Tina Fey shares how Steve Carell reacted when she pitched his Four Seasons character Nick’s fate
The series co-creator and actress also dished on why she and the writers decided to add a major character’s death at the end of the season
Fey shared that the writers room is already underway for season 2 after Netflix announced the series’ renewal earlier this month
Warning: this story contains spoilers from season 1 of The Four Seasons.
When Tina Fey pitched Steve Carell about the fate of his The Four Seasons character, it was all too familiar territory for the star.
While opening up about the unexpected reception she has received for co-creating and starring in Netflix comedy, the actress, 55, opened up about one of the series’ most shocking moments and revealed how it came to be.
The show is a new take on Alan Alda’s beloved 1981 film of the same name. It follows three pairs of couples — Nick (Carell) and Anne (Kerri Kenney-Silver), Kate (Fey) and Jack (Will Forte) and Danny (Colman Domingo) and Claude (Marco Calvani) — as the breakdown of Nick and Anne’s marriage leaves the group of more than 30 years “completely upended” and trickles into each of the four vacations they take that year. After their divorce, Nick begins dating a much younger woman, Ginny (Erika Henningsen).
Francisco Roman/Netflix© 2024
Erica Henningsen as Ginny, Steve Carell as Nick, Tina Fey as Kate, Colman Domingo as Danny, Will Forte as Jack, and Marco Calvani as Claude in Episode 104 of The Four Seasons.
In a surprise twist in the season’s penultimate episode, Nick dies in a car crash. When Fey first told Carell about his character’s fate, she revealed to The Hollywood Reporter how the actor reacted.
“He was like, ‘Why does this keep happening to me?’” she recalled, adding that Carell’s The Morning Show character was given a similar ending. “I didn’t know that when we pitched it, so that’s on me. But I dug my heels in.”
She continued of the writers’ decision to add a major character’s death, “We felt like at the time that everything was sort of grounded and human scale in terms of story, and we were like we do want something to happen, and that is a thing that happens to humans.”
Earlier this month, Netflix renewedThe Four Seasons for a second season. Fey also told the outlet that the writer’s room for the upcoming season is already underway.
“It’s been really nice, we have the same exact writing staff and it’s already been really interesting for us to come together and share experiences, not just talk about the previous season but also our own lives,” she said. “The writers have been very generous — a lot of what you saw in season one, a lot is obviously from the movie but a lot also came from all of our lives.” She also added that without the movie to provide a template as in the first season, “we are kind of starting from scratch.”
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The Four Seasons can be streamed on Netflix.
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