Only Murders in the Building Star Jane Lynch Teases Season 4 Despite Being the Murder Victim
"The beauty of the show is, you get a lot more time with the victims," showrunner John Hoffman says. "They're not gone when some ill fate happens to them."
Jane Lynch hasn't left the building for Only Murders in the Building season 4... so to speak. The third season of the Hulu whodunnit centered around a murder mystery involving Death Rattle actor Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd), who played a prominent role despite his surprise death in the season 2 finale. In a new interview, the Glee alum confirmed we haven't seen the last of Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin) double and stuntwoman Sazz Pataki, who was (spoiler alert!) shot and killed in the final minutes of last year's "Opening Night" season 3 finale.
"Well, I'm the murder victim, which is not a tease. And so I have some really great flashbacks," Lynch told PEOPLE, teasing that she will "also appear in [the season] another way." Lest anyone think that her role will be diminished despite being a murder victim, Lynch revealed Sazz will appear in half of the 10-episode fourth season.
"I don't want to give it away though, but I'm in it a lot," she said. "I'm in five out of 10 episodes, so I'm excited."
The new season follows Arconia sleuths-turned-podcasters Charles, Oliver (Martin Short), and Mabel (Selena Gomez) as they head to Hollywood to investigate Sazz's murder, whether the killer was actually targeting Charles, and why anyone would want to kill the actor or his stunt double.
"It's a big turn," showrunner John Hoffman previously told The Hollywood Reporter about the season-ending death. Though Lynch's Sazz has become a fan-favorite since debuting in the first season, executive producer Jess Rosenthal suggested killing off Charles' "Brazzos" double in a twist to set up season 4.
"He said, 'What if?' I have to say, immediately upon hearing it, I thought, 'That's awful, and that's perfect,'" Hoffman said. "Because I immediately, it's the thing of like, if we get a chance to go more, it'll be the thing that it just started exploding ideas in my head. So, that was thrilling."
"And then the second part of that was actually talking to Jane Lynch about it and saying, 'This is what we're thinking.' We had to do that pretty early, too, and that was very sweet," he added. "She was like, 'I love it.' I was like, 'Wow. I wasn't expecting love, but that's great.'"
As for the murder mystery in Only Murders season 4 and why a killer is seemingly targeting Charles, Hoffman teased: "There's a lot of exploring to do down that road. If anything, it's very helpful for our show, because a 10-episode mystery is a lot, you have to sort of really meter it out. So, the more personal you can make the victim to one of our trio, or the murderer to one of our trio, the better."
"The tying of Ben Glenroy to the show; the tying in of Bunny [Jayne Houdyshell] to our three, who had all had conflict with her and made it look like they were all sort of responsible; Tim Kono [Julian Cihi] in season one for Mabel, having that close tie. It felt like a perfect opportunity to let Charles have this connection and explore more of that connection," he explained. "It's one of the great characters. We've loved writing Sazz so much, and that's the beauty of the show is, you get a lot more time with the victims. They're not gone when some ill fate happens to them. And that's, I think, also why Jane said she was excited because it's a good opportunity to go deeper with Sazz and find out what the whole big life and everything else was with her and the world of stunt doubling."
The newest guest stars for the upcoming fourth season include Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives), Eugene Levy (Schitt's Creek), Kumail Nanjiani (Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi), Molly Shannon (Saturday Night Live), and Zach Galifianakis (Between Two Ferns).
