Ray Romano has joined the cast of Running Point season 2, and Netflix has already put him at the center of the show’s next chapter. He plays Norm Stinson, a socially awkward basketball expert who becomes the Waves’ new head coach after the previous coach returns to the East Coast.
His arrival comes as Isla Gordon, played by Kate Hudson, pushes to turn last season’s playoff loss into a championship run. In the season, Isla chooses Norm over the candidate preferred by her brothers, a move that puts Romano’s character in the middle of the family’s power struggle from the start. Hudson said Romano is “wonderful” and that the cast is lucky to have him, adding that they are having a great time working together.
Netflix recast Romano in October 2025 and reshaped the character around him, a rare move that signals how central Norm has become to the show’s second season. The streamer has released all 10 episodes today after the premiere, giving viewers the full arc at once.
Octavia Spencer also joins season 2 as Diane Robicheaux, a civil rights attorney and feminist legal scholar who represents the Waves dancers when they strike for better treatment and pay. Nicole Richie plays Nicole Vark, the powerful chief executive of Vark Pharmaceuticals, as Isla and her best friend Ali reconnect with a former college sorority sister to secure stadium sponsorship for the Waves. Lisa Rinna makes a cameo appearance as well, alongside Ken Marino as Al Fleischman, Blake Anderson as Leroy and Richa Moorjani as Aruna.
Running Point is a Netflix comedy built around family drama and professional basketball stakes, and season 2 keeps both in motion. It opens with Isla determined to bring home a title after the heartbreak of the previous playoff exit, while Cam secretly schemes to reclaim his position as president. Romano’s addition gives the series a new authority figure with an awkward edge, and the move appears designed to sharpen the conflict at the center of the Waves’ season rather than simply add another familiar face. Romano previously worked with Netflix on No Good Deed opposite Lisa Kudrow.