than manufactured. The writers double down on authenticity, and they treat adoption and parenting with seriousness while deliberately threading humor through the fabric of the show.
“I think it’s important to have that relief around these subject matters,” Smith explains. “There are often moments of humor within them as well… because life can be so hard. Those moments of humor are just so important.” And she credits creator Andy Wolton’s ability to land those tonal shifts without making laughs feel exploitative: “Having something awful happen, or something hard happen and then being able to find something light, which isn’t… it doesn’t feel out of place.”
Season 5 introduces the most destabilizing plot twist yet, as Tyler’s biological mother shows up unexpectedly. The arrival isn’t just a plot device it reverberates through the family’s sense of stability. “It definitely adds a bit of danger into the circumstance. It shakes the family off a bit,” Smith said.
For Nikki, the presence of a birth parent crystallizes her deepest fear, which is that the family she and Jason (Rafe Spall) have painstakingly built could be upended. The storyline promises comedy and emotional heat in equal measure; Smith teases one standout sequence around the dinner table with Kat, Princess, and Tyler’s biological mom as “a really… really funny moment,” born from awkwardness rather than cheap contrivance.
Smith’s assessment of Nikki’s strengths and flaws is equally nuanced. Nikki’s drive to manage everything to smooth friction and usurp chaos is both her armor and Achilles’ heel. “One of Nikki’s weaknesses is her… want to manage everything,” Smith explained. That impulse can feel like selfishness when it’s actually about control and fear of loss. But it’s also a source of compassion; the same instinct to fix things is what makes Nikki a devoted, if imperfect, parent. Over the seasons she’s learned to temper jealousy, check her pride, and meet Princess’s needs with a softer hand.
“I think that has become one of Nikki’s strengths. It is actually just allowing her sense of humor with life too.”
Watching Nikki now, viewers see a woman with a few more wrinkles and gray hairs, yes, but also with an expanded emotional vocabulary. The constancy of her anxiety has been supplanted by a different priority map: survival and joy for her child first, the rest rearranged around that axis. Trying has matured alongside its protagonist, and Season 5 promises to test that maturity while rewarding it with moments of genuine comedy and insight.
If the show’s early seasons mined embarrassment for laughs, the latest chapter digs into the messy work of keeping a family intact and finding light inside the hard parts.
“We think we’re the wisest version of ourselves, and then you look back, and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, no! You’ve got so much life to learn,’” Smith said.
For Nikki, the learning continues, and so does her ability to find and give comedy in the middle of it throughout this season.
