{"id":535273,"date":"2026-03-20T19:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T19:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/535273\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T19:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T19:02:08","slug":"the-comebacks-lisa-kudrow-was-done-after-robert-michael-morris-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/535273\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Comeback’s Lisa Kudrow Was “Done” After Robert Michael Morris’ Death"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWith The Comeback<\/a>\u2018s upcoming third and final season, fans of the HBO<\/a> comedy will surely be mourning one character\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing the 2017 death of Robert Micheal Morris<\/a>, who played Valerie Cherish\u2019s (Lisa Kudrow<\/a>) best friend and trusted hairstylist Mickey Deane, the actress and co-creator told Deadline she was sure \u201cthat was it\u201d with the series. \u201cWe were done,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMickey\u2019s irreplaceable, and we know that\u2019s how everyone would feel,\u201d explained Kudrow at Deadline\u2019s SXSW Studio<\/a> last weekend.<\/p>\n

\n\tPremiering Sunday, March 22 on HBO, Season 3 of The Comeback doesn\u2019t shy away from the character\u2019s death, featuring a touching tribute in the fourth episode, airing April 12. And although Val is reunited with another former hairstylist, Jack O\u2019Brien\u2019s Tommy Tomlin, the character is not intended as a replacement.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMickey\u2019s character was so original, and his impact was so specific, that I felt like a proxy,\u201d said O\u2019Brien. \u201cLike that had to be completed, it had to be delivered in some sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNoting that Morris was co-creator Michael Patrick King<\/a>\u2018s drama teacher before finally making his onscreen debut on the show in 2005, O\u2019Brien related to the experience as a 4x Tony-winning theater writer, lyricist, director and producer, who also makes his acting debut in the show. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSo, there\u2019s a little tradition there, that he wasn\u2019t thinking of himself as a professional actor at that point,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnd I think it was a great joy for him at the end of his life to be thought of that way. So, I just sort of borrowed the guise and carried that affection toward, because I realized that everybody watching it would miss him. And it was a lovely thing to be asked to do.<\/p>\n

\n\tO\u2019Brien explained that he \u201cwasn\u2019t being asked to mimic [Morris] or be even in that mode. I was asked basically to carry him forward, and I felt that\u2019s what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLisa Kudrow, Ella Stiller and Jack O\u2019Brien in \u2018The Comeback\u2019 Season 3 <\/p>\n

\n\tKing praised O\u2019Brien\u2019s \u201cauthenticity, and a gravitas, and a heart, and a soul that is nothing like Robert Micheal Morris, but is fully Jack O\u2019Brien\u2019s. And we wanted Valerie to have someone with a heart, who saw her a star, which is why the I\u2019m It [connection] was important. He saw her as a star, still.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBut also, we wanted to have him help her deal,\u201d added King. \u201cBecause Lisa didn\u2019t even consider doing The Comeback once Michael died. \u2026 He couldn\u2019t be replaced. So, we came up with the idea that maybe Valerie hasn\u2019t really felt it yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKudrow added, \u201cYeah, it felt very Valerie too, because it\u2019s something that\u2019s difficult, so it\u2019s not happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMorris appeared alongside Kudrow on The Comeback since its 2005 premiere. The mockumentary reality show returned for a long overdue second season in 2014. Season 3 premieres Sunday at 10:30pm ET on HBO, also available to stream on HBO Max<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the third and final season, Valerie accepts the lead role on a new sitcom, How\u2019s That?, which is secretly being written by an AI program. As reality show cameras follow her around once again for this latest phase of her career, the actress and producer has to navigate the many cultural landmines of Hollywood in 2026.<\/p>\n

\n\tDeadline Studio at SXSW presented by Redbreast Irish Whiskey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With The Comeback\u2018s upcoming third and final season, fans of the HBO comedy will surely be mourning one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,1035,1010,63328,40425,240196,67118,92],"class_list":["post-535273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-hbo","tag-hbo-max","tag-lisa-kudrow","tag-michael-patrick-king","tag-robert-michael-morris","tag-the-comeback","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}