Valerie Cherish returns! 20 years after the series’ debut on HBO, “The Comeback” starring Lisa Kudrow is back for its third and final season. This time, Valerine Cherish will face the rise of AI in Hollywood. Kudrow, alongside show co-creator Michael Patrick King, held a press conference at Warner Bros. Studio to discuss the series’ return. Here are five things we learned:
This Season Is Not Just About Hollywood vs AI
While Valerie does contend with AI this season, it isn’t always the show’s main throughline. It also touches on the scarcity of jobs in the entertainment industry, as well as one’s ability to keep their job.
MICHAEL PATRICK KING: It goes a little bit more than just about Hollywood. We felt that the world may have escalated to the point of the desperation that Valerie was in in the first season.
LISA KUDROW: Not because of AI.
MICHAEL PATRICK KING: Not because of AI, but because of where the world is, and people are desperate to get a job, and keep a job. And as you age, you have to think about ‘How am I coming across?’ ‘Can I get hired?’ And a lot of the characters in this season are clinging and still reaching for job identity and recognition. All of them, really.
The Ending of Season Two Was Risky
The finale of season two sees Valerie leaving the camera behind, and her ability to do so means she can finally prioritize her family and live in the moment. With the return of the third season and Valerie with a new perspective, Co-creator Michael Patrick King speaks on living up to that moment.
MICHAEL PATRICK KING: The end of season two was a risk, because we got to the point where we followed Valerie as far as she could go as a person in a reality show, and then we wanted to take another step to make her a little bit more human or show that side of her. So when we left all the cameras behind, you know, any big creative thing, you don’t think about like, well, ‘How are we gonna live up to this?’ Once she stepped away from those cameras, because people kind of would [gasps] and that was exciting, and then when we came back to do The Comeback again, we had to think about–we can’t take
away the real world for Valerie. We have to find a way to three-card monte or shell game this so that there’s so many different cameras that the audience can get, hopefully, used to going from traditional Comeback coverage, like the dot cams, to the addition of the iPhones, to the addition of the security cams. To the addition of cinematic realness, which is where you see Valerie and Mark sort of without any awareness of cameras. And that was the risk this season, Valerie without a camera awareness.
“Friends” Easter Egg
Viewers might find a couple of “Friends” references in the show. Kudrow, who famously played Phoebe, talks about the Easter Eggs and reveals that “The Comeback” filmed on the same stage as “Friends.”
LISA KUDROW: Couldn’t help it, we were shooting on the Friends Stage. You know, and I don’t know, it just felt like there was an easy joke there that Valerie didn’t even pay—she was only looking at the movies on the plaque—she didn’t even see the TV shows and just, you know, like “We’re gonna be the first hit for stage 24!” [laughter] You know. Right. Friends was a hit.
MICHAEL PATRICK KING: We were mostly interested in how close we could get to Valerie actually saying the word Friends.
On Valerie’s Growth This Season
Kudrow talks about Valerie’s growth since the audience last saw her ten years ago – what has changed and where the show finds her now.
LISA KUDROW: She aged 10 years. But I, I think, I don’t, it’s that—to me, it feels like a natural aging process and it wasn’t just, ‘How did she age?’ You know, she had won an Emmy. So, we filled in with, there were some opportunities for her and a lot of things that didn’t work out, you know, um, but there’s like slightly more confidence. But still the desperation, ‘cause she hadn’t worked. I mean, remember the strike and there was nothing happening. And after the strike, it was like, great, everyone’s going back. ‘What’s happening?’ ‘Where is it?’ There’s nothing, nothing showed up to do. So, you know, she’s been adrift for a few years when we meet her again. Which is right where we want her.
Will there be a fourth season?
The third season of “The Comeback” marks the end of the series, but one can’t help but wonder if Valerie Cherish could make another return, perhaps in digital form? Unfortunately, both Kudrow and King confirmed the end of the series, though Kudrow joked that Valerie could come back digitally.
MICHAEL PATRICK KING: It took us 11 years for the key to show up. So, come on. I
mean, Lisa did make a joke earlier. At some point she said, “Sure, Valerie will be digital.
She can come back all you want.”
“The Comeback” season 3 will debut on HBO March 22 at 10:30 PM ET, and will be available ot stream on HBO Max. The final season will have 8 episodes, releasing weekly.
