‘Atlanta’ Actor Brian Tyree Henry Explains That Gut Wrenching Public Storage Scene

Brian Tyree Henry plays Paper Boi on the hit show and he recently opened up about Earn’s decision to spend the night in his storage unit instead of spending the night at Van’s place.

Here’s an excerpt of his interview with the AJC:

On the season finale: “It was very emotional for me to watch the finale. It really was all about how we have to retrace our steps. That was the theme of the entire episode. No matter what your journey is, you end up coming back to where you started. I really love and respect where they start, back on the Alfred’s couch in the field, now in bloom all around us. We’re still there doing the same thing.”

Jacket as metaphor: “He wanted this one thing in his jacket to get to this place he hadn’t moved from. He was looking for his storage locker key. It holds the memories to things he still had. He’s seen flipping through $200. Did he make it? Was it worth it? Has he come further than before? What I love about the episode is the familial bond between Alfred and Earn. Earn always kept his word. He’s always looked out for Alfred. Alfred also kept his word to his cousin by paying him. He gave him his cut. He believed in him. We’re still discovering each other. Love never changes. There’s this resilience we carry between us.”

Why Earn chose to spend the night in the storage locker: “Because after going through everything in this world of constantly being told no and you don’t belong, of constantly being told to get it together, there’s nothing more gratifying than taking space for yourself. ‘I did that. Me alone, I did that!’ I feel like Earn set the foundation making changes in his life. He had to go back to where it all began. He had to go to part of his life that wasn’t complete and reflect what this is.”