Lucas Bravo’s Return to “Emily in Paris” Season 5: A Mysterious Absence
As Netflix gears up for the highly anticipated fifth season of “Emily in Paris,” fans were left puzzled by the conspicuous absence of Lucas Bravo’s character, Gabriel, from the recently released trailer. The preview, which dropped on October 23, exclusively highlighted Emily’s (Lily Collins) Italian romance with Marcello (Eugenio Franceschini) following her relocation to Rome at the end of season 4. When questioned about his absence from the promotional material, Bravo played coy, telling E! News, “I would love to tell you something. I like the fact that I’m not in the trailer and that it creates a conversation, and I’m gonna keep the conversation running. I won’t say anything.” His enigmatic response only fueled speculation about Gabriel’s fate in the upcoming season, though it has been confirmed that Bravo did film scenes for season 5 when production began in May. Gabriel’s Michelin-rated restaurant reportedly served as one of the backdrops, with additional filming taking place in Rome after Emily received an Italian job offer.
The mystery surrounding Gabriel’s role in season 5 comes on the heels of Bravo’s candid interview with IndieWire in October 2024, where he expressed significant frustration with his character’s development over the series. “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,” Bravo explained. He described feeling increasingly disconnected from a character that once closely reflected aspects of his own personality, lamenting that Gabriel had “slowly turned into guacamole” – a colorful way of expressing how the once vibrant character had become a flattened version of himself. Bravo elaborated that Gabriel’s continued portrayal as someone “unaware of his surroundings,” “always victimizing,” “completely lost in translation,” and “oblivious to anything happening around him” had diminished his enjoyment of the role.
The 37-year-old actor’s dissatisfaction apparently extends beyond just character development to encompass the creative constraints he experienced on set. Bravo revealed his attempts to voice concerns about Gabriel’s trajectory had met with limited success, explaining, “There is only so much I can do in the limits of a script. 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.” This perceived lack of creative input clearly weighed on Bravo, who found himself playing a continuously melancholic character in what is ostensibly a comedy series. “Three seasons playing melancholic, sad, depressed, and lost is not fun anymore,” he stated. “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’s frustrations reached such a point that he openly questioned his future with the show prior to signing on for season 5. “It makes me question if I want to be part of season 5 — because my contract ends at season 4. I really want to see if Gabriel gets back to his fun, cheeky, playful, alive self,” he said in the same IndieWire interview. This public expression of discontent reportedly caused tension behind the scenes, with an insider telling Us Weekly, “The show is Emily in Paris — not Gabriel in Paris. Everyone is so upset about the remarks he made. There is going to be a lot of tension.” The source’s comments highlight the delicate balance of power dynamics in successful ensemble shows, where individual actors’ creative desires must sometimes be subordinated to the overall vision for the series.
Despite these tensions, Bravo’s character remains a fan favorite and a central figure in the show’s romantic entanglements. Gabriel’s complicated relationship with Emily has been a driving force throughout the series, creating a love triangle (and sometimes quadrangle) that keeps viewers invested. His character’s growth from the charming chef downstairs to a Michelin-rated restaurant owner has been one of the more substantial character arcs in the series, even if Bravo feels the emotional range has been restrictive. The absence of both Bravo and Lucien Laviscount (who plays Alfie) from the season 5 trailer suggests a potential narrative shift that places Emily’s Italian adventures front and center, possibly relegating the Parisian characters to secondary storylines – at least initially.
As “Emily in Paris” prepares to return to Netflix on December 18, viewers are left to wonder what role Gabriel will play in Emily’s increasingly international life. Will the show address Bravo’s creative concerns by reinvigorating Gabriel’s character? Will the Parisian chef find himself competing with Marcello for Emily’s affections across international borders? Or does the trailer’s focus on Rome signal a more permanent shift away from the show’s original setting and characters? Whatever the answers, Bravo’s candid comments about his character’s development have added an extra layer of real-world drama to the fictional romantic complications that have made “Emily in Paris” a global streaming phenomenon, leaving fans all the more eager to see how Gabriel’s story unfolds in the upcoming season.
