As much fun as the holiday season typically is, COVID-19 has brought many yuletide traditions to a crashing halt. This includes our yearly fix of Amazon Prime’s original series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. The last two seasons of the Emmy-winning show have each hit the streaming platform in early December, but unfortunately, the premiere date for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 4 is still quite a ways off and won’t be streaming into our living rooms in time for the holidays this year. And while that's not great news, there is some good news.
Production for season 4 has yet to even get underway due to the coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in a massive shut down of all projects within the entertainment industry back in March. But, series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino announced during a virtual panel in October, via TVLine, that they plan to get back on set starting Thursday, January 7. “Costume fittings are happening [now], sets are being built like mad. All of the stuff is happening,” she revealed. “We’re breaking our stories, we’re writing. And then in December we’re dragging the actors in and we’re going to table read the scripts. And then, come January 7, it’s, ‘On your mark, get set, go.'”
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These details echo what series lead Rachel Brosnahan teased on her own Instagram page back in September: a photo which showed the actress getting fitted for a new and fabulous Midge Maisel ensemble. “Mask game strong. Hat game stronger,” Brosnahan captioned the image. “We’re slowly and safely getting back to it but first costume fitting is in the books.” She went on to add, “Damn, it feels good to be (almost) back.”
That being said, as COVID-19 cases continue to be on the rise, there’s always a chance that a further delay could ensue for the safety of both the cast and crew. That could mean a longer wait for season 4, albeit for good reason.
This temporary delay isn’t the only way the coronavirus could end up impacting the show’s future. During the same panel, Sherman-Palladino admitted that she and her husband/co-writer Daniel Palladino have already started discussing if The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel should come to a close sooner than expected due to the ongoing pandemic.
“We’re actually trying to figure that out now because things are different now,” she stated, as per TVLine, while hinting that the success of season 4 in a post-COVID world “will determine how long the show runs… We’ll have to see how much we cry this season.”
The end of season 3 found Midge’s future in comedy in serious jeopardy. After her jokes at the Apollo Theater came a little too close to outing Shy Baldwin (Leroy McClain) to the public, his manager Reggie (Sterling K. Brown) fired Midge just before they were about to embark on the second half of their tour. It’s a huge setback for Midge, both professionally and financially, which is sure to be a major focal point of season 4.
But while Midge’s future remains a huge question mark, viewers will still be able to see Brosnahan flex her acting chops in Amazon’s new crime drama I’m Your Woman, which is on the streaming platform now. It’s not the usual Midge Maisel content we were expecting to get at the end of this year, but it’s definitely the next best thing.