Like The Bear’s many fans, actor Liza Colón-Zayas doesn’t know what’s coming down the line for the hit comedy-drama. FX hasn’t announced a Season 5 renewal, meaning it’s possible the just-released Season 4 is the end of the show. And like fans, Colón-Zayas isn’t ready to say goodbye.
“I don’t know. I really don’t,” the Emmy winner said in a new Variety, reflecting on whether the Season 4 finale, “Goodbye,” marks the end of the restaurant The Bear or the show The Bear. “We don’t know. We don’t know the change in strategy — with Carmy [Jeremy Allen White] leaving behind the need to pull off chaos, and sticking with consistency — how that may have affected word of mouth, whoever’s coming in. Maybe that’s the Hail Mary. I honestly don’t know. Is there any Hail Mary that can come through now that that clock has reached zero? I don’t know. I don’t want it to end.”
If “Goodbye” were the end, though, Colón-Zayas thinks Tina, her line cook character, would be devastated. “Because this isn’t just about a job,” she told the magazine. “When she walked into The Beef in ‘Napkins,’ it was just about a job and taking any job. But I don’t think this is about just this job. Now this is so much bigger than that. This show is very much about grieving and loss, and also moving forward. So I think she’ll land on her feet. But it’s gonna be hard personally.”
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And Colón-Zayas said she has “already cried too many times” contemplating the end of The Bear. “I love my job,” she added. “I don’t want it to end. But I what I love and respect about it is maintaining the truth and the integrity and perhaps the reality that bigger, better restaurants have not been able to withstand all of the challenges of you know, rising prices, COVID, all of these things.”
Both FX and The Bear creator Christopher Storer have been curiously mum about the future of a TV show that has racked up so much acclaim and so many awards, including a 2024 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy trophy for Colón-Zayas.
Last year, FX boss John Landgraf told Variety that The Bear’s future hinges on Storer. “It’s about, how much more story does he have to tell?” the network exec said. “I mean, obviously, I’m hoping he has more than one more season of story to tell. But not to the extent that if there was one great season or three mediocre ones, I’d rather have one great one. You just have to follow the creative.”
The Bear, Seasons 1–4, Now Streaming, Hulu