Christy’s Game-Changing Cupertino Episode 6 Story Detailed By Ella Stiller

CBS Published Nov 8, 2026, 9:00 PM EST Adam has been writing in the entertainment news space for over a decade. Beginning his career of covering film and TV at CinemaBlend, he has also appeared on The Flash Podcast and done several radio spots. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Warning: SPOILERS for the Cupertino episode “Harper” are ahead!Cupertino’s Ella Stiller opened up about her character’s most emotionally-vulnerable episode yet in the new CBS legal drama series. When Cupertino premiered last month, Stiller’s Christy Palladino was introduced as the assistant of Mike Colter’s Michael Price, an attorney and equity co-founder of S-Talk. After Michael was fired from the rising technology company, Christy met the same fate shortly thereafter for maintaining communication with him, forcing her to go back to work at TGI Fridays. However, after Michael and Rachel Keller’s Olivia Siffre, another freshly-fired S-Talk attorney, started their own law firm, Christy came aboard as its office manager. Since then, Christy has held down the fort at Price and Siffre and become the firm’s informal investigator, as well as made first contact with their AI client, Bo. Cupertino’s newest episode, “Harper,” delivered its deepest look into Christy’s personal life yet. Her roommate Harper was initially denied a liver transplant due to what initially looked like an AI algorithm switching her place in the queue with an older, wealthy man. It was later revealed that it was a doctor who had actually gone against the judge’s order for the liver to go to Harper. In an interview with ScreenRant’s Adam Holmes ahead of the airing of “Harper,” Stiller talked about getting into the mindset of playing Christy’s emotional scenes in this episode, which ended with Harper getting the liver just in the nick of time thanks to Christy, Michael, and Olivia’s coordinated efforts from different locations. The actor explained that it was important for her not to just draw from her professional training, but also envision what she would do if she was placed in the same kind of position with one of her friends: It's interesting because you're right. It was the most emotional and the most I had gotten to do in terms of the high stakes for me thus far on the show. You just have to put yourself in the position. And for me, I draw from a lot of different methods of acting. In drama school, they say you build your little toolbox. It's living truthfully under imaginary circumstances, that's what I was taught. Also, imagine it's your best friend in that position, and then you picture it, and that's helpful for me, always connecting things to my real life and connecting to people I love. I also feel like by that point, I was so invested in Christy. I was from the beginning, but by Episode 6, I believe I think this girl is really special. Stiller also highlighted the guest stars in “Harper” as another reason why she enjoyed working on this Cupertino episode, as she admired several of them before the cameras started rolling. In her words: I think that Christy has a real way with people and a real sense of being in touch with her feelings and knowing when to put that aside and when to play into it. It was also really easy with these incredible actors that I got to work with on that episode. Aaron Serotsky, who played the doctor, I was a huge fan of his before like I saw him from Marcel on the Train. When I saw his name on the call sheet, I was like, ‘Oh, this is huge for me!’ These theater actors, Vicky Clark and Katrina Lane. It was so special, and they were all in it, and we just had this little separate world in that hospital for a few days. We also shot all my stuff for it in two days, actually. So it was intense because I think that made the emotion easier, too. Because we're just buckled up for the ride, and it's all happening and feeling all of it and the running. Cupertino comes from Robert and Michelle King, the same duo behind The Good Wife, The Good Fight, Evil, and Elsbeth, among other TV shows. The legal drama has quickly become one of fall 2026’s biggest TV hits, with the show boasting a perfect 100% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes, pulling from 30 reviews. Along with Colter and Keller, Stiller’s co-stars include Nik Domain as Vic Malhotra, Busy Philipps as Natalia Boutella, and Renée Elise Goldsberry as Nichole Ferebee. CBS ScreenRant: What was your reaction when you learned the twist about Bo being AI? My gosh! So, in my callback, Robert and Michelle were there, and my audition scenes were two phone calls with Bo from that second episode, and then it was scenes from episode four. But the Bo stuff, when I was doing it in the callback, Robert let me do it once, and then he was like, Ok, I don't even know if this should affect the way you're playing it at all because she doesn't know, but I just want you to know that Bo is actually AGI.’ And I was like, ‘Ok, so that's really different.’ He was like, ‘But don't let it affect the way you're playing it.’ I'm like, ‘Right, right, sure. We'll see.’ I was like, ‘Oh, this is cool.’ Because this is like what you watch on TV, but also now it's becoming really real. I think the brilliance of the twist is that Rob McClure plays Bo so human, and that was always the direction that Robert and Michelle wanted it to go too, and I think Rob that was his instinct as well. For me and him to … whenever we get to read together, it's so interesting because I'm always so aware of Bo as an AI entity, but there's a real connection because he is so human-like. ScreenRant: Can we expect to see more of Christy and A.J. together after Episode 4, or was that just a brief fling? Yes, there's more to come. ScreenRant: How was it shooting on the private jet set? Oh my gosh, it was so fun. Yeah, it was this set, and it was honestly so comfy. So the vibes in there were so well lit. It never felt like we were in the sky. You can't actually trick yourself into that, but the way that … when you are on a plane in the daytime, and you just get that sunlight, it felt like that, and it was just really good vibes. We loved being on that plane. It was so fun. Ella Stiller On Filming Cupertino, Christy’s Appeal, And Acting With Mike Colter CBS ScreenRant: What was it that drew you to working on Cupertino when you first read the pilot script? When I first read the pilot, I knew that this was coming from The Kings, Robert and Michelle, and I know that they are absolute television royalty. I can say that just as a fact. I was so excited to read it, even though I'm a comedic actor. I'd like to think I can do it all, sure, but I really never expected this big moment to be a legal drama, and that was the logline, all of it. I was like, ‘Ok, it's a legal drama, interesting.’ I love one, but that’s not something I ever thought I would do. Then the second I started reading it, their sensibility just so brilliant and so in tune with mine. I just think that we have a similar way of viewing the world, the Kings and I, and I just love their creativity and their quirkiness and their sense of humor. They're so singular. So I think the second that I read it and realized, like, ‘Oh, this is laugh-out-loud funny.’ And also this character, who's obviously the Gen Z character of the show, there was not anything about it that felt like they were mocking or trying to do some caricature of young people. I think they wrote Christy with such respect and such an understanding that she's young, but she is smart and wise and works hard. I felt so seen by that, and I felt so connected to Christy immediately. I just had a gut feeling, like it's a match made in heaven. ScreenRant: How does your personality in real life compare to Christy’s? I think we're very similar. She's a little bit more fearless than I am, almost like physically. Even just her willingness to go on any adventure and just be in danger. She craves it, really. I think that was something early on that I really used to think about, and then it became normal as part of her character. But early on, it was like, ‘Oh, that's an interesting thing.’ It's like she actually lives for this; the danger and the thrill and the adrenaline. She's a little bit of an adrenaline junkie. I'm not so much that, but I am the level of fiery she is, the feistiness. Feisty is kind of a stupid word, but she's just wise beyond her years … But people maybe think because she is a party girl, and she does love to have fun, and she lives for that too, but the second that she starts getting involved in something deeper with this law firm, and with Michael and Olivia, who she really adores. Yeah, I think her wit, her sense of humor, her intelligence, that's all stuff I relate to. I would like to think that we're similar and are in our sensibility, and I just get to say a little bit more of what I'm thinking all the time through her. ScreenRant: How has your experience been working with Mike Colter? He's the best person ever. I love him so much. He's literally one of my close friends now. We just have a very special friendship. He's been from day one. He has been the greatest leader of our set. He has so little ego. It's just not there. He's just a guy who really loves what he does, and he is a television star. He knows what he's doing. I've learned so much just watching him, and I don't think he even knows that. He's a master of this craft, of making a TV show. It's really incredible to watch, but he's also just a real fun guy, and we laugh so much. I think it's so important to have that on a set, especially when it's a serious show. When it's dark and can be . . . not depressing, but these heavy themes come up, especially as we're also seeing them pop up on the news as we're sitting in our chairs, waiting to go shoot. We’re like, oh, well, there's another plot line of ours that is now reality. He's just a really, really positive presence, and I love him a lot ScreenRant: Why do you think Christy is so loyal to Michael beyond just being his assistant? I think she was just his secretary at S Talk, at the old firm, and I think she obviously liked him… This character of Michael Price is so established, a really good guy. He's a really sturdy presence in people's lives. He's reliable. So I think that she respects him, and I think they probably had a nice working relationship. But I also think that the second that she gets fired too for speaking to him, she has to go back to TGI Fridays. No way is that going to happen. So I think just jumping at the opportunity of going to work with these people. I think she just senses it from the beginning. Like, oh, this is a start of something new and could be really exciting and cool. But I also just think she's loyal, and she connects with people, and I think obviously their history of working together before plays into it. But as the show goes on, I think Michael, Olivia, and Christy and Natalia become this little family. I find it really beautiful. ScreenRant: 2026 has been a big year for you, because along with Cupertino, you also starred in The Comeback season 3. How do those two experiences compare? I mean, two very different experiences. First of all, we shot The Comeback in LA on the Warner Bros. lot, which was incredible and a once in a lifetime kind of experience at this point. That was my first real TV job. I'd done guest star stuff, but I was in every episode [of The Comeback], and I was there every single day with the whole cast. We would all come in first thing. The thing about that show is everyone's there all the time, so I would come in first thing in the morning and be there until last thing at the end of the night. The biggest difference is I was living that schedule and getting to understand what it's like to spend your entire days and weeks and months of your life on set with the same people who become your family. It becomes your whole life. But the big difference is I didn't talk a lot on that show. I don't speak a lot in The Comeback, which is really funny and really fun. But it was very different because the stakes for me were lower, in that I was able to just show up and get the experience and soak it all in and learn so much. I learned so much from Lisa Kudrow, just being around her all the time, but not feeling like I had to be so nervous because the stakes of the scene rest on me. It never was that. So then, to come into this, I felt like, wow, to have the background of that. Also, by the way, totally different tone, vibe, everything. Like, [Cupertino] couldn’t be more different. But also, both [have] incredible crews and casts and people that I've loved to work with. I've been very lucky in that I have not had a bad experience on a set with the people. I've gotten very lucky with that. So then coming to Cupertino … obviously, the second I got it, this is the biggest thing I've ever gotten. This is huge and a big turning point for me, but I had the feeling in my body of what it's like to be on set every day. But there was a really big added sense of nervousness at the beginning of this because now I have to create a character and lead these scenes, be so active in this show. Which, in a way that I wasn't on the last thing, it really took me a few episodes to not get nervous anymore. ScreenRant: Christy is at the center of my two favorite recurring gags on the show: the endless members of her extended family doing a variety of jobs, and then all the extras from TGI Fridays that she's bringing in to populate the office. It's so fun to get to be the levity on a serious show. It means a lot to me. It aligns a lot with who I am, and to get to make people laugh is really special and great. It's all rooted in a real forward motion of being the one who gets shit done for the firm. Cupertino airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS. Release Date October 8, 2026 Network CBS Showrunner Michelle King, Robert King Cast Mike Colter Michael Price Rachel Keller Olivia Siffre Directors Michelle King, Robert King, Sam Hoffman, Ron Underwood, Joe Menendez Writers Michelle King, Robert King, Joey Hartstone Creator(s) Michelle King, Robert King