Lisa Kudrow’s cult-hit Hollywood satire returns for a third and farewell season, as washed-up showbiz striver Valerie Cherish embraces AI
The Comeback, a show from And Just Like That . . . creator Michael Patrick King and Friends star Lisa Kudrow about former sitcom star Valerie Cherish trying to navigate a changing industry in order to keep making her Hollywood dreams come true, was never intended as a decade-by-decade examination of the biggest threats faced by the entertainment industry. “The happy accident is that, while we would’ve been far more micro about the storytelling of Valerie Cherish had we just continued to make seasons year after year, we’ve had the privilege of being a time capsule,” says the show’s exec producer and co-star Dan Bucatinsky.
“What was a threat to the creative process in 2005? Reality shows. What were they in 2014? Premium cable and the decline of broadcast television. Now it’s 10 years later and we have other threats.”
The greatest danger posed to the creative endeavour in 2026 is the adoption of artificial intelligence — which of course means that Valerie has accepted a starring role on a series entirely written by AI. Inevitably, she’ll be running afoul of her actor and writer colleagues who fought for AI guardrails in 2023, during industry-wide strikes. But, as always, these writers are tackling a bigger picture. “You can identify what you perceive to be an evil. People do that all the time, whether it’s a spouse you want to separate from, an administration you wish were not there, or the us-vs.-them of the writers and the actors and the producers and the corporations that own the companies. And it’s so interesting that in our industry AI has become the boogeyman,” Bucatinsky muses. “What I think was so brilliant about the way Lisa and Michael crafted a season was that, it is a reality. The logline for our season is, ‘It’s time to face reality.’ This is about, ‘How do we make this work?’”
Robots stealing our jobs seems like an obvious place to pick up the series, but in the minds of King and Kudrow, the conversation about Valerie’s adventures in Hollywood is ongoing. “When we’re all together, we’re like, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if . . .’ The greatest thing about Lisa’s portrayal of that character is that you can delight in imagining her anywhere,” says Bucatinsky. “But I will say that a couple of years ago, an idea popped into their heads that they both really got excited about. It was an idea that they could not shake, and it grew to a point where I think Michael felt like he wanted to at least run it by HBO.” The cable channel loved the notion of Valerie Cherish on the first-ever AI-written sitcom. “They were like, ‘We have to do that right away,’ for timeliness’ sake. So, we’ve landed at a time where it’s very much of the moment even if, as far as we know, it has not happened quite like this yet.”
It figures that this would all happen under the watchful eye of Billy Stanton, who has transitioned from being Valerie’s publicist to her manager. “Billy has been one of her trusted, loyal collaborators and the person who’s responsible for getting her work,” says Bucatinsky of his character. “Billy is ambitious and is going to try his hardest to help her conquer the world but be right beside her as she does it.” For Bucatinsky, returning was never a question. The most important thing about coming back as Billy was that the character arc felt consistent with the guy we once knew. “The person we met in 2005 was tightly wound, recently scorned, with an anger impulse control problem. Then we see Billy 10 years later, who is jealous and rageful at any other publicity machine that could potentially be better than him. You see a lot of the self-hate and a lot of this desire to be the one who’s chosen,” he says. “I wanted to make sure that the dots were connected, and I think Billy has had 20 years with Valerie — he’s very loyal, loves her to death and is very ambitious — but he has also watched someone be in the spotlight for 20 years and has been dying himself to get a little taste of that.”
Bucatinsky is not the only one returning to the show. Laura Silverman, as videographer Jane, is back, as is Damian Young as Valerie’s husband Mark. The rest shall remain a surprise, but Bucatinsky says that, for this group of storytellers, if you can make it back, you will. “We’re a family. When you make a season a decade apart, it feels very special. So, if there were a story for them to be told 10 years later, I don’t think, if asked, anybody would’ve said no. A couple people come back this season from previous seasons and there are a lot of wonderful surprises. It’s very exciting. What I love about the season is that it feels very current and new, and mature and evolved, but it’s a real wink and throwback to season one in many ways.”
For a show that was fairly unceremoniously cancelled, The Comeback has managed to achieve cult-hit status over the years. “It is one of those rare shows that people either get or they don’t,” Bucatinsky reflects. “It feels like, to love the show is to be part of a club that the cool kids know about.” The actor often gets stopped in the street by fans who work in the very community the show has tried to depict with love and humour for over two decades. “The people in our industry, journalists, TV writers, other actors, writers, your peers — the people that you most want to impress are the people who will bring up The Comeback,” he says. “I can’t tell you how many times, in between seasons, people will be like, ‘Any chance that The Comeback will come back?’ People are champing at the bit for another season, and they have been for the last 10 years. And Lisa feels so appreciated when that happens. It’s like somebody really appreciated what we were making and how special we feel it is. To have that be seen and heard by other people is so satisfying.”
Alas, from the moment HBO announced this long-awaited third season, the network was also billing it as the “final season.” Then again, for a show that’s already been axed and unexpectedly resurrected twice, who’s to say what the future might hold?
The Comeback airs Sundays on HBO Canada