Before you book a one-way flight to Paris to find answers, let us break it down, Lucas Bravo is back as the melancholic chef Gabriel in Emily in Paris Season 5. But for a hot minute, it looked like he was about to ghost the series harder than Emily ghosts commitment.
Back in October, Bravo was not holding back. In a series of candid interviews, he called out the show¡¯s lack of depth and said he felt like a cog in a machine that underestimated viewers' intelligence. Ouch. He even admitted he was emotionally out of sync with Gabriel, saying the character had become so mopey and directionless that even he questioned returning for another season.
¡°I want to see Gabriel get his cheeky, playful vibe back,¡± he said at the time, clearly exhausted by playing a heartbroken Frenchman for three seasons straight while everyone else around him did cartwheels in couture.
Enter Darren Star, creator of the Netflix hit, to do a little damage control. In a new interview with Deadline, Star casually waved off the drama as a big ol¡¯ misunderstanding. According to him, Bravo was always going to return, and fans can expect ¡°surprising developments¡± in Emily¡¯s love life this season.
Not only is Gabriel still on the table, but with Marcello now in the picture, Emily¡¯s romantic messiness is reaching Olympic levels. Cue the espresso-fuelled chaos.
Bravo seems to have changed his tune too. He now calls Season 5 ¡°the craziest one yet¡± and hinted that whatever Darren Star told him over lunch was enough to get him hyped again. Maybe Chef Gabriel finally finds joy outside his kitchen, or at least some better lines.
While Gabriel¡¯s emotional rollercoaster continues, Lucas Bravo is all smiles IRL. The actor has gone Insta-official with actress Shailene Woodley, and their romance is serving serious ¡°Emily in Paris but make it real¡± vibes, from PDA in Paris to festival snaps at Stagecoach.
So is Lucas Bravo back? The answer is yes. But whether Gabriel gets his spark back? That is the real cliffhanger.