“I don’t know if she’s hit a million yet,” he said. Lily Collins, social media speculation accumulated by Emily in ParisEmily, a Chicago marketing genius turned partying Parisienne, is the character the actor has played for five years. “I feel like there’s going to be a million people celebrating. Emily loves to do it big.” (For the record, Collins estimates Emily has around 600,000 followers, which is nothing to sneeze at.)
While Collins’ character, the lead of Netflix’s half-hour romantic comedy, certainly loves to celebrate, the series’ fourth season—which will be split into two parts this summer; the first five episodes have already debuted—will see her cheerful, type-A character get a little messier. “I’m excited that this season you really get to see Emily feel all the emotions and fall apart, not always look perfect, and be really vulnerable,” Collins says. FOR EXAMPLE‘S Still watching podcast. “I think this season we’re going to see her be more complicated, and be okay with being more complicated.”
Complex is probably not the right word to describe it. Emily in Paris, created by Sex and the City mastermind Darren Starr; The show is largely a joke. But to sustain a series for such a long time, you have to find new dimensions. So Emily is facing some tough situations in season four, exploring more facets of her personality. She’s also causing some trouble. “It’s fun to play someone who rocks the boat a little bit,” Collins says.
Collins is excited for season four to be more than just rocking and swaying around the City of Light. But it can be difficult to film more dramatic scenes when shooting on the streets of Paris, where onlookers are free to stare. “There were moments where I broke down in public. On the show, it’s private, but it’s public because there are people watching,” Collins says. “How do you really get that private, intimate moment when there’s an audience that doesn’t have any context for the scene?”
From what we can see, she’s handling it pretty well. And anyway, despite being a bit serious at times, Emily in Paris It’s still a feast. But will season four be our last? Collins is as clueless as the rest of us. “We don’t know if we’re going to get to season five,” Collins says. “We don’t even know what the ending is when we start a season, because we don’t know where the season ends.” At the very least, Collins can tease that there will be some surprises in the second half of season four. “There won’t be Emily in Paris without having to drop any more bombs.”
And if there is a season five? Collins has some ideas for where the show could go. For starters, forget Paris. “Honestly, I’d love to see Emily in Tokyo,” she muses. That sounds great to us—as long as she eventually returns to the city that made her nearly a million dollars.
To hear the full conversation with Collins, listen to the episode above or wherever you get your podcasts.
