SPOILER ALERT: This piece contains spoilers for Emily in Paris season 4 part 1.

Emily Cooper (Lily Collins) has made her choice between Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) and Alfie (Lucien Laviscount).

The third episode of season 4 watched she and Gabriel get together at the Heartbreak Ball, a masquerade event promoting Antoine’s (William Abadie) new perfume that he needs to sell amid his divorce from Catherine (Charley Fouquet). They share a very Bridgerton-like carriage ride away from the event, determined to make the most of the moment, but the second half of the show still awaits, with plenty of unraveling cliffhangers that set up for more chaos.

“I did want to make it satisfying. I did want to give them a moment of really finding each other and feeling that spark that’s always been between them and getting to have some really lovely moments together, but at the same time, there are complications in this relationship that aren’t gonna go away,” creator Darren Star told Deadline. “As part two continues, once that infatuation, the rose-colored glasses come off, you really start to see the person you’re with and that there’s a real person behind the fantasy. That’s what happens with both of them in part two.”

In the below interview, Star also discussed how splitting the fourth season into two parts influenced production and story structure, Sylvie’s big moment this season and more.

DEADLINE: How far in advance were you told that season four would be split into two parts? How did that affect the plots pacing?

Star: It was at some point while we were beginning to write the season, but post writers strike. It affected it in a way that — I always like episodes to have cliffhangers so I thought, great. It made me really think about doing a strong cliffhanger, a number of cliffhangers for the fifth episode. I like the challenge of that for sure.

Have we seen the last of Alfie?

No, he’s coming back for Part 2.

DEADLINE: That fifth episode is so aptly named. How did you plot it so that all those reveals were gonna happen there? Can you talk more about how they set up for the next part?

Star: When I knew we were gonna split the show into two parts I thought, all right, how can I rev up the motor so these story lines are going to kind of all converge at the end of episode five. A lot of thinking when went into that and but like in in the best possible way, it was a great a great challenge and it was thinking, “Okay, this is like a mini season finale.”

Emily in Paris. (L to R) Camille Razat as Camille, Lily Collins as Emily in Emily in Paris. Cr. Stephanie Branchu/Netflix © 2024

Was the timing of release for part one around the Olympics, purely coincidence?

I never thought about making the Olympics part of the story. I think that was Netflix’s call.

The JVMA storyline is big for Sylvie. Can you talk about why viewers could question whether or not she will speak up?

Star: “The seed was planted last season in season three when she sat down for lunch for Louis and referenced their past and, and, and I think the assumption was it was something she wouldn’t ever talk about, until she discovered through Mindy, that it was something that there was something that was still happening and that she had to really make her voice heard. I think she struggled with the idea of it. It wasn’t something that she really wanted to talk about. I don’t think she wanted to feel that vulnerable and, and I she did, and it’s and it will, has and will continue to have some ramifications in terms of her life and her career.

Was the plan the whole time to save Rome for later?

Star: It was the plan the whole time to save it for later. It’s where I saw the story going, but it really is something that plays out completely in the second half.

Where did the Giverny scene come from and how did that go down?

Star: I’ve been to Giverny. I loved it as a location. I loved it connected to Camille. And I just it was on my bucket list of places that I wanted to do, and I just felt like it was such a fantastic setting for that moment between the two of them. We filmed it on the cusp of spring. We had to juggle our schedule a bit for sure because I think when those episodes were being filmed, it was still like January, February, but we waited until something closer to April to film those scenes.

Emily in Paris. Lily Collins as Emily in Emily In Paris. Cr. Stephanie Branchu/Netflix © 2024

Some viewers comment on similarities between Emily and Carrie Bradshaw, would you say that’s a coincidence? What do you think of that?

Star: They’re both characters I wrote and created, so they come from me, but I think they’re both very strong, capable women who are romantics at heart. They’re both observers of their world, and they take risks. They’re characters who take risks and are willing to go out on a limb. They make mistakes, but at the same time, they’re very different. If they ever met, I think they’d be friends.