Spoiler alert: The following article discusses the entirety of “Emily in Paris” Season 3.
Just when you thought the ship of Emily (Lily Collins) and Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) had officially sailed — I mean, we were bearing witness to the latter’s impromptu wedding to Camille (Camille Razat) — an anchor (well, several) is let down: Camille, still reeling from the intensity of her relationship with free-spirited artist Sofia (Melia Kreiling), calls it all off, but not before declaring the reason for doing so is Gabriel’s buried feelings for Emily. With everyone shaken, Alfie (Lucien Laviscount) also storms out, saying he will not be a second choice. And last, but certainly not least, Gabriel and Emily reconnect, finally open about their desires, as the former declares that Camille is pregnant.
For “Emily in Paris” creator, writer and executive producer Darren Star, the goal with the drama-filled finale was to “leave a lot of open questions about what’s next, for the audience and also for us as writers.”
The “Sex and the City” creator continued, “Just thinking about, ‘OK, these characters are all left in some strong predicaments that we want to spend Season 4 thinking about and also just flipping the dynamic of everybody on its head a little bit and all their relationships with one another.’”
With Season 4 already slated at Netflix, and a writers room to open in the new year, Star said Emily will once again throw herself back into her work as a coping mechanism, just as she did in seasons past. At the same time, the character — previously rigid and single-minded about her job — has “unexpectedly matured a lot.”
“I think she’s feeling way more comfortable living in Paris. She’s discovering who she is,” he said. “She’s really finding herself there and I think it’s not at all what she expected when she arrived for the job. She’s never intended to be making a life there, and I think now she really is.”
As for what else audiences can expect from Season 4: New character additions Sofia and Nicolas (Paul Forman), the JVMA executive and Mindy’s old boarding school crush-cum-boyfriend, are not going anywhere anytime soon, and will be shaking up dynamics next year. While the audience and Emily know of the intense infatuation that Camille and Sofia share, it’s unknown to Gabriel, and Star said that reveal will be “explosive” when it takes place.
“We see a whole different side of Camille with Sofia and I love her and I love the actress, Melia, who plays Sofia is terrific. She came in and did everything that I hoped she would, and the chemistry between them is so terrific, and I feel like we see a passionate side of Camille that we haven’t really seen with Gabriel,” Star said.
For Nicolas and Mindy (Ashley Park), the latter’s Eurovision success with Benoît (Kevin Dias), will test her understanding of who she wants to be (and be with).
“We wanted a character who really spoke to who Mindy was before she came to Paris,” Star said of the character’s inception. “It’s a side that she feels very comfortable with, but maybe it’s not her best self. Benoît represents Mindy’s artistic soul, and I think definitely in Season 4 we’re gonna have a little struggle between those two men — not even romantically, but it’s going to force Mindy to question who she is, and what’s important to her.”
Another character who gets more of a spotlight this season is Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu’s Sylvie, whose startup marketing agency, relationships with romantic partners and “Devil Wears Prada”-esque mentorship of Emily get center stage.
“This season, we get to see her from different characters’ points of view. I think she has been very guarded around Emily. She’s been a little mistrustful … she felt like Emily came in as a bit of an interloper,” Star explained.
And despite their differences and varying approaches to work’s place in life, both Sylvie and Emily share ambitious goals and a drive to succeed. In Season 4, more time and backstory will be awarded to Sylvie, along with her husband.
“Sylvie and Laurent have a very interesting, open, complicated relationship that I think we’re gonna find out, possibly, even a little bit more of what’s behind it in Season 4 as they reconnect and spend more time together and recommit to each other,” Star teased. “But I do feel like there’s a sense of freedom that Emily encounters in Paris. There’s less a rigidity to how Emily sees life by spending time in Paris and by spending time with the characters she encounters.”
