Like a happy family reunion, the witty and tender-hearted The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is heading back our way at long last and we could not be happier.
The popular show on Amazon Prime will begin streaming Season 4 on Friday, February 18, 2022. Fans of the show are thrilled to be catching up with Midge Maisel, the Maisel and Weissman parents, along with a few new characters.
We have been more than ready for the return throughout the pandemic, so it’s heartening that the wait is nearly over to rejoin this eclectic, kooky and highly entertaining Maisel family.
The show quickly became ingrained in pop culture, so much so that Revlon released several red lipsticks that Mrs. Maisel wears in the show, there is a Mrs. Maisel Game of Life, and Midge’s brisket recipe is available online, as are recommendations for throwing the perfect Mrs. Maisel dinner party.
The title character of Mrs. Miriam “Midge” Maisel is played by Rachel Brosnahan and she will be front and center with her buddy-comedy partner Alex Borstein, as her agent/manager Susie Myerson; talented performers who have each won Emmy Awards for their roles. The show has been nominated for 54 Emmy awards and it has won 20 of them.
There is so much to love about The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
So, what do fans tell Borstein that they love the most about Midge and Susie’s relationship? “They appreciate the female friendship;” she explains, “the Lucy-and Ethel-ness of it.”
Among the regulars at this reunion is Midge’s ex-husband, Joel (Michael Zegen), Midge’s parents, Abe and Rose Weissman, (Tony Shalhoub and Marin Hinkle), and Joel’s parents, Moishe and Shirley Weissman, (Kevin Pollak and Caroline Aaron). Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby) will also return.
Mrs. Maisel comes from the heart and mind of Amy-Sherman-Palladino and her husband, Dan, and they have invited beloved actors from their hit show Gilmore Girls Milo Ventimiglia (This Is Us) and Kelly Bishop (Bunheads) to join the party. John Waters and Jason Alexander will also have guest-starring roles in Season 4
It was a happy reunion for fans to see Liza Weil, who played Rory’s best friend, Paris Geller on Gilmore Girls, as a guest star in Season 3, and Amy Sherman- Palladino says it is all about close ties that bind.
“We stayed on great terms with everybody on Gilmore Girls; which is amazing. We were very particularly close to a few people, including Milo, Lauren Graham, and Kelly Bishop,” she said. “We walked off that show with some never-ending relationships, which we are very happy about.” Sherman-Palladino thinks so highly of Ventimiglia she said, “if I had a son, I would want him to be just like Milo.”
Sherman-Palladino said the Mrs. Maisel cast is not only filled with talented professionals, “but they are also really good people. In the middle of show business, which is often so jaded and ego-driven, this is an unusual group of kind and caring people.”
What happened in Season 3?
Season 3 ended on a sour note after Midge Maisel was dropped from Shy Baldwin’s tour as a result of her outing his sexuality during a gig at the Apollo Theater in New York City.
After the set, Baldwin’s manager, Sterling K. Brown, (This Is Us) disinvited Midge and Susie from the remainder of her dream tour leaving them and their luggage on the tarmac. Adding further distress, Midge had spent her tour earnings to buy her luxury apartment back and Susie had gambled Midge’s savings away – leaving a lot to be resolved.
What can we look forward to in Season 4?
Mrs. Maisel Season 4 is set in the 1960s and Amazon Prime Video reveals that “change is in the air. While Midge is looking to find comedy gigs with total creative freedom, her commitment to her craft – and the places it takes her – creates a rift between her and the family and friends around her.”
In the first of four trailers released by Amazon Prime, the two are found lunching at their favorite deli trying to plan for the future. Midge tells Susie she is done with opening acts; she wants to be a headliner.
“I will only do gigs where I can say what I want,” she announces to Susie. “How am I supposed to do that if I can’t even book you? That’s not how the business works,” Susie responds.
In a quick comeback, Midge says, “Let’s change the business!”
Why does everyone love Mrs. Maisel?
Alex Borstein, the mom of two who resides in Spain, says that the appeal of Mrs. Maisel begins with Amy Sherman-Palladino.
She shares, “Amy has a tendency to create these worlds that become families. She makes a family on the set and then she also creates these families that are connected now online as fans. People just kind of fall in love with these worlds and it’s a great deal of fun to be a part of it.”
For example, she says, “there is still a huge Gilmore Girls event that people still flock to in a small town in Connecticut years after that show has ended, and those fans have become very close friends. People fall in love with these settings and keep coming back for more.”
So, how did Borstein think Susie felt when they were left on the tarmac and told they were booted from the tour?
“I think it was a shock; but not a surprise. I think Susie is so used to failure; she’s so used to pushing a boulder up a hill only for it to roll right back down over her,” Borstein said. “So, she’s well equipped, unfortunately, for a bit of failure. But she never stops so she’s going to push it up a different hill if she has to!”
How does everyone deal with the long wait between Seasons 3 and 4?
Keeping the cast and crew safe during the coronavirus pandemic is a recurring theme among the creators and actors on the show. This contributed to the long hiatus between seasons. While fans – and the performers — were clamoring for more, Marin Hinkle acknowledged the hardship but added it is worth the wait.
