HBO/John P. JohnsonValerie Cherish lives on!
The Comeback is making its comeback after 10 years, and it's a dream come true for creator and executive producer Michael Patrick King and star and executve producer Lisa Kudrow. The delighted duo took the stage at the 2014 Summer TCA Press Tour on Thursday to discuss the unlikely return of The Comeback, which starred the Friends alum as a sitcom star who turned to reality TV.
"It's the same as nine years ago," Kudrow said of the series. But still, a lot has changed in the decade since viewers last saw Valerie. Here is everything you need to know about The Comeback's return...
What's Valerie Up to? She's working! After she "gets cast on a show on HBO," King said, Valerie will be followed by a behind-the-scenes crew, not a reality TV crew. (And yes, we will see the show, which is an HBO dramedy, within the show.)
"The DNA is the same, we're picking up the show 10 years later…the DNA that we liked about Valerie is her in front of a camera, unedited," King said. "This time we found a different way to get her in front of the camera because we want to evolve the character and where we are in TV."
Will We See What She's Been Doing for the Last 10 Years? Oh yes, and it will appeal to viewers both old and new. "It was our job to let people who have never seen The Comeback figure out where she's been for 10 years and introduce her, and also for fans, there's a little bit of a crack-cocaine opening," King teased, adding, "What I like about where we start this extended six episodes is that Valerie thinks she's spiritually evolved."
Who Is Returning? After helping to launch the career of then-unknown actors Malin Akerman and Twilight's Kellan Lutz, who have gone on to become household names, King said both will be back for the six-episode season. "We got to tell a story and we got to bring back all the characters that we thought were essential," he dished. "We're bringing them back in a meta version of themselves, those characters are bigger stars."
Will There Be More? King and Kudrow were cautious when talking about a potential third season, the Sex and the City boss called more time with Valerie Cherish "icing" on the cake that was The Comeback's unexpected return.
"This one has a beginning, middle and an end. We ended it," King said of season two, but did offer a glimmer of hope: "I'll tell you something about Valerie...Valerie is a powerful being. She doesn't go away. She may power down, but she doesn't go away.…if we're lucky, maybe you'll see her again."
Did They Ever Think This Would Happen? Not really, but only because they wouldn't let themselves at the risk of causing too much emotional damage.
King explained, "Lisa and I would meet over the years socially 'cause I'm no fool and it's fun to be around Lisa and every now and then it would drift to an idea of what Valerie would be doing now, but it was too much of thing to even say that we would come back."
Kudrow quickly interjected, "Too much of an emotional risk"
"Then we got a call from HBO and they asked us to come back and talk about The Comeback and then we started talking about it because it was no longer a risk emotionally," King continued.
The Comeback comes back to HBO this November.