Christina Applegate Talks Filming Final Season of ‘Dead to Me’ on Her Terms Amid MS Diagnosis

Christina Applegate felt she had an “obligation” to finish filming the third and final season of Dead to Me even after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis back in 2021. The actress opened up to the New York Times about how she felt during the five-month pause in filming and her decision to finish out the show on her terms.

“There was the sense of, ‘Well, let’s get her some medicine so she can get better,’” Applegate recalled of the break in filming. “And there is no better. But it was good for me. I needed to process my loss of my life, my loss of that part of me. So I needed that time.” After that time, the Emmy winner noted it wasn’t like she “came on the other side of it, like, ‘Woohoo, I’m totally fine.’ Acceptance? No. I’m never going to accept this. I’m pissed.”

Applegate revealed that she was experiencing balance and mobility issues while filming the first season of the Netflix show, which she wished she “had paid attention” to at the time. But she wasn’t going to let co-star Linda Cardellini and the show’s creator Liz Feldman down during Dead to Me‘s final season. “The powers that be were like, ‘Let’s just stop. We don’t need to finish it. Let’s put a few episodes together,’” she recalled of breaking the news of her diagnosis. “I said, ‘No. We’re going to do it, but we’re going to do it on my terms.’”

Throughout filming the final season, Cardellini was behind Applegate all the way. “She was my champion, my warrior, my voice,” Applegate said of her co-star. “It was like having a mama bear.” The Jesse alum said that while she has put on 40 pounds and “can’t walk without a cane,” she hopes people can look past her change in appearance to enjoy the final season. “If people hate it, if people love it, if all they can concentrate on is, ‘Ooh, look at the cripple,’ that’s not up to me,” she said. “I’m sure that people are going to be, like, ‘I can’t get past it,’” she said. “Fine, don’t get past it, then. But hopefully, people can get past it and just enjoy the ride and say goodbye to these two girls.” Dead to Me Season 3 premieres November 17 on Netflix.