Monty Brinton/ShowtimeInhale deeply, folks, because Mary-Louise Parker and Weeds are back tonight on Showtime for a new high-larious season. From what we've seen of the season, it's good stuff, so we hit up Weeds boss Jenji Kohan to get a little scoop and get this: Jenji tells us she's considering a spinoff of the show that's "pretty like The Hills."
Umm...Could there be anything better? Click in for the goods on Weeds 2.0, Nancy's new luvah and more.
Who's Missing? Because Nancy burned down her house at the end of season three and pops up in a totally different locale (hint: grandma's house), Jenji confirms that previous regulars Heylia, Conrad and Vaneeta are gone for season four. (Dean, Celia and Doug remain part of the cast.) "Even though there a lot of changes from last season," Jenji says, "it really still feels like Weeds. It's still our show."
Spinoff? According to Jenji, it was time to split Nancy and Conrad up for good, but she isn't done with Conrad's story. She's thinking of taking those characters and slotting them into spinoff, specifically one "that takes place in a pot club...I'd shoot it sort of fake reality-show style. It could be pretty like The Hills!" She says of Conrad & Co.: "I love those characters; I just think those relationships wore themselves out, and I wanted to be true to where the characters were. Truthfully, Heylia and Nancy had nothing more to say to each other. Conrad and Nancy weren't going to be the loves of each other's lives, so it was time to move on."
Outlaws and In-Laws: Apparently, there was some talk in the writers' room of sending Nancy, Shane, Silas and Andy to visit Nancy's relatives after their home in Agrestic was wiped out by the fire, but in the end, they decided that if Nancy's parents were an option she would have gone to them when Judah died. So the Botwins head down south to visit "Bubbie," i.e. Judah and Andy's grandma, and find themselves stuck in the cantankerous presence of Judah and Andy's dad, Len, played by a comedian you might have heard of named Albert Brooks.
New Kid on the Block: Expect a new romantic interest for Nancy, someone Jenji describes as "a love interest who's different from the love interests from other years." He's in the drug business (big time), because, as Jenji points out, "When you do what she does, your dating pool is somewhat limited." Hey, is Nancy going to date a drug kingpin? "I think so..." says Jenji.
It's Just Business, Not Personal: For the record, Nancy is not hooking up with Mexican druglord Guillermo any time soon. Jenji says it's totally platonic and "I think he's already got several baby mamas."
The Truth Is Out There: So in terms of the big canvas of the show, what's in store for Nancy in season four? According to Jenji, "I think the big thing this season is Nancy does a lot of tap dancing in her own head, rationalizing, pushing things down, convenient avoidance. This is the first time that she's really going to encounter things that are not up for debate, that are black and white, where there's a moral line." Like what? "I can't say." Hint: She won't traffic heroin.
What are Nancy's other unbreakable rules? Tune in to see. Weeds season four premieres tonight on Showtime at 10.
—Additional reporting by Jennifer Godwin