Lucas Bravo is questioning if he wants to continue being part of Emily in Paris and acknowledges playing Gabriel “is not fun anymore.”
In a new interview, the actor shared his gripe over his character’s direction since the Darren Star-created show premiered on Netflix in 2020.
“The ‘sexy chef’ was very much part of me in Season 1 and we grew apart season after season because of the choices he makes and because of the direction they make him take. I’ve never been so far away from him,” Bravo said in an interview with Indie Wire.
Bravo reflected that in Season 1 “there was a lot of me in [Gabriel]” but have since “made him kind of unaware of his surroundings” and “always victimizing” him. The actor also said that Gabriel is “being manipulated by everyone” which made filming the show not exciting for him.
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“It kind of became not fun for me to shoot or to see a character I love so much and brought me so much, being slowly turned into guacamole. I really grew apart from him,” Bravo said of playing Gabriel in more recent seasons.
Bravo noted that he has tried to express his concerns over the character but said “there is only so much I can do in the limits of a script,” adding, “I tried for seasons to bring nuances but we don’t have much liberty on set. We cannot change a word or an emotion. They know what they want and we just have to comply.”
“It makes me question if I want to be part of Season 5 […] because my contract ends at Season 4,” he continued. “I really want to see if Gabriel gets back to his fun, cheeky, playful, alive self. Because three seasons playing melancholic, sad, depressed, and lost is not fun anymore. It’s a comedy, everybody is having fun around me, everybody is jumping around, and I’m just slowly sinking into god knows what.”
Bravo also mentioned that “there is a lack of risk” in terms of the storylines because they don’t want to change the formula that made Emily in Paris a success. Despite his sentiment over Gabriel’s character arc, the show still has a special place in his heart.
“I love the show. It started everything for me. I love the show and the people in it. With saying that, I feel like I am not being nice or grateful, but when you love something you want it to be…you want the best version of it. I’m not going to lie, I’ve been frustrated with the direction by character is taking. But we’ll see where it goes. The show is not over.”