“I agree; it’s hard on an audience,” she stated. “Usually in regular television shows you’ve got kind of that summer hiatus and you go about your business over the summer and if you’re in love with a show – it comes back after three or four months. I guess the only thing I’ll say is that it builds up the anticipation in a very special way. Whenever it comes back people can sit around their tables and talk about the Maisel’s. There’s something exciting about that.”
The actors say although they work hard, they also have a great deal of fun. “We deeply appreciate the joy that it brings to people,” Hinkle added, “especially at a time when we all need some levity.”
Who are these remarkable characters?
Miriam “Midge” Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan of The Blacklist) – While everyone has fallen in love with Mrs. Maisel, they also adore the actress behind the role. She has been compared to such iconic actresses as Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, and Katharine Hepburn.
The show’s creators and other performers say that she brings everything she has to the role, and gives high praise for her talent, and work ethic.
“I love how Rachel handles so much and with such grace,” says Shalhoub. “She’s such an advocate for herself, and for her character, and I’m constantly learning from her all of the time.”
Hinkle believes that the show has become so popular for a myriad of reasons. “I think Midge, as channeled by Rachel, is a force of nature that women and men are connecting to. Her story appears to be that of the kind of woman whose plight looks like she could fall apart at any moment, but instead, she’s quite the opposite. She actually has this birth of a comic and intellectual explosion and I think people want to see someone soar like that and have a kind of heroine.”
Shirley Maisel — (Carolyn Aaron of Sleepless in Seattle) While many viewers find Shirley Maisel (Joel’s meddling mom and Midge’s mother-in-law) to be over-the-top, Carolyn Aaron, the actress who plays Shirley admits, “This is the first time I’ve played a character who is really happy; from her point of view, I think she has gotten the motherlode, the American dream. I think that people evolve or change based on a pursuit of something. I think she’s gotten everything she wanted.”
Moishe Masiel – (Kevin Pollak of Grumpy Old Men) says he based his character of Moishe on beloved family members.
“I’ve definitely had relatives around the giant Passover dinners that I’m drawing on for this show to play Moishe,” he explained. “I had a grandfather and his brother who would yell at each other at opposite ends of the table of 20 people and I hold dear the different memories of how they grew up. They would fight about it and they would entertain me, my brother, and our cousins who were young. But I was also fortunate enough to be in Barry Levinson’s movie Avalon and the Lou Jacobi character in the film famously yelling, ‘You got the turkey without me? I’m drawing a lot on him and that world as well.'”
Joel Maisel – (Michael Zegan of Boardwalk Empire) — Midge’s complicated ex-husband and the father of her two children began as the bad guy who cheated on our heroine and fans would literally yell at the actor on the streets, but now they are seeing a more multi-layered character. The actor, Michael Zegen, also known for his work on Boardwalk Empire, loves human emotion and the bonds with the other actors.
He shared, “It’s that kind of show that takes you out of what’s going on now and all the problems that we have because it’s such a funny show and it is beautiful to watch; the costumes, the sets, and the cars. Everything is so visually stunning that it does take you away for a few hours. I feel incredibly lucky that I do get to jump into this and be a part of that world.”
Abe Weissman – (Tony Shalhoub of Monk) – The film, television, and Broadway star says that he admires the work of the actors, designers, and crew on this show.
He expressed, “The series continues to lend itself to closer connections. With the pace of the show and the dialogue and everything that goes into this, it has to be cohesive and collaborative. We are so proud of the material and so proud of one another, and we want to see each other soar and continue to succeed with these challenges.”
He added that he hears from friends, family, and fans that they “just cannot wait for the next season. They have fallen in love with all of it, so they tend to binge-watch, but then they don’t want it to be over.”
Rose Weissman – (Marin Hinkle of Two and a Half Men) says that she has a pocket of relatives and some dance teachers and women who ran the theater world as a stage actress early in her career that reminds her of aspects of Rose.
“These are people who were powerful women in my life and became some of the basis of Rose,” Hinkle said. “I took all these strong women who had a really strong sense of self and of what they wanted in their lives, and I was familiar with them, in the same way, I became more and more familiar with Rose.”
How does the show’s creator see Midge Maisel?
While everyone roots for the story’s heroine, Midge Maisel, and hates to see her knocked down, Sherman-Palladino loves the fact that she “is a very confident and positive character. Even when she gets knocked down, she doesn’t retreat to her bed with pizza and ice cream. She’s also not just a sweetie pie. She has a lot of edge to her, and an adorable smile. Also, she can wear this fabulous dress and go on stage and say the filthiest things. There’s an energy to it and a movement to it.”
There are many looming questions waiting for answers this season, including:
How does Midge’s comedy career move forward?
How will Susie step up to right some wrongs?
What is the status of Midge and Joel’s relationship?
Will Midge get her luxury apartment back?
What is the future look like for the two sets of parents?
Sherman-Palladino, who holds her cards close to her vest, explains that “Midge is interested in the journey forward. I think that then you wrap all that up with beautiful cinematography, stunning sets, and wonderful costumes and you open up the world of what 1950s and 1960s New York was; it’s sort of one big ride.” And we are thrilled to be invited along.
Two new episodes of Season 4 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel will be released on Amazon Prime Video every Friday for four weeks starting on Friday, February 18, 2022.
Seasons 1-3 of Mrs. Maisel can be found streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
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