Steve Carell reunites with Tina Fey in Netflix's upcoming comedy series The Four Seasons

She's coming back to save comedy! No, but seriously, we have desperately needed a bit of Tina Fey's sense of humor back in the world. There's a reason why 30 Rock highlights were going viral on social media ahead of the holidays in 2023 and the Mean Girls musical movie kicked off 2024 with a classic, pink plastic bang 20 years after the original. And she's not done saving the year yet!

On Jan. 9, Netflix announced that Tina Fey will star in a new comedy series The Four Seasons, which isn't a nod to the hotel but rather based on the 1981 romantic comedy film of the same name starring Alan Alda and Carol Bennett. After a few months without updates on the upcoming series, Netflix dropped a huge bombshell casting announcement on April 24. Steve Carell will star alongside Fey, reuniting the comedy duo after starring together in the hilarious and underrated 2010 action-comedy Date Night. Oh, yeah, this show is going to be good!

Alda returns as a producer, along with Marissa Bregman, the daughter of the film's producer Martin Bregman. Fey co-created the series with past collaborators Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield, both of whom worked on 30 Rock. Fisher also co-created Netflix's Never Have I Ever with Mindy Kaling after working as a writer on The Mindy Project. Wigfield, who won an Emmy Award with Fey for co-writing the 30 Rock series finale, created the Fey-produced NBC comedy Great News and Peacock's Saved by the Bell reboot. All of the five aforementioned shows have definitely made you laugh. The Four Seasons is in great hands!

The upcoming series comes from Universal Television and Fey's own production company Little Stranger. The nine-time Emmy Award-winning actress and writer has built quite the formidable relationship with Universal Television following her work on NBC's Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock. Fey produced the Universal titles Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Girls5eva, and Mulligan, all of which are on Netflix.

We're sharing everything we know so far about Tina Fey's new starring role, including the expected plot, the official episode count, the production status, and more

Plot

While Netflix didn't divulge the official plot of The Four Seasons just yet, the streamer did note that the comedy series will be based on the 1981 film of the same name. In the movie, three couples join each other for a vacation during each season of the year, though the dynamic changes when one of the couples splits and the man begins dating someone new.

As of the announcement of the series in January 2024, it's unclear what role Fey will be playing or if the characters will have the same names and circumstances as those in the movie. Details of Carell's role are also being kept close to the vest. Coming from great comedy minds like Fey, Fisher, and Wigfield, we could be in for a completely new ensemble of characters, which means future casting announcements are sure to come. (Fingers crossed Fey brings even more of her famous friends on board!)

Episode Count

The Four Seasons has been confirmed to contain eight episodes in its first season. That's a couple less than the usual 10-episode order, but we'll gladly take eight episodes over the Girls5eva season 3 order of six episodes. Netflix also didn't classify the show as a limited series. Let's hope that the title is a self-fulfilling prophecy and the series runs for a minimum of four seasons.

Since it's a comedy series, it's likely that the episode runtime will be around 30 minutes, though you never know with comedies these days. The episodes could hit less or more than 30 minutes, and if I'm being honest, I would love the runtimes to hit that of an average broadcast drama at around 42 minutes. Considering we're only getting eight episodes, it would be nice to make up for the shorter order with longer episodes. We'll have to wait and see!

Production Status

Fey's most recent work includes the movies Maggie Moore(s), A Haunting in Venice, and Mean Girls, as well as a recurring role in Only Murders in the Building and a voice role in the Netflix animated series Mulligan, which she also executive produced. She will begin production on The Four Seasons later on in 2024, though Netflix didn't reveal where the series will film.

Most of the shows Tina Fey has produced or appeared in have filmed, at least partly, in New York City where she lives, so it's a rather safe bet the show could also count New York as a potential filming location. However, considering the plot of the film entails travel and the series will likely incorporate the same plot, it'll be exciting to see where we could potentially be headed with the show.

Stay tuned for more news and updates on Tina Fey's new show from Netflix Life!