Known to audiences as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Midge defied 1950s social conventions to develop her identity as a comedian, with a touch of rudeness that was only accepted for men, and is about to discover the real success. She must be ready because she only has nine episodes left to get it: the fifth season, which lands this Friday on Amazon Prime Video, is the last one. Is the end.
It's not the only critically adored series to say goodbye in the coming months. Chance leads to the fact that, according to critics and the Emmy Awards, the best leave and, precisely because of their status, they do so on their own terms: a club also made up of Succession, Barry, The Crown and, as everything indicates , Ted Lasso.
Amy Sherman-Palladino, creator of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, was always clear where she wanted to end. “We had a very specific image in our heads of what we wanted to do, what was beautiful, and it worked,” she told Today.
In his career with Maisel, there was no shortage of recognition that had resisted him with Gilmore Girls: he won the Emmy for best comedy series, writing and directing in 2018 with Rachel Brosnahan and Kate Borstein crowned as lead and supporting actress. Borstein, in addition, would repeat as a winner in the following edition in which Tony Shalhoub obtained the statuette for best secondary.
In the case of Succession, its author Jesse Armstrong always imagined that his story would have three or four seasons but had never made a final decision until he began writing the scripts for the fourth season, currently airing on HBO Max. Start point? A billionaire patriarch put his children in a competitive situation: pitting themselves against each other to inherit control of Waystar Royco, the family-owned media conglomerate.
Armstrong had previously "discovered potential storylines and character dynamics" that required them to extend the series but, after seeing where it was headed, realized he needed to wrap it up. The other alternative was to “make the show something quite different” and, like Dallas, turn the play into a new routine about elites and power where “there would be good weeks and bad weeks.”
He preferred to close a compact story that has the American television academy standing with two Emmys for best dramatic series, three for best script for Armstrong, one for directing and the statuette for best actor for Jeremy Strong as Kendall, the son with addiction problems, and another for Matthew Macfadyen as secondary, the son-in-law willing to do anything to rise in his father-in-law's company. At the moment, the third episode has already left its audience disconcerted due to its nerve and drama when it comes to introducing a key script twist to begin to say goodbye to the main conflict: the succession.
And, due to arrive this Monday, Barry also kicks off his farewell tour on HBO Max. This Marine turned hitman with a ridiculous need to be an actor has always been in favor with critics, enthused by the meta-interpretative commentary of the story, a sense of black humor and the contrasts of genres, moving between the comedy, drama and action.
In this case, Bill Hader, creator and protagonist, also unexpectedly met the end of the story. “A very clear ending presented itself,” he said of the development process for the fourth season, which he wrote during a production hiatus on the third season during the pandemic. Knowing this, with the other creator, Alec Berg, they tweaked the scripts for the third season to lead it to its conclusion.
"What happens in season four is structurally radical, but it made sense because of what I think the characters need to go through, and where I think the show has always been headed," he revealed. It remains to be seen if the final factor contributes to winning the Emmy for best comedy but, for now, it stands out for Hader's two Emmys as the lead and Henry Winkler's as supporting actor.
The Crown, on the other hand, is one of those that had things clear: when Netflix bought Peter Morgan's project, it agreed to the production of six seasons. In autumn it must conclude on the platform with the death of Lady Di, currently played by Elizabeth Debicki, and the last decades of the reign of Elizabeth II, which has the face of Imelda Staunton, who took over from Claire Foy and Olivia Colman.
The coronation of The Crown as a series, for the record, was in 2021 when it won the Emmy for best drama and swept everything: direction for Jessica Hobbs, script for Peter Morgan, actor for Josh O'Connor, supporting roles for Gillian Anderson and Tobias Menzies , in addition to the award to Colman. The accolades were added to wins for John Lithgow as a supporting actor for the first season and Stephen Daldry's directing and playing Foy for the second.
The only important series that has to say goodbye this 2023 and has not yet formally announced it is Ted Lasso, which the American media rumors that it was written thinking it would be the last because Jason Sudeikis, protagonist, co-creator, screenwriter and producer, wants to focus on other projects that do not take him away from the United States, where he has his family.
What are you waiting for? To confirm how the sports comedy can continue after the departure of the actor, who earned a million dollars per episode for interpreting and developing coach Lasso creatively. Taking into account that it is the most popular series on Apple TV, which is now broadcasting its third season, and that it has swept the Emmys twice, it does not want to lose its tool to gain visibility in the industry and among the public.
Actress Hannah Waddingham has already openly reported that she is willing to continue playing the character of Rebecca, the president of the Richmond football club, in a spin-off if offered. Everything depends, it seems, on the contract negotiations between Apple, Sony Pictures and the talent, and to what extent the main creatives, among whom are Sudeikis, Brett Goldstein, Bill Lawrence or Brendan Hunt, see the creation of a sequel without Coach Lasso.
Between the first two seasons of Ted Lasso, the feel-good comedy accumulates two Emmy Awards for Best Comedy, two for Sudeikis as an actor and another two for Goldstein as a supporting role and a statuette for Waddingham as a supporting role and for M.J. Delaney for the address.
