With Season 4 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel premiering its first two episodes on Friday, Feb. 18, our heroines are heading back to the city with their tails between their legs to an unknown future. It’s now 1960 on the series and, adorned with some of the most spectacular clothing and accessories ever (as she always has been), Midge is again picking up the pieces of her life with great pluck and determination and taking us along for a glorious and gorgeous ride. Brosnahan says she understands why fans relate to Midge’s story: She’s become a role model for the hard knocks many of us face, but have to get back up and try, try, again. “Midge is discovering new talent; a new passion. In the second season, she’s figuring out how that reaches people,” Brosnahan exclusively tells Parade. “In the third season she’s trying to figure out how to turn that into a career. In the fourth season, that career bit her in some way and she’s now trying to figure out who she is within all of this space that she’s created for herself. She wants to keep carving it out.” Read on to find out what Rachel Brosnahan and Alex Borstein exclusively told Parade about their close friendship, deepening characters and what we have to look forward to in Season 4.
What do Maisel fans have to look forward to in Season 4?
Brosnahan: There are a lot of new characters in this season so our world continues to grow and expand. There are a lot of new styles of comedy from Midge. I would say that Midge finds herself in a new space, without giving too much away. A new space, a new lane. She is further figuring out how and when and why and where she wants to use her voice. Borstein: I think what you can expect to see from Susie, in particular, is that she goes through a lot of different levels. She is on a bit of an emotional roller coaster this season. There are new characters in her world. Susie Myerson and Associates become a reality, so she has someone working with her. She’s got new clients and she’s trying to create a foundation and a wider base so she can grow taller and grander.
Marin Hinkle, who plays Midge’s mom, has said that the characters and the storylines are going deeper in Season 4. What can you tell usabout that?
Brosnahan: Yes, that’s true. This season finds every single character on the show literally digging deeper and carving out their own space and their own path for themselves. We get to know them more intimately—which, four seasons into a show, is a dream and also a feat. Borstein: I think it’s not just deeper but wider for Susie. She literally has to cast a much wider net, because she realizes she can’t depend solely on Midge because she is unpredictable. So, while Susie believes in her completely, it was a good lesson to learn at the end of Season 3 that she’d better diversify and cast a wider net.
How do you relate in your career and your personal life to Midge’s journey of having to start over after being knocked down?
Brosnahan: I’m sure it’s still coming to me. I don’t know that I’ve had an experience that mirrors this, but an experience that I can relate to in Midge’s journey is that in the first season she’s discovering a new talent. I definitely know and I am familiar with the feeling of having reached a certain goal and then figuring out what the next goal is. And to figure out who you want to be within all of that. Those are questions that I’m asking myself constantly as I move forward and as my platform and reach grow and as I continue to create what I hope is an interesting and dynamic career for myself that I’m sharing with other people. I think every artist faces that at some point, that question of who you want to be inside the thing. Borstein: Yes, you’re never done in this business. You look at all these people thinking it must be nice for so-and-so to have achieved everything they want to achieve. There’s just no such thing. It’s constantly moving, it’s this amoeba. For me, I rebuild all the time. I have two kids, so every day is a failure and I rebuild every evening and every morning. I’m very familiar with being wildly disappointed and having to pick up the pieces.
How does your personal friendship inform Susie and Midge after working so closely for four years?
Brosnahan: Yes, I think we have similar values. We care a lot about what we’re doing when we’re doing it. I think Alex said it best earlier. We know what to expect when we’re working together. We know that we can bring a scene to life, we know approximately how long it will take, we know what we’re each going to get pissed off about in the process and sort of have a shorthand that’s developed over time that’s so valuable, not only to the show but also to us. Borstein: I’d say it’s pretty similar. We’re thrust together in this project, as we were on Maisel, and don’t know each other. Thank God we have natural chemistry. We are getting to know each other as you’re working and there are layers. Every season, Rachel and I have a layer that’s kind of removed and we get to know each other a little more. Very similarly to Susie and Midge.
I feel like the show coming back is kind of like this amazing family reunion.
Borstein: Yes, it has been. It was getting back together after the long literal and figurative quarantine. Absolutely it’s a family. It’s a family reunion. Stress and getting to know each other again and trying to become familiar again, but ultimately, it’s warmth, it’s people you know and trust. Brosnahan: I think it felt the way that we anticipated, that we hoped that viewers would feel when they look at this season, which is that it felt amazing to be able to breathe the same air again and to dig back into the world of this show. It felt like wrapping yourself in a familiar, comfy blanket. Then also, like everyone over the last couple of years, everyone has been changed and has been forced to examine their own priorities. We were able to do that change individually and come back together and to do this thing that we love in that common ground. But also grow together, too.
How do Midge and Susie inspire you?
Borstein: I mean, it feels like Susie just does not and will not ever give up. She is like a dog with a bone and I think she’s got more stamina than I do and more chutzpah than I do. She will not let up until she gets what she wants. I think she’ll be surprised, ultimately, that what she thinks she wants may not be what she actually needs, but I think she will not let up. Brosnahan: Midge is unapologetically confident in a way that I envy. It gets her into trouble sometimes, but also you talk about the chutzpah, it’s amazing to play someone who is so assured about the things that make them great. I think that’s so hard and I really admire that about Midge.
Is it more difficult to do the sadder stuff or the happier stuff? You’ve got a lot of highs and lows going on, both of you.
Brosnahan: I think we’re probably the opposite here. The comedy is the scary part for me. Borstein: It’s all hard. It’s all equally difficult. The fact that it rapidly changes from one to the next is probably what’s most difficult, going from one to the other and trying to do it believably. I think that’s hard. I just don’t know, it’s hard to—the comedy, it’s like I know when people are responding to it because you can hear laughs, you can see the crew chuckling. With stuff that’s more serious or dramatic or sad, that’s harder because I just don’t know what the cues are. Like, did that work? Is anybody buying this? Sometimes, it’s hard to know. All episodes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Seasons 1-3 are available to stream now on Prime Video. Season 4 premieres on Prime Video with two episodes on Friday, Feb. 18, and will follow with two episodes weekly on Fridays for a total of eight Season 4 episodes. Next, Major Maisel News! The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Has Been Renewed For a Fifth—and (sniff!) Final—Season
