Entertainment
Jane Lynch Just Teased Trouble Ahead For Midge On 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'
In Season 1 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, hidden in the downtown comedy clubs of 1950s New York City, Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) found herself interacting with a whole host of comedy stars — both real and fictional. One such interaction, with the legendary and conniving Sophie Lennon started a feud between the two comedians. And Sophie herself, Jane Lynch, recently teased that her return in Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 2 could mean the end of Midge's career.
Spoilers ahead for Season 1 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Introduced at the end of Season 1, Sophie was a comedic rival of sorts for Midge. Unlike the protagonist, Sophie created a frumpy persona as a crude Queens housewife in order to make her name in the comedy industry, despite the fact that she's actually a very sophisticated woman with family money. "Sophie Lennon, as you know, is a stand-up comedian, who in real life is a very smug, self-satisfied erudite woman," Lynch said, describing her character in a new interview with Entertainment Tonight.
The actor went on to dish about the bad blood between Midge and Sophie, hinting that fans definitely haven't seen the last of Sophie yet. At the end of the first season, Midge and Sophie's feud was at an all time high, and, speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Lynch revealed that Season 2 will take the fight between Midge and Sophie to the next level.
"Midge, in the last [season], bad-mouthed my character to the entire city of New York," Lynch explained, referencing when Midge revealed Sophie's secret during a comedy set. It might have felt like a victory, but according to Lynch, this is one fight that's not over yet. And Midge won't be able to walk away from her fight with Sophie unscathed. Lynch added, "So she exacts her revenge, Sophie does, in the last two episodes of this season."
Lynch's statements suggest that she won't be back until late in Season 2, but that doesn't mean her character won't have major impacts on Midge, Suzie, and their rising careers. In fact, she even hinted that Sophie could come back for more in future seasons. "I think it leaves it open for me coming back Season 3," Lynch teased. "We'll see, but yeah, it's a lot of fun."
In Season 1 of Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the character of Sophie Lennon represented the ridiculous lengths that female comedians had — and often still have — to go through in order to be taken seriously as a performer. Midge, of course, went in a very different direction, and that included cutting down Sophie in her act as a way to undermine the rival comedian's "hausfrau" on stage persona. And, based on Lynch's comments, it looks like the temporary victory may have completely doomed her own career.
Midge's takedown set may be the catalyst of a great deal of drama onscreen, but according to Brosnahan, the moment was actually a great cause for celebration off-screen. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the Emmy-winning actress revealed that shooting that particular performance was a moment of great catharsis for her, as it was the moment when she felt everything "come together."
"I was still learning a lot about comedy and standup as somebody who’d never done it before, and it was a moment where I think both Midge and I simultaneously arrived into this world together," Brosnahan recalled. "It was really cathartic."
Hopefully Midge will have some more of those cathartic moments in Season 2 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel when it arrives on Amazon on Dec. 5 — even if Sophie Lennon doesn't feel the same way.