After its incredible streaming success and complete and utter domination at the 2023 Emmy Awards this past January, it was no surprise that “The Bear” would eventually be renewed for a fourth season. A third season was confirmed last year, but most would have expected a fourth go-around to film in 2025. That’s not the case as, quietly, “The Bear” is shooting both seasons three and four consecutively.
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Frankly, considering how in demand both of the show’s main leads are, it’s not that surprising. Jeremy Allen White recently starred in the profitable drama “The Iron Claw” for A24 and Apple TV Originals “Fingernails.” His co-star, Ayo Edebiri, is even more in demand. Besides hosting “Saturday Night Live” earlier this year, she recently starred in the now cult Amazon MGM Studios “Bottoms” and voiced characters in “TMNT: Mutant Mayhem” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” She also shot A24’s prestige horror flick “Opus” opposite John Malkovich and Murray Bartlett and stars in James L. Brooks’ new movie “Ella McCay” alongside Rebecca Hall and Jamie Lee Curtis. Edebiri is so busy she had to drop out of a small role in Marvel Studios’ “Thunderbolts.” It appears shooting the fourth season of “The Bear” might have been a conflict.
The new production schedule is not expected to affect Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s participation in another Marvel Studios production, “Fantastic Four.” That tentpole is expected to begin filming sometime this summer.
The news also coincided with “The Bear” creator and showrunner Christopher Storer being attached to adapt and direct an adaptation of Amor Towles’ novel “The Lincoln Highway” for Warner Bros. Shooting both upcoming seasons of “The Bear” back to back allows Storer to potentially film that drama in an open window in 2025. The creative force behind the program could then return to shoot a potential fifth season in 2026.
Production of “The Bear” is filmed in such a veil of secrecy that during the Winter TCA Tour in February, FX CEO John Landgraf revealed didn’t know that the second season had guest stars of the ilk of Curtis, Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Paulson, John Mulaney, Olivia Colman, and Will Poulter until he watched the actual episodes. That makes the fact this recent news was leaked something of a surprise.
“The Bear” won nine Emmy Awards for the 2023 voting calendar including Best Comedy Series, Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (White), Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (Edebiri), and Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Moss-Bachrach). It also took the PGA Award for Comedy Series two years in a row, as well as the DGA Award and the SAG Ensemble Award for a Comedy Series for its second season. It’s currently nominated for three WGA Awards and is the front-runner in most comedy series categories for the 2024 Primetime Emmy Awards.
“The Bear” is available on Hulu.