‘Emily in Paris’ Boss on Emily’s New Adventure and “Up and Down” Relationship After Season 4

[This story containts spoilers from Emily in Paris season four, part two.]

Emily Cooper’s Roman holiday took her not only on a vacation, but also on a new adventure in love and life.

Emily in Paris season four, part one ended with Emily (Lily Collins) and Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) in a great place. They had just told each other they loved one another and Camille (Camille Razat) had moved out of Gabriel’s apartment, so he and his new girlfriend could finally be alone. But, of course, it wouldn’t be Emily in Paris if that blissful happiness lasted.

After about a one-month hiatus, part two (now streaming on Netflix) returned, and the first episode caught up with the couple spending Christmas Eve together with Camille’s family in Megève after Emily’s flight to Chicago gets canceled. Gabriel leaves her at the top of a ski slope to chase after Camille, leaving her stranded on the mountain until a mysterious Italian man helps her down. When she reaches Gabriel, she ends their relationship because she’s tired of coming in second place to Camille.

“Sometimes they have amazing chemistry and an amazing connection and yet, they’ve got some obstacles,” Emily in Paris creator Darren Star tells The Hollywood Reporter of the short-lived fairytale. “And maybe Emily and Gabriel aren’t meant to be for now. Maybe they will be for later.”

Later in the season, the mysterious Italian man from Megève, aka Marcello Umberti (Eugenio Franceschini), returns and sweeps Emily off her feet. After a great date in Paris, she visits him in Rome and then his small town of Solitano, where his family produces some of the finest cashmere in the world.

“I wanted to bring in a new love interest for Emily that would feel like a fresh start after all of the drama with Gabriel,” Star explained of the love interest. “Marcello comes into Emily’s life in an unexpected way and opens the door to so many possibilities for Emily: new country, new culture, new adventure.”

Emily in Paris season four then ends with Agence Grateau launching a Rome office, which Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) wants Emily to lead, giving her a reason to stay in Italy near her new beau. Mindy is headed to Shanghai to serve as a judge on Chinese Popstar, which caused her self-inflicted exile from China. Camille is adopting a baby and is going to be a single mom. And Gabriel is on his way to Rome after an emotional conversation with Alfie (Lucien Laviscount) that helped him realize that he’s losing out on the “greatest girl in the world” because of his pride.

Below, Star opens up about what’s to come from this new Emily-Gabriel-Marcello love triangle and the possibility of more Rome in Emily in Paris‘ future while awaiting a season five renewal.

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Over the course of the last few seasons, I was finding it harder to sympathize with Camille (Camille Razat) until the end of season four, where she redeemed herself a bit. What was your thought process with her?

I think Camille definitely felt like she was on her own. She was thinking about the baby that she was having with Gabriel and where that might lead the two of them. She’s someone who really was, at the end of last season, confused and unsure of what she wanted to do and where she wanted to go. And after sort of having a moment to think things through and try to figure things out for herself, I think she thought she was obviously going to be having a baby with Gabriel, and that they were gonna be part of each other’s lives. I don’t think it was necessarily an intentional plan or a plot to be with him, but I do feel there was a sense they would be connected and bonded through this baby, and I think it was a huge disappointment to discover that, in fact, she wasn’t pregnant.

We found out early on in part two that Alfie (Lucien Laviscount) moved on, and I was torn because I really happy for him, but was also hoping Emily (Lily Collins) and Alfie would get back together. Why did it hit Emily so hard?

I think everything hit her. She just thought, at that moment she made every wrong decision. And I think she really loved Alfie. Alfie had a moment where they could have stayed together and been together at the beginning of the season, and I felt Emily realized, OK, maybe her heart is with Gabriel. It was like a series of circumstances. I think Emily was happy for him and just unhappy for the fact that she ended up alone on Christmas with nobody.

It seemed like when Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) left Emily on the top of the mountain in Megève that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Why was that, in her mind, such a big deal?

I think she realized she was always going to be second place in his priorities, and she just didn’t want to continue that way. There was a chance after that moment, there could have been a bit of a reconciliation. There was a moment where, from Gabriel’s point of view, a lot of their relationship was always about Emily. And I think there’s a really important scene where they have a fight and, basically, he tells her that their whole relationship is conducted in another language and they don’t communicate, and they don’t really know each other. He and Camille have had a big history, and it’s not that Gabriel didn’t want to be with Emily, but I also think he made a point of how it was very in his mind. There was a lot of the relationship that was very one-sided.

Now that you mention that scene, it was really impactful. And then, of course, Genevieve (Thalia Besson) comes in and makes it even worse, but whatever. (Laughs)

(Laughs) I think that scene was really important. It’s the first time we really heard from Gabriel about how things felt from his point of view. And I think he was trying to juggle a lot. He was trying to, for a while, maintain a relationship with Emily and keep this idea that he was going to be a responsible father and partner to a child he was supposedly having with Camille, which he thought he could have it all and do it all. He had a big disappointment discovering that wasn’t going to happen. But at the same time, I think it felt like Emily was treating him unfairly.

Do you ever worry about keeping Emily and Gabriel apart so much that people will eventually be like, “I don’t even want them together anymore”?

I don’t know. I think that real relationships have a lot of ups and downs, and so there’s a point at which, yes, the audience could see them together. But then the show would be Emily and Gabriel happy together. And I’m not sure that’s the show anybody really wants to see, either. So I think that sometimes they have amazing chemistry and amazing connection, and yet they’ve got some obstacles. And maybe Emily and Gabriel aren’t meant to be for now. Maybe they will be for later.

I honestly loved Marcello (Eugenio Franceschini) and Emily and found myself, at times, wanting her to move on from Gabriel and move forward with Marcello. What was your goal in introducing him?

I wanted to bring in a new love interest for Emily that would feel like a fresh start after all of the drama with Gabriel. Marcello comes into Emily’s life in an unexpected way and opens the door to so many possibilities for Emily: new country, new culture, new adventure.

That last conversation between Gabriel and Alfie in Paris had me in tears over Alfie telling him that he was letting his pride get in the way of “the greatest girl ever.” Tell me about that scene.

I think Alfie really cares about Emily and I think that, in the end, he felt like, maybe Gabriel and Emily are really meant to be together, and he understands how much pride and miscommunication got in the way of their relationship. He doesn’t want Gabriel to make the mistake he made, because I think pride got in the way of his relationship with Emily. And maybe there was a point where he could have stepped up and said, “I don’t care. I want to be with you, and you’re the person I want to be with.” And he had a moment to do that and he didn’t take it, and I think he didn’t want Gabriel to basically make the mistake that he did.

In the final moments of season four, it seemed like a sort of rebranding of Emily in Paris to Emily in Rome. So if/when you get renewed for season five, is that something you’re looking to explore further?

We’ll spend some time in Rome. But she did not change her Instagram handle to Emily in Rome.

She almost did.

She didn’t. I mean, Agence Grateau opened an office in Rome. They can be in more than one city, and Emily can spend time in Rome. She can spend time in Paris, too. She’s not leaving Paris.

Emily in Paris season four is now streaming on Netflix.