It’s late fall 2022 and the cast of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is filming episode 509. That is, the final episode of the Emmy-winning series that stars Rachel Brosnahan as a Jewish housewife who reinvents her life after she discovers her calling doing stand-up. On this brisk late October day, aside from an increase in personal-photo taking between scenes and ear-marking props for parting gifts, it’s business as usual on the soundstage at Steiner Studios—Maisel’s home base—in Brooklyn.

Although Brosnahan is filming this last episode as Midge Maisel, she’s also doing scenes for episode 505. It could make a less experienced actor—or any actor, really—spin out from pressure and anxiety, but this is the Maisel life: fast-paced, unpredictable, and thrilling. Brosnahan wouldn’t have it any other way.

“We have a lot of work to do in two weeks, like a lot,” she says of this final episode, including those reshoots for other episodes. “The final script is 102 pages long, as of the last draft. So we have a lot to do, which I think is helping us all keep the tears at bay.”

As I sit in Brosnahan’s dressing room, she’s just finished a scene with her counterpart Alex Borstein, who plays talent manager Susie Myerson. It takes place in Myerson’s office, with Midge falling asleep on a nearby chair. In some ways it’s the perfect analogy for the last six years of Brosnahan’s life, starting with the moment she walked in to audition for a new Amy Sherman-Palladino comedy series. There’s been no time to sleep, no taking her foot off the pedal. While it hasn’t been the healthiest or easiest lifestyle to sustain, Brosnahan is thankful.

“We know that we’re breathing rarefied air, and we’re so lucky,” she says in between showing me some of the personalized wrap gifts she’s commissioned for the cast and crew. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. I’ve lived in New York for 15 years, and the life of an actor is one that takes you here or there and everywhere if you’re lucky. But it’s also been so lucky to be able to live and work at home for the last six years. We know that this is lightning in a bottle.”

And so, ahead of the final season—the first three episodes of which drop on Friday, April 14—Brosnahan opens up for her first exit interview to discuss the lessons she’s learned from stepping into Midge’s shoes (and clothes), the early day on set that made an impact, and what it was like filming that last scene for the final episode.
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As the fifth and last season of Emmy-winning The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel launches on Prime Video Friday, creator and EP Amy Sherman-Palladino reveals she hates “every moment of it [being over]. It’s miserable. The thought of not being with these people every day. I hope the season is gratifying, at least for others. I’ll be drunk the whole time.”

Her late father was a comedian in the Big Apple and the series is a love letter to him and to New York City. “I apologize to my father for turning him into Rachel Brosnahan. I don’t think he would have been good with the hats, but I think that he would understand the pivot,” she said, joining EP Daniel Palladino and stars Brosnahan and Alex Borstein — who play Miriam “Midge” Maisel and her manager Susie Myerson — in a Q&A.

The story of an Upper West Side Jewish housewife turned standup comedian debuted in 2017 to critical acclaim, tackling religion, class and female stereotypes and showcasing an expert ensemble cast and vibrant, midcentury NYC, where it’s filmed, from Greenwich Village to Coney Island.

Last season, Midge tried to rebuild her career and reputation after burning bridges, yet stubbornly turned down gigs right and left. She was last seen exiting Carnegie Hall in a massive snowstorm after a pep talk from headliner Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby), reinvigorated and ready to fight for stardom. Season 5 “is the culmination of everybody’s emotional journey. We kind of brought them to the end of their arc, and really paid attention to each and every person,” said Palladino.

The first three of nine episodes drop on Prime Video on April 14 followed by new episodes weekly.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 5 premiere date
Prime Video

As the fifth and last season of Emmy-winning The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel launches on Prime Video Friday, creator and EP Amy Sherman-Palladino reveals she hates “every moment of it [being over]. It’s miserable. The thought of not being with these people every day. I hope the season is gratifying, at least for others. I’ll be drunk the whole time.”

Her late father was a comedian in the Big Apple and the series is a love letter to him and to New York City. “I apologize to my father for turning him into Rachel Brosnahan. I don’t think he would have been good with the hats, but I think that he would understand the pivot,” she said, joining EP Daniel Palladino and stars Brosnahan and Alex Borstein — who play Miriam “Midge” Maisel and her manager Susie Myerson — in a Q&A.
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The story of an Upper West Side Jewish housewife turned standup comedian debuted in 2017 to critical acclaim, tackling religion, class and female stereotypes and showcasing an expert ensemble cast and vibrant, midcentury NYC, where it’s filmed, from Greenwich Village to Coney Island.

Last season, Midge tried to rebuild her career and reputation after burning bridges, yet stubbornly turned down gigs right and left. She was last seen exiting Carnegie Hall in a massive snowstorm after a pep talk from headliner Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby), reinvigorated and ready to fight for stardom. Season 5 “is the culmination of everybody’s emotional journey. We kind of brought them to the end of their arc, and really paid attention to each and every person,” said Palladino.

The first three of nine episodes drop on Prime Video on April 14 followed by new episodes weekly.

DEADLINE: Rachel, Alex – these were defining roles. How do you feel as this chapter winds down?

