Emily in Paris creator, Star tease what awaits viewers in ‘biggest season’ yet
MANILA, Philippines — Season 3 of Netflix’s Emily in Paris is ready to say bonjour!
Ahead of the show’s streaming return on Dec. 21, The STAR joined a virtual chat with creator Darren Star and actor Lucas Bravo who portrays Gabriel — the love interest of Emily (played by Lily Collins) — about what to expect in what has been touted as Emily in Paris’ “biggest season yet.”
The third season is set one year after Emily relocated from Chicago to Paris for her dream job. She now finds herself standing at a critical crossroads in both her career and love life. She will be forced to examine her loyalties and make hard decisions that will determine her future in France, while immersing herself in the twists and turns, fashion and lifestyle that living in the French capital provides.
“This season, Emily is much more involved and invested in making her life specifically in Paris, and figuring out what that means. She’s fully pursuing a new relationship with (Season 2 love interest) Alfie (Lucien Laviscount) — but there’s still this mutual attraction with Gabriel that haunts both of them,” showrunner Darren, who’s also directing the third season, further teased.
“She gets to expand her presence at work this season, too, and she has some big choices to make in terms of where her loyalty falls. Emily really grows and matures this season, and she works so hard to become part of the French world, and working on her French language skills. She’s going through the experience that any expat goes through when they start spending time in Paris: the French way of life starts to seep into them. Emily becomes more of a citizen of Paris as the season evolves.”
Apart from Lily (who’s also a producer on the show), Lucien and Lucas, returning regulars are Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Ashley Park, Camille Razat, Samuel Arnold, Bruno Gouery and William Abadie.
Meanwhile, after three seasons of being one of the male leads, Lucas is definitely feeling the impact of the show on his life. He most recently starred as the hunky boyfriend of Julia Roberts in the Hollywood romantic-comedy Ticket to Paradise. The actor also caused a stir even amongst local celebs last month when he was the very special guest at the 75th anniversary of the France-Philippines relations and the 25th edition of the French Film Festival in the country.
“It just brought me visibility and the ability to work with people I’ve admired for a long time. Get access to scripts, you know, the very interesting scripts,” Lucas responded to this paper’s question about how his career has changed since being cast in the series.
“I mean, I’m still auditioning, I’m still going through the struggle of the actor on a daily basis, but (Emily in Paris) just gives me a bit of confidence as well. Because it’s a job where you always face rejection and so, it feels good to feel legitimate and then to be able to project into the future and know that there’s a new season coming or a script or project being produced or something on the way, So, it brought me peace and opportunities.”
One journo asked Lucas if he was as good a cook as his hottie chef character Gabriel. “I cook, I think, above average. I did the omelette in Season 1. It’s just an omelette but made with love. I flipped it, did you see that? It takes a lot of practice,” he quipped.
Both he and Darren were also asked to name their favorite scenes in the upcoming season. The latter said, “I would have to say, the balloons… I wasn’t in one… but to see those (three or four hot air) balloons go up, it was just breathtaking. And you know, we did it at six in the morning and it was just surreal.”
For Lucas, it was the season-ender. “I think my favorite scene was the last scene because of the atmosphere that was on set that day. And how concentrated and focused everybody was to make it the best possible ending to the season. I like it when we’re all, you know, coming together as one single energy to make this show the best and as good as it can be. I really loved that scene,” he said without going into detail.
Nevertheless, weighing in on the success of the show, Lucas furnished the press with the reasons — or “ingredients,” as he put it — as to why the last two seasons were a global hit. First of all, Lucas credited the showrunner, who in case you don’t know also served as the creator and executive producer of such iconic US television shows Sex and The City, Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place.
“I knew Darren’s work, everything he touches turns to magic,” he said.
“I knew Lily and I was a fan of her before that. I knew also that Paris had never been filmed from, you know, that perspective, that point of view. It’s a very particular point of view where everything is more beautiful and enhanced,” he continued.
“And also, Netflix has this global reach that makes everything travel faster and wider. And so, for that matter, I knew that we would get an audience but I couldn’t… it was impossible for me to anticipate that kind of response. I think it came at a time when people couldn’t travel and were stuck at home, and it was the perfect escapism.”
For the 10-episode third season, Darren wants audiences to escape and embark on another journey with Emily in Paris.
“I want the audience to feel like they’ve gone on this great journey with our characters and then by the end of the season, they’re excited and anxious to see Season 4. That they want that and that they want to know more and see what’s gonna happen next,” he said.
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