Can you say when we might see Fran and Michaela reunite in season five?
I will say that Masali [Baduza, who plays Michaela] is in season five, and we will definitely explore more about that character.
When do you anticipate we’ll find out who the new lead of season five will be?
I would say that, historically, we do an announcement close to the start of production or soon after the start of production. We’re not too far away from that, so people will know soon enough.
By the way, I loved your look at the season four premiere in Paris and the nod to Eloise and Francesca with their initials. That was so fun.
Thank you. The secret of that is that the E and the F are actually just the initials of the designer of the suit…
Stop it. Are you kidding me?
No. The designer is Elisabetta Franchi.
Oh my God. Did you see that everybody ran with it and assumed you were paying homage to the next two seasons?
Yes. My partner beforehand was like, “Oh, that’s funny. Those are the initials of Eloise and Francesca.” I was like, “Oh yeah, great.”
Jess, that’s amazing.
Both things could be true. It felt fated. Meant to be.
So going back to this fourth season, what was the most challenging part in bringing the second half to life?
The thing, rightly so, that we worked the hardest to pay off was to have Benedict earn Sophie back. It’s been really interesting to see fans reacting with so much outrage. We expected that, and that’s certainly something that he deserves in that moment, but I’m hopeful that in the back half, people are getting a little bit more of an explanation around the stakes for the family and what may have led Benedict to make that decision, but also that he does the work to earn his way back to Sophie. Finding that line of letting him make a mistake, but then making sure that he became a worthy romantic hero in the back half, was something we really worked hard on.