Production, meanwhile, is already underway on season five in New York City, but given the amount of time it takes to produce each season, the series finale is still probably a year away. In other words, prepare for lots more Maisel before we have to say goodbye.

So what do we know about the final season? Let’s break it down.

How many seasons will there be of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel?

There will be five seasons in total. Season four premieres Friday, February 18, 2022 with the first two episodes. The season four finale will be available to stream beginning Friday, March 11, 2022. There are eight episodes in season four; presumably, there will be another eight episodes in season five. 

Why is the show ending with season five?

Although Prime Video nor Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino have yet to give a reason, it’s no secret that the series is extremely expensive to produce. In a recent interview with Variety, Sherman-Palladino said, “One of the things that happens when you don’t travel [which we didn’t in season four because of the pandemic] is you have to build more sets. And we already were a show with a lot of big standing sets… Amazon, I think that all they did was get up in the morning and cry for an hour, and then go about their business and cry at lunch and then cry at the end of the night. But they didn’t stop us.”

Still, it may be very well that Sherman-Palladino felt Midge’s story was best told in five seasons, and nearly every TV creator will tell you they’d rather go out on top than overstay their welcome. (In fact, back in October 2020, Sherman-Palladino told TVLine exactly that and also pointed to the pandemic as a reason to re-evaluate the show’s end date.) Plus, as a period show set in the ‘50s and ’60s, Maisel is not an easy one to bring to life, with thousands of extras, elaborate sets, intricate (and fabulous) costumes, a lot of dialogue to write and memorize, and camera angles and challenging shots. In other words, no one would blame the Palladinos for wanting some rest. They’ve all earned it.

When will production begin on the final season?

The cast and crew have already begun filming season five in New York City as of February 2022.

When will season five air?

No announcement has been made, but look for the final season to begin streaming in either late 2022 or sometime in the winter or spring of 2023. 

Which cast members will return for season five?

No casting announcements have been made yet, but it’s a pretty good bet that obviously Brosnahan, Tony Shalhoub (Abe Weissman), Alex Borstein (Susie Myerson), Marin Hinkle (Rose Weissman), Michael Zegen (Joel Maisel), Kevin Pollak (Moishe Maisel), and Caroline Aaron (Shirley Maisel) will return. 

Will Midge be super successful in the end? And will she and Joel get back together?

Even if I knew, you think I’d spoil it for you?! Actually, I know nothing (Sherman-Palladino is like Fort Knox…she doesn’t reveal much!), and that’s how it should be. Let’s savor these final two seasons. When more information becomes available, we’ll update it here.

Stephanie Hsu, who plays Mei, says the role was a dream job. “I had never seen a character like Mei before—a character that was a Chinese American woman in a period piece—but also smart, strong, and contemporary for her time. It was powerful for me, personally.”

Will Midge and Lenny finally act on their mutual attraction next year? 

Sterling K. Brown thinks they should. During his panel with the cast for Paleyfest, Brown took a few minutes to gush over Brosnahan and Luke Kirby’s chemistry, especially in the Miami club scenes. “That shit was butter,” Brown says with a laugh. “Absolute butter. I don’t know what Amy and Dan have planned, but I love the relationship that Rachel and Luke have as Midge and Lenny. They are two good-looking people on screen that have a bond that goes beyond that. It’s hot and sexy. Then when you have the two of them looking at each other? I’m like, ‘Shit, it’s about to go down!’”

While Brosnahan has said in the past that she’d like for the pair to remain platonic, even she acknowledges there’s something magnetic in those scenes. “As much of the pace of the show is set, it changes when Luke comes in the room,” she says. “It feels like a completely different side of Midge that I am not in control of.”

Sure, Kirby is easy on the eyes, but a large part of the attraction is how Lenny supports Midge’s career and genuinely champions her. “He’s obsessed with the human experience from a multitude of angles and is always looking for a through line of simpatico in our experience together,” Kirby says. “So, yeah, I do think it’s fair to say he would be very considerate about Midge’s experience and what she’s had to endure and be very sympathetic about it.”

Sherman-Palladino says it’s no coincidence that Lenny Bruce—the only Maisel character who was a real person—you see on the show is written that way. Years ago, she says, she would have breakfast every weekend with Bruce’s mother, Sally Marr; in their time together, Sherman-Palladino says, she got to see how strong Marr was. “As odd as [Lenny’s] upbringing may have been, she instilled a respect for strong women,” she says. “In all the stories I’ve heard about him, there was never anything that felt sexist. It was just the opposite. He was a cheerleader.”

What does Zachary Levi’s return mean for season four? 

Viewers never saw Midge break things off with Benjamin at the end of season two, leaving everyone to wonder when Levi would pop up in season three. By the time he did—in episodes seven and eight—one had to wonder if the timing of his appearance was because of Levi’s own busy schedule or if it was always planned for Benjamin to be absent until then. “It’s both,” Palladino says. “We wanted to pay the Benjamin story off, but first you have to suss out if the actor is remotely available. Zach was like, ‘I want to make it happen. I want to do it.’”

Rachel: I didn’t understand why she was so quiet. And how she could know enough about what her husband was doing and never ask questions. I was immediately drawn into her story, but it was more about not feeling like I knew a way into her story. I generally know when a role is right for me because I have more questions than answers when I finish reading a script.

Julia: I had never had an actress say, “I love this character, but I don’t totally understand her.” I thought that that was so spectacular, because that’s the whole point of playing a character—to learn them, explore them, and then come to understand them. 

Rachel, knowing you were hesitant to play another mother, it’s so interesting because most of the time you are with this adorable baby in this movie. He’s not hidden. Julia, why was that essential?

Julia: One of the most exciting things about making movies is taking crazy risks, like having a baby as the second lead of the movie, which is an insane thing to do! It could have been a disaster. But it wasn’t. We found the most perfect babies (twins Justin and Jameson Charles), and their amazing mom was on set with us every day. It was really important to me as a mother, because I get so frustrated by the portrayal of babies on film. It’s either a fake baby, who’s obviously a fake baby, or four different babies. 

Babies are people, and I think a lot of our society forgets that. We wanted to make the baby a character that you empathized with and loved and worried about and got to know over the course of the film. We shot the film in order, in part to capture the baby’s growth. It was a crazy thing to do, but it paid off. I’ve never seen that in a movie before. The fact that Rachel has to do all these challenging things in the movie—physically and emotionally—while having a real baby in her arms is a testament to her talent and ability.

We need to also talk about costumes, the hair, the makeup, the whole stylistic tone of the film. I couldn’t take my eyes off Jean’s look.

Julia: Getting to have all these beautiful objects and clothing and hair and makeup definitely was the fun part of the process. But it was important that we didn’t make a movie that screamed ’70s even though it’s set in the ’70s. There are things from different periods all mixed together, just like you would see in any decade you’re in.