‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ will continue to marvel us with a fourth season. Season 4 is on the way, and HollywoodLife has the latest updates about the show’s return, who’s coming back, and more.
Amazon Prime Video’s hit series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel will return for season 4. The news of the show’s renewal was announced in Dec. 2019. “We were thrilled to hear that for the fourth time, we do not have to pack up and vacate the premises,” creator and EP Amy Sherman-Palladino and executive producer Daniel Palladino said in a statement. “We’d like to thank Amazon for all their faith and support, their partnership and enthusiasm, and for letting us hang with our favorite people, the cast and crew of Maisel, for a little while longer.”
Mrs. Maisel continues to be a global hit for Amazon. Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios, said in her statement about the show’s season 4 renewal that the show had its “most-watched opening weekend ever” with the launch of season 3 in Dec. 2019. “Amy and Dan have created such funny, charming, relatable characters, all with their inimitable wit and eye for detail, and our customers around the world will be delighted to have another season in the world of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Jennifer’s statement continued. From season 4 filming updates to the cast, this is the latest news that we know about Mrs. Maisel season 4.
How To Watch ‘Mrs. Maisel’
Like all previous seasons of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, season 4 will premiere on Amazon Prime Video. All episodes will likely drop at once, similar to the past 3 seasons. Given that season 4 has yet to start filming, Amazon has not revealed the premiere date for the fourth season. The previous 3 seasons are available to watch on Amazon Prime Video now.
Season 4 Filming
Mrs. Maisel was one of the many shows delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, so the wait for the fourth season will be a long one. In Oct. 2020, creator Amy Sherman-Palladino revealed at the Woodstock Film Festival virtual panel discussion that the show was set to start back on Jan. 7, 2021. “Costume fittings are happening [now], sets are being built like mad. All of the stuff is happening,” she told TVLine. “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.’”
Executive producer Daniel Palladino also revealed at the Woodstock Film Festival that there will be “a lot more visual effects” due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “Last season, our premiere had 850 extras in an airplane hangar. We cannot do that,” he said. But he promised season 4 is “going to happen, it’s just going to happen in a slightly different way.”
Over the past few months, the cast and crew have been making preparations to start filming at the top of 2021. “We were supposed to go back in June, and obviously it wasn’t safe to do that then,” star Rachel Brosnahan said on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show in Dec. 2020. “I just actually came from a wig and shoe and hat fitting. Literally just 20 minutes ago, walked in the door.” She added, “So, we are in the process of getting ready to go back hopefully safely in January, and are really, really excited. The hats are insane. The hats are out of control. We may have lost our minds with the hats this season.”
Rachel posted an Instagram photo of her first costume fitting for season 4 in Sept. 2020. She was masked, along with the designers. Rachel wore a gorgeous beige dress and an elaborate black hat. “We’re slowly and safely getting back to it but first costume fitting is in the books,” she wrote.
‘Mrs. Maisel’ Season 4 Cast
Rachel will be returning as the one and only Midge Maisel. The Golden Globe winner will be joined by her fellow castmates. The other cast members expected to return include Alex Borstein (Susie), Michael Zegen (Joel), Tony Shalhoub (Abe), Marin Hinkle (Rose), Kevin Pollak (Moishe), and Caroline Aaron (Shirley). As for new characters, Amy and Daniel are keeping those details under wraps for now.
As for other notable characters in the Mrs. Maisel universe, Sterling K. Brown is down to bring back Reggie, Shy Baldwin’s manager. “Hopefully there will be room for me to revisit the show in the future,” the This Is Us star told Glamour. Stephanie Hsu was introduced as Mei, Joel’s new love interest, in season 3. Amy revealed to Glamour that Stephanie would be back for season 4. When it comes to more scenes between Joel, Mei, and Midge, Amy noted, “Oh, you’ll get them.”
What about Lenny Bruce, you ask? Emmy winner Luke Kirby will be back in season 4. “He’s going to be in a little bit more [in season 4], which is great,” Amy said at the Woodstock Film Festival, according to TVLine. In season 3, Lenny and Midge had the ultimate will-they-or-won’t-they moment. Their intimate night out in Miami included drinks, dancing, and a lot of staring. At one point, Midge called Lenny out for “still staring” at her. He simply replied, “So are you.”
They walked back to Lenny’s hotel room together. Lenny opened the door waiting for Midge to go in, but she didn’t. She decided to get a cab and go home. As she walked away, Lenny asked, “Maybe someday? Before I’m dead?” She responded, “It’s a date!” Their chemistry continues to be explosive, and fans have been itching for these characters to get together for some time now.
What Happened In Season 3?
Season 3 ended with Midge and Susie being fired from the second leg of Shy Baldwin’s (LeRoy McClain) tour. Shy’s manager, Reggie, cut them from the tour. Midge and Susie are forced to watch Shy’s plane take off right in front of their eyes. The firing came after Midge joked about Shy’s sexuality and basically outed him as a gay man to the audience at the Apollo. Reggie admits to Midge and Susie that he partly blames himself for how things ended up because he encouraged Midge to talk about Shy. He just didn’t know that she knew Shy is gay.
On top of this firing, Susie has gambled away the money that Midge was planning to use as a down payment on her old apartment. Susie believes she can replace the cash she gambled away with the insurance money she thinks she’ll be able to collect by burning down her dead mother’s house, but nothing in life is ever that easy. The thing is, Midge doesn’t know about any of this, nor is she aware that Joel has actually been managing her money this whole time.
Season 4 Plot
Amy noted that season 4 will explore the aftermath of Midge’s major career setback. “I think we’re going to pick up right after that,” Sherman-Palladino revealed to The Hollywood Reporter in Aug. 2020. “We may be doing a little jump within the season, but when we first start up we want to [stay in that time]. I mean, what’s the fun of totally destroying someone’s soul and heart and not getting to see the aftermath? That’s what comedy’s made of, soul-crushing defeat.”
As of Dec. 2020, Rachel had yet to see a script. “I have absolutely no idea what’s happening… I am being a hundred percent honest. I haven’t seen a script. I haven’t seen anything,” she said on Sirius XM’s The Jess Cagle Show. “I have no idea what’s happening this season. So I am just as excited as everyone else to find out.”
If the show does incorporate a time jump into season 4, that could put the timeline closer to Lenny Bruce’s real-life death. Lenny tragically died of a morphine overdose at the age of 40 in 1966. There’s no doubt that Lenny’s sudden death would devastate Midge.
Amy confirmed that the show would address Lenny’s death at some point during the show’s run. “The minute you put Lenny Bruce in it, you know where you’re going,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “You can’t pretend it’s not gonna happen.” She added that Lenny’s death could be a “cautionary tale” for Midge when it comes to “following your dream and the fact that every dream comes with consequences, and it can go great, or it can go off the rails.”
Season 4 could feature a serious falling out between Midge and Susie. Given Susie’s gambling problem and handling (or lack thereof) of Midge’s money, Midge could push Susie away. It’s only a matter of time before Midge learns the truth. Midge would likely not be happy with her ex-husband, Joel, for continuing to handle her money — as Susie’s urging — without telling her. Joel and Midge are technically still married, so they could end up pursuing the divorce route again over this.
Midge’s parents, Abe and Rose, lost their lavish Upper West Side apartment early on in season 3 after Abe quit his job at Columbia University. Given that he’s now working as a theater critic for the Village Voice, it’s unlikely Abe and Rose will be going back to the way they once lived any time soon.