Lily Collins Responds to ‘Disheartening’ Backlash Following ‘Emily in Paris’ Netflix Release

When Emily in Paris debuted on Netflix on Oct. 2, the Darren Star-created series didn’t receive the fanfare the streaming giant had likely been hoping for. Following a 20-something Chicago woman who moves to Paris after she receives a surprising job opportunity, the series faced questions from viewers over everything from its depiction of the City of Love to the titular character Emily Cooper’s age, and it received less than satisfactory reviews from critics as it became a trending topic on Twitter. Now, nearly a month later, star Lily Collins is finally responding to the backlash.

In the November 2020 cover story for Vogue Arabia, Collins said that she is opting to look on the bright side of the criticism, stating that “as disheartening as it sometimes is to read these things, it’s also a gift.” Although she refrained from putting too much focus on the backlash the series has received, she said that the criticism is an opportunity to “improve.”

Although Emily in Paris has yet to be renewed by Netflix for a second season, Collins said that if a Season 2 renewal happens, she and the show’s co-creators hope to “evolve the narrative” of the story. She explained that throughout the first season, Star and his fellow producers “championed my opinions and opened me up to an experience that was so rewarding and empowering.” Star himself, in an interview with E! News, teased that a possible second season could find Emily having “some surprising tough choices…we certainly have a lot of forks in the road and a lot of places to go.” He explained that the show is “so much about the culture undermining her expectations of how things are and how things seem. And everything will not be as it seems.”

Collins is not the first star from the show to address the negative feedback. Speaking with Cosmopolitan earlier in October, Lucas Bravo came to Emily in Paris‘ defense, stating that that series is “portraying cliches and we’re portraying one single vision of Paris. Paris is one of the most diverse cities in the world. We have so many ways of thinking, so many different nationalities, so many different neighborhoods. A lifetime wouldn’t be enough to know everything that’s going on in Paris.” He explained that “at some point, if you want to tell a story about Paris, you have to choose an angle. You have to choose a vision. French critics, they didn’t understand the fact that it’s just one vision. They’re like, ‘Oh, this is not what Paris is.’ Of course. Paris is many things.”

Emily in Paris, which currently has a 63% tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 62% audience score, is available for streaming on Netflix. The series has not yet been picked up by the streamer for a second season. Stay tuned to PopCulture.com for the latest updates.