Tina Fey Addresses if Her Beloved Co-Star, 62, Will Return in ‘The Four Seasons’ Season 2

The Four Seasonsmade an immediate impression when it premiered on Netflix this May. Co-created byTina Fey, the series rebooted the 1981 rom-com movie of the same name, taking some creative liberties with the original story. One of the most significant departures was the death of Nick (played bySteve Carell) in the penultimate episode. Nick is a pivotal character whose divorce from his wife, Anne, serves as the catalyst that fractures the group dynamic among the six longtime friends. That plot turn was originally designed to serve as a self-contained story, as the series was first conceived as a limited run. Butwith the show’s popularity prompting a renewal, fans have begun to wonder if, perhaps, Carell’s Nick will return for Season 2, and now Fey has addressed those concerns.

Carell is an amazing performerwhose charm can easily elevate a show, and the case was no different withThe Four Seasons. His impact wasn’t lost on the creators, who have openly admitted to regretting the decision to kill off his character. “We regretted it immediately,” said co-creatorTracey Wigfieldinher recent interview with Collider. “When we were shooting the show, and it was too late, we were like, “Why have we done this?…We made a terrible error.” Those regrets led to a desire to have Carell return in a flashback, as teased by co-creatorLang Fisherin the same interview, which was conducted prior to the renewal. “I think that if there are future seasons, hopefully,there are ways we can do flashbacks or incorporate him againbecause he is one of a kind,” he said. However, bringing back Carell might not be so simple.

With the creators’wish for another seasonnow fulfilled, Fey is hinting that the story might move forward without Nick returning in any form. In a recent interview with Deadline, Fey revealed thatthe writers' room for Season 2 has been active for about a month, with the team figuring out how to advance the story “without the template of the original movie” and exploring “what can happen that still feels in scale and realistic, but also entertaining.” Her comments suggest meaningful progress is being made on the script, but when asked directly whether there’s still room for Carell in flashback form, Fey gave a carefully measured response. “I couldn’t possibly say,” she said. “We have our format. I mean, of the many mistakes I’ve made in my career, killing him will hopefully go down as the biggest."

‘The Four Seasons’ Season 2 Will Stick to Season 1’s Format

The series centers on three couples who reunite four times a year, each time in a different setting, to catch up and reconnect. The core ensemble includes Carell’s Nick, who’s married to Anne (Kerri Kenney-Silver), at least until their eventual divorce;Colman Domingo’s Danny and his husband, Claude (Marco Calvani); andWill Forte’s insecure Jack, who’s married to Kate, played by Fey. The show deliberately limits its scope to these shared getaways, but through their conversations andensuing conflicts, viewers get a rundown of the moments we don’t see. Speaking about the format,Fey revealed that this approach will continue in future seasons.She explained:

“Well, one of the things we like about it is what we kept calling the container plate of it. The game of, we only see them on vacation. We only see them throughout the year. And again, I will say, to address the internet directly, these are not all lavish vacations. The writers were like, “Some people say, ‘Who takes four vacations a year?’ I was like, “Well, they go to their friend’s house, visit their kid at college, they go away on a vacation and then they go away to, I guess what is a local ski weekend. I don’t ski, so I don’t know if people do that more than once a year,but we definitely want to keep the format of only seeing them when they’re together, only seeing them over four occasions.”