‘Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’: Amazon Makes Major Change for Season 4

Almost two years after Season 3 ended, the next chapter in Midge Maisel’s life is about to begin. On Tuesday, Amazon released the first teaser for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 4, which will be the first season rolled out over a period of weeks instead of all at once. The move comes as more streamers are choosing that traditional model of release over the Netflix-pioneered full-season dump.

When we last saw Midge (Rachel Brosnahan), her stand-up career took a major step back when she lost a chance to open for pop star Shy Baldwin (LeRoy McClain). In the trailer, her manager, Susie Myerson (Alex Borstein) tries to encourage her to move on at the start of the new decade. Unfortunately for Susie, moving on for Midge means refusing to open for other acts. Susie does not think she can do this because that isn’t how the business works. “Then let’s change the business,” Midge said as she leaned in.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, who serves as executive producer with her husband, Daniel Palladino. The series launched in 2017, and its seasons were all released on one day. Amazon is choosing a different release plan for Season 4 though. Two episodes will be released each week, starting on Feb. 18, 2022, and ending on March 11, notes The Hollywood Reporter. This should prove to be a good move since people will be talking about the season for a month instead of a single day.

The long wait for Season 4 can be blamed on the coronavirus pandemic. During a Hollywood Reporter interview last year, Sherman-Palladino and Palladino said they had Season 4 mapped out, but were waiting for the green light to film. Thankfully, that green light eventually came so we can see what happens to Midge in 1960.

“We f—ed her up pretty good at the end of this season. We’ve knocked her back a few times on the show,” Sherman-Palladino said in August. “But that’s what show business is. It’s one step forward, two steps back – that’s the life of a comic. And let’s not forget, we’re still talking about a female comic in 1960. It’s hard enough for a female comic to get a toehold today but forget about the ’60s when there were, like, four of them. Knocking her back is never going to be the problem. We’ve got a thousand ways to take her down. It’s following her world and her trajectory that tells us what to do with her.”

Mrs. Maisel also stars Michael Zegen, Marin Hinkle, Tony Shalhoub, Kevin Pollak, Caroline Aaron, and Jane Lynch. The show has won 20 Primetime Emmys, including a win for the Oustanding Comedy Series award for its first season. Brosnahan, Borstein, and Shalhoub have also won Emmys for their performances.