Thirteen years later, “Party Down” is back in business. Season 3 features most of the iconic catering crew reuniting under unexpected circumstances after they seemingly moved onto bigger and better things when the second season ended in 2010. Creators John Enbom, Dan Etheridge and Paul Rudd are behind the return of the comedy, as are most of the original cast.
Lizzy Caplan, who played Casey Klein, won’t be returning this time around. From Adam Scott to Jane Lynch and Ken Marino to Martin Starr, many familiar faces are returning to the fan-favorite comedy. Several newcomers like Jennifer Garner and James Marsden will spice up the show, along with some surprise special guest stars. Season 3 launches Friday, Feb. 24, with a whole new buffet of shenanigans, entanglements and more.
Here are the cast and characters in Season 3 of “Party Down”:
Henry Pollard (Adam Scott)
Henry has known Ron (Ken Marino) the longest. He worked with him eight years before the show started, and while he made it into an iconic commercial as an actor, he couldn’t land anything else so he came back as bartender for the Party Down team. He then left to become an English teacher and settle down in married life, but has decided to moonlight once more as a bartender. Henry and Casey (Lizzy Caplan) had a bit of a romantic dynamic going on but didn’t end up together.
After the first two seasons of “Party Down,” Scott became a regular on “Parks and Recreation” playing the role of Ben Wyatt. He has appeared in films like “Leap Year” and “Our Idiot Brother,” and played Ed Mackenzie on “Big Little Lies.” Most recently, he starred as Mark in Dan Erickson’s hit series “Severance” on Apple TV+. Smaller TV roles included Trevor in “The Good Place” and John Novak in “Loot.”
Ron Donald (Ken Marino)
Manager Ron Donald has all kinds of rules for his employees, including no personal business during work hours, private residence spaces are off limits at parties and more. He will soon take over the business as owner after almost marrying the former owner’s daughter with the intention of running the business as manager. Ron’s drive helped him keep Party Down going despite the very obvious aspirations of his employees.
Ken Marino is known for playing Rick Gergenblatt in “Wanderlust” (2012). He also appeared in “The Slate,” and has voiced various characters in “Bob’s Burgers,” “The Ten” and “Childrens Hospital.” Other TV credits include “Black Monday,” “The Other Two” and “Veronica Mars.”
Kyle Bradway (Ryan Hansen)
Kyle Bradway was an aspiring actor when he started working with Party Down, and now he has made it big. He was also part of an indie rock band before landing the fictional superhero movie role of “the Nitromancer.” Kyle is not the brightest, but he has come a long way since the early catering days.
Hansen played Dick Casablancas in “Veronica Mars” (with a connection through his wife Amy Hansen, who was roommates with “Mars” star Kristen Bell.) He played Lance Landers in “Superhero Movie” (2008), Nolan in “Friday the 13th” (2009) and Grunt in “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” (2013).
Roman DeBeers (Martin Starr)
Roman started out as the DJ of Party Down, setting the mood for various events. He has contrarian hipster views of most things, and he loves science fiction. At the start of the series, he wanted to be a writer in Hollywood.
Martin Starr played Bill Haverchuck in “Freaks and Geeks.” He also portrays Bertram Gilfoyle in “Silicon Valley.” He appears as Bodhi in “Tulsa King.”
Lydia Dunfree (Megan Mullally)
Mullally’s Lydia was first introduced near the end of Season 1, as a late addition to Party Down’s rotating crew of waiters. At the time, she was working on getting her daughter into the business as a child actor. In the new season, Lydia still manages her child, now a big-time actress with a film set for release soon.
Megan Mullally is known for playing Karen Walker on “Will & Grace” and “Tammy 2” opposite real-life husband Nick Offerman in “Parks and Recreation.” Movie credits include “The King of Summer” (2013), “Why Him?” (2016) and “The Disaster Artist” (2017). More recently she has appeared in films like “Crush” (2022).
Constance Carmell (Jane Lynch)
Constance (Jane Lynch) went from aspiring actress to playwright to widow and heiress. In the early days she could be overly involved in the lives of guests, even too touchy. She loves to dispense moderately helpful words of wisdom.
Lynch went to one of her most iconic roles as Sue Sylvester in “Glee” after the first two seasons of “Party Down.” She is also known for portraying Laurie Bohner in “A Mighty Wind” (2003), Sweeny in “Role Models” (2008). She has more recently appeared as Sophie Lennon in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and Sazz Pataki, Steve Martin’s character’s stunt double, in “Only Murders in the Building.”
Sackson (Tyrel Jackson Williams)
Sackson is an aspiring influencer new to the Party Down team. He fits right into the group, trying to pursue personal interests while at work, like creating content and getting sponsor deals.
Williams played Leo Dooley in Disney’s “Lab Rats.” He also played Charles in “Brockmire.” More recently he has portrayed Jessie in “Thunder Force” (2021) and Terrell in “Hollywood Stargirl” (2022).
Evie Adler (Jennifer Garner)
Evie runs into Henry at Kyle’s celebration party for landing his big movie role. She works in Hollywood and recognizes Henry from his commercial acting days. Her boyfriend Jack Botty works with Kyle in the same superhero franchise universe.
Jennifer Garner is most well-known for playing Elektra Natchios in “Daredevil” (2003), Jenna Rink in “13 Going on 30” (2004), Vanessa Loring in “Juno” and Sydney Bristow in the TV series “Alias.” She also played Julia Fitzpatrick in “Valentine’s Day” (2010), Cindy Green in “The Odd Life of Timothy Green” (2012), Eve in “Dallas Buyers Club” (2013), Emily in “Love, Simon” (2018) and Elli Reed in “The Adam Project” (2022). She is set to star in Apple TV+ and Hello Sunshine’s adaptation of “The Last Thing He Told Me” out in May 2023.
Lucy Dang (Zoe Chao)
Lucy Dang is the new chef hired by Ron to make hip new foods and hors d’œuvres. She is quite the artist when it comes to her pastries, challenging people to feel things with the food she makes.
Zoe Chao most recently appeared as Minka in “Your Place Or Mine.” She is most well-known for playing Zoë in “The Afterparty,” Sara Yang in “Love Life” and Rosie in “Downhill.” She appeared in “Where’d You Go Bernadette” as Soo-Lin, and she also played Isobel in “Strangers.”
Jack Botty (James Marsden)
Jack Botty is also an actor, but more of a movie star than Kyle. They work together in their shared superhero movie franchise. Jack also loves to invest his hard earned cash, so Evie convinces him to do that with Party Down.
James Marsden is most well known for playing Scott Summers in “X-Men” (2000), Richard White in “Superman Returns” (206) Corny Collins in “Hairspray” (2007) and Prince Edward in “Enchanted” (2007). He more recently reprised his role of Edward in “Disenchanted” (2022), and has appeared in TV series like “Westworld” and “Dead to Me.”
