One of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel‘s most popular characters is getting a screen-time boost.

Luke Kirby, who has earned fan adoration (not to mention a 2019 Emmy) for playing real-life comic Lenny Bruce on the Amazon Prime hit, will have a larger presence in Season 4, series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino confirms.

“We never intended for Lenny to be as important as he is,” the EP admitted during a recent Woodstock Film Festival virtual panel discussion (moderated by yours truly). “He’s only been in [a couple] episodes a season. It’s weird because he’s such a presence. He’s going to be in a little bit more [in Season 4], which is great.”

Marveling at the lightning-in-a-bottle dynamic between Kirby’s Lenny and Rachel Brosnahan’s Midge, Sherman-Palladino says, ” The chemistry that they have and the way that they work together and the ease they feel with each other — that’s just luck. You hope for that every time you cast a love interest for someone. You hope that there’s chemistry there and people will buy into it. And [Rachel and Luke] just have it. It ups the level of the storyline.

“What I love about [Lenny] is that he respects [Midge] as a comedian,” she added. “He doesn’t look at her as a conquest. I think that’s why people are responding to that relationship.”

As we reported earlier this week, production on Maisel Season 4 — delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic — is slated to get underway in early January. “Costume fittings are happening [now], sets are being built like mad,” AS-P revealed. “We’re breaking our stories, we’re writing. And then in December we’re dragging the actors in and we’re going to table read the scripts. And then, come January 7, it’s, ‘On your mark, get set, go.’”

Pressed for additional intel (read: spoilers) on Season 4, Sherman-Palladino jokes that Baby Yoda will make an appearance. “He is hilarious,” she cracked of the breakout Mandalorian character. “He does 10 minutes at the Playboy Club that is sensational.”