In the second season of HBO’s “The White Lotus,” Aubrey Plaza played Harper Spiller, a lawyer with a penchant for sarcasm who was vacationing in Italy with her husband and his friends.

Plaza brought an all-too-relatable cynicism to the judgmental, pragmatic Harper, which came as no surprise to those familiar with the cutting deadpan that defined Plaza’s breakout role as intern-turned-assistant April Ludgate in “Parks and Recreation.”

It was recently announced that Plaza would join the cast of “Agatha: Coven of Chaos,” Marvel’s upcoming “WandaVision” spinoff series featuring Kathryn Hahn as the titular witch.

Fresh from a day of shooting the new Francis Ford Coppola film “Megalopolis” in Atlanta, the 38-year-old actress discussed her work.

How did “White Lotus” find its way to you?

My entryway, I think, was very different than some other people’s because Mike and I had a relationship before. We’ve been friends for a long time. We were going to do a movie together — something that we had been developing together for a couple years — and we were supposed to shoot it right when the pandemic hit. And then the movie fell apart because of the pandemic, and he kind of switched gears to “The White Lotus.” So, when Season 2 came around, he called me very, very early on and just said, “Don’t take a job in the winter because I’m going to write you in the show.”

A lot of people know you from your time on “Parks and Recreation,” but since then you’ve shown different sides of yourself as a performer with projects like “Ingrid Goes West” and “Legion.” Your 2020 film “Black Bear” was a real mind trip. Did you find it a challenge to get Hollywood to see beyond your deadpan abilities?

I don’t want to do the same thing over and over again. And I think that when you’re in Hollywood, and you have played a character on television for years and years and years, people kind of want the same thing, or they assume that’s your thing or whatever. A lot of actors go through that. It’s hard not to be pigeonholed. I’ve always felt a drive to break out of that box; I never want to feel complacent. I want to do things that I haven’t done before. Like, with “Black Bear,” that was so hyperbolic. There’s descriptions in that script that are ridiculous. I can’t remember exactly how it goes, but towards the end of the movie, when Allison is acting in the movie within the movie, there’s a sentence in the script that’s like, “she gives the best, most heartbreaking performance that anyone has ever seen” or something insane. And I’m like, “Well, uh, OK, I guess I can’t wait for that day of shooting when I have to give the best performance.” That’s scary to me to, but it’s fun. I always joke when I’m shooting a movie — like, I joked about it to Francis Ford Coppola the other day, I’m like, “the real thing is to play a character in the film, and then create another character to play while you’re shooting the film for the off-camera stuff.” The more characters the better.

You had another project this year that offered some social commentary — “Emily the Criminal,” which you starred in and produced. The character you play is a woman who is desperate to pay off her student loans and trying to get her life on track and sort of turns to a dangerous life of crime. Why did you feel like this was a vital film to make right now?

I’ve been trying to make that movie for years. It just so happens to still be relevant. There’s an entire generation of young people that will feel seen by this movie — people who are drowning in student debt. So it felt like, why not make a movie so people can have some kind of catharsis?

Growing up, what was your grasp on money and its importance in navigating the world? I read that your dad was a financial adviser — did it get instilled in you early on what money could do and not do for you?

Yeah, because my parents didn’t grow up with money. When I was born, we didn’t have money. My parents worked real hard when I was growing up to get to where they are now. My dad, when I was growing up, was a door-to-door salesman, selling books. He was a taxi driver in Philadelphia — he worked many jobs and, then, eventually, got into the finance world and worked his way up. So my parents didn’t come from privileged backgrounds. My mom put herself through night school. It was always instilled in me, that drive, that ambition, and how hard work really can pay off. I just feel grateful that I got to experience both parts of it. I understand both worlds.

I want to talk about “Parks and Recreation” for a moment. Because I know (creator) Mike (Schur) has shared the story about having the most awkward meeting with you, which in turn prompted the creation of April Ludgate. How do you remember this meeting?

I feel like I have false memories now of this meeting. All I can say about it is that I know that, at that time, I was not aware of how important this meeting was. I was very distracted about being on a set of “The Office” because I was a really big fan. And so it was my first time in Hollywood. I didn’t know what was going on. So, I was probably just distracted and I probably wasn’t throwing myself at him like I should have been. So maybe he thought, “This girl’s weird; does she even want to be here?” I don’t know what I did. I think everything to me is funny. If I really want to psychoanalyze myself, it could be, like, just a defense mechanism; I prefer to just kind of live my life like I’m gonna die any minute or something. I don’t want to take anything too seriously. I just basically make a joke out of everything so that I don’t have to, like, deal with the consequences. Sometimes it really works out just like that. I didn’t mean to be on television, I was trying to be in movies. And then they called me and told me I was gonna be on a television show. And I’m like, “Well, I didn’t even want that, but I’ll do it!” And then it went on for seven years. The joke was on me, I guess.

Well, the announcement of your next TV project got a big response. You’ll be starring alongside Kathryn Hahn in the “WandaVision” spin-off, “Agatha: Coven of Chaos.”

The Marvel thing is like a foreign thing to me. I’m suspicious of it, I don’t understand it.

You’ve worked with Elizabeth Olsen before in “Ingrid Goes West.” And Kathryn did something on “Parks and Rec,” right? But this is the first time working with them under the Marvel umbrella. What do you think it’s going to be like? Who will make you break the most?

I’m scared to talk about it at all because they’ve, like, instilled this, like, fear in me. To be honest, Kathryn and I haven’t really worked together; I think we were in, like, a couple group scenes together in “Parks and Rec,” maybe there was, like, one interaction between April Ludgate and her character, but that was so long ago. I know her more as a friend. I’m just so excited to work with her. She’s the absolute best. I think me and Hahn are gonna crack each other up. I’m gonna try to make her break. But nobody can take me down. Nobody.