Doors!
The third season of the Emmy-winning dramedy The Bear premieres at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on Wednesday, June 26 on Hulu (note to fans eager to see what’s cooking in the kitchen: this means that your reservation is now three hours earlier than expected).
Jeremy Allen White as Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto in The Bear on Hulu. (Photo by FX)
The cast was mum on a lot of details for The Bear’s third season when they participated in a press conference on Monday. But one thing star Jeremy Allen White could confirm is that his character, the somewhat self-destructive head chef Carmy, does “get out of the walk-in refrigerator” he was trapped in at the end of last season.
But is the refrigerator still a metaphor for Carmy’s inability to get out of his own way? Yep.
“Carmy does what he does, which is he buries himself back into his work and and really tries to challenge himself,” White said. “And in doing so, it really challenges everybody around him. And I think he becomes quite challenging to be around.”
Here’s what is (and isn’t) on the menu this season:
No Romance for Carmy and Sydney
Ayo Edebiri as Sydney Adamu and Jeremy Allen White as Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto in the third season of the Hulu dramedy The Bear. (Photo by FX)
Last season brought a lot of speculation from viewers as to whether or not sous chef Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri) had feelings for her boss, especially because of the way she seemed to react to him finding the time to date outside of the office (a former childhood friend named Claire, portrayed by Molly Gordon). Things only intensified in the lead-in to this season when gossip sleuths debated whether or not the actors were dating in real life.
White said during the press conference that it was never the season 2 writers’ intention to hint at an attraction between the two, noting that “there is no talk in the [writers] room about any romantic implications.”
Edebiri said that this season is more about a professional partnership for the chefs, as they agree to be equals in their business venture.
“Carmy is somebody that she’s really looked up to but now is in the thick of doing business with,” she said. “It’s a lot more chaotic than she might have idealized before they really started working together.”
White said the business proposition is a “grand gesture” on Carmy’s part to “try and communicate to Syd or the kitchen or whoever.”
“He’s got a lot going on in his mind all the time and people aren’t always aware of exactly what’s going on,” White says. “You’ll see how obviously that affects Carmen and Syd’s relationship. I think Carmen’s trying to welcome her in a little bit was the point of the partnership agreement.”
Similarly, Edebiri dismissed talk of any budding romance between her character and Lionel Boyce’s pastry chef Marcus, stating that “you’ll just have to watch.”
Grief Is Still Very Much a Theme
Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Richard “Richie” Jerimovich in Hulu’s The Bear. (Photo by FX)
The impetus for The Bear is that Carmy, a trained chef in the fine dining scene, returns to Chicago to save his family’s restaurant after his brother Michael (Jon Bernthal) takes his own life. In returning home, he digs up old issues with his sister Natalie (Abby Elliott) and his “cousin” (although not actually a blood relation), Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach).
Elliott said that, for her character, “she’s processing her grief and she’s about to become a mother; she’s pregnant.”
“She’s grappling with the fact that her brother had this horrible demise and and her relationship with with her mom and her [other] brother there is not in a good place,” she said of Natalie.
Meanwhile, Moss-Bachrach noted that “One of the strengths of the show, and one of the reasons that it’s connected with so many people, is grief is the river that runs through all of us.”
“This is maybe one of the only common things that we all share in the human experience,” he added.
Carmy and Richie’s relationship was not in a good place at the end of The Bear’s sophomore season. Going into season 3, White said that “Carmy is continuing to do what he does best, which is be incredibly avoidant of all the issues that he has going on.”
Edebiri Directs an Episode This Season
Ayo Edebiri as Sydney Adamu in Hulu’s The Bear. (Photo by FX)
Most episodes of The Bear are directed by creator Christopher Storer. This season, Edebiri gets to step behind the scenes and direct the season’s sixth episode.
She called the experience a “blast” and noted that “it’s a dream to get to work with our crew as an actor, and so then, by extension with directing, that feeling was only amplified.”
She said it was largely a mutual decision between her and the the producers about what episode she’d direct. The actors read all the scripts ahead of time and Edebiri said she responded so strongly to this episode that she told Storer, “I will literally give you my first-born child who does not exist yet” to be able to helm that one.
The Bear: Season 3
(2024)
premieres June 26 on Hulu.
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