After making her directorial debut with the Season 3, Episode 6 “Napkins” on The Bear, we’ve learned Emmy winner Ayo Edebiri and Lionel Boyce are co-penning an episode for Season 4.
Edebiri told us in a Crew Call podcast, which we’ll post down the road, kept the episode details under wraps. Her Sydney Adamu has a tough decision to make next season, given that she’s received an offer to work at a competing restaurant as The Bear grapples with tough times.
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Edebiri is the only cast member to direct for the award-winning series. With Boyce co-writing an episode with Edebiri, they are now the only cast members to write for the series. Boyce plays Marcus, one of the chefs at The Bear and The Original Beef on the series. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor Comedy Series at the Emmys last year for The Bear.
The multihyphenate received a DGA nom this year in Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy for her helming her episode of The Bear.
Her episode “Napkins” is a prequel of sorts, following how Tina (Liza Colon-Zayas) finds her way to the Original Beef and Bear gang; the 45-year-old is dealing with a sudden job loss after working in a candy factory for 15 years. Tina meets Jon Bernthal’s Michael Berzatto at the Beef, after grabbing a sandwich there. She breaks down, and he goes to calm her, the two having a very heartfelt 11-minute conversation about dealing with lost dreams and the hard knocks of today. The convo ends with Michael offering Tina a job as a line cook.
The fourth season as we first told you is expected to be ready sometime in June.
Edebiri won a Primetime Emmy in 2023 for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She’s been on a roll on the big screen, starring in Disney’s Inside Out 2, A24’s Sundance premiere genre comedy Opus, and James L. Brooks’ upcoming Ella McCay and Luca Guadagnino’s suspense drama After the Hunt.
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