RACHEL BROSNAHAN: I haven’t fully processed this. I think because we get the opportunity to be back together, get the gang back together, talk about this season. So even though we wrapped it in November, it doesn’t feel like it’s done yet. And no one’s seen it yet. So, there’s still so many more conversations to be had about these characters. And we’re having a lot of fun remembering all the parts about the season we forgot. And the previous seasons that we forgot. And to kind of sit in the gratitude we all have for being able to be a part of this thing that changed all of our lives. So, it’s a hard question to answer, because it feels like we’re still going to be saying goodbye for a long time. It may only [hit us] in January or so when we’d be normally returning to work.”
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Alex Borstein and Rachel Brosnahan take us behind the scenes of the last season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, premiering April 14 on Prime Video.

There’s a Los Angeles restaurant located on Sunset Boulevard called Horses. It’s so white-hot popular that, per The New York Times, its waiting list on a random Thursday night last summer was a whopping 1,784 names long. Regular patrons include Beyoncé and Jay-Z.

Please note this is also the spot where Rachel Brosnahan and Alex Borstein recently dined together to mark a special occasion. The actresses, you see, had just wrapped their Amazon Studios series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Now, over Caesar salads and other dishes, they reminisced about an incredible six-year ride that included highs (matching Emmy wins), lows (a pandemic-induced hiatus) and everything in between. “We got a little nostalgic,” Brosnahan told Parade. “We talked work and life and just how crazy it was that we closed this chapter together.”

When it all began in early 2017, the two didn’t realize their work would prove to be such a cultural force and critical darling. A sparkling, lightning-fast comedy set in the 1950s and ‘60s, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel chronicles Miriam “Midge” Maisel (Brosnahan), a prototypical Jewish New York City housewife and mother who leaves her cheating husband and embarks on a most unconventional stand-up comedy career. She gets there with the help of her straight-shooting manager, Susie Myerson (Borstein). Though Midge has been at odds with her family, ex-in-laws and fellow comics throughout the journey, the pair have never left each other’s sides.

“It’s very much been a dance,” Borstein says. “In each season, one of us leads and one of us follows. I think it’s cool that Susie was the one who spotted Midge in a nightclub and said, ‘I believe in you.’ Then she’s constantly being taught that Midge was seeing a much bigger picture in her head.” Seconds Brosnahan, “They are each other’s ride or die. They’re each other’s first phone call. They trust and believe in each other’s abilities to achieve their dreams.”

Viewers last saw Midge exiting Carnegie Hall in a blizzard and reinvigorated to chase her ambitions. For fear of spoilers, Borstein and Brosnahan are mum about what goes down in their fifth and final go-round (premiering April 14 on Prime Video). Brosnahan won’t even confirm if the pair end their narrative with a pretty crowd-pleasing bow. All she’ll say is this: “Fans will see plenty of the usual shenanigans, miscommunications and divisions—and then linking arms and lighting the world on fire together.”
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The ‘Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ star joined Amy Sherman-Palladino, Daniel Palladino and her castmates for a PaleyFest event to discuss the fifth and final season of the Prime Video series that changed her life.

“My life changed when Rachel Brosnahan walked into it. I will never be the same.”

That’s how The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel creator Amy Sherman-Palladino closed a farewell letter distributed on Tuesday in advance of the upcoming launch of the fifth and final season of her Emmy Award-winning Prime Video series on April 14. Later that day, Sherman-Palladino joined Maisel collaborator and husband, Daniel Palladino, and castmembers for a special PaleyFest event at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet, Sherman-Palladino took a minute to remember that moment.

“We were reading so many people and then Jeanie Bacharach, who helped cast the pilot, said there was a girl who had nothing on her résumé that would lead you to believe she could do this — she had done no comedy whatsoever,” Sherman-Palladino explained. “But Jeanie said, ‘I just feel it in my guts that Rachel Brosnahan can do this.’ We looked at her résumé — we knew her from House of Cards as the girl they tied up and threw in a ditch — and asked, ‘That’s the girl? Like, she’s going to be hilarious?’ They said, ‘Yes, just trust us.’ So, we did, and Rachel came in. She was the first girl who took that microphone and leaned into it. I immediately said, ‘That’s the girl. Wow. That’s the girl.’ She walked in and walked out and that was it.”

With that, Brosnahan landed the role as Miriam “Midge” Maisel, a woman who discovers a talent and passion for stand-up after her husband leaves her and their children. Brosnahan’s life changed, too, and she’ll never be the same after having had the opportunity to play Midge over these five seasons, a role that has brought her critical acclaim and nearly every piece of hardware Hollywood has to offer, from an Emmy to multiple SAG and Golden Globe awards.

Brosnahan was present on Tuesday night as she joined the Palladinos and castmates Alex Borstein, Tony Shalhoub, Caroline Aaron and Michael Zegen for the panel that was moderated by THR contributing editor Stacey Wilson Hunt. The actress made it nearly to the end of the press line but it wasn’t until she shared a few minutes with THR that she broke down in tears trying to explain what Maisel means to her.
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