Only Murders EP Talks Trio's Surprise Savior And 'Intriguing' Finale Casualty
We gather here today to celebrate the union of Oliver Putnam and Loretta Durkin... and to break down the Season 4 finale of Hulu's Only Murders in the Building.
Tuesday's jam-packed episode confirms that Marshall — or rather, Rex — killed Sazz after he stole her screenplay. Later, Jan reemerges as our unlikely hero: She puts a sniper's bullet in the stuntman's back before he has a chance to take out Charles, Oliver and Mabel.
Once the murder investigation is closed and Jan is brought back to prison, Oliver and Loretta tie the knot in a courtyard ceremony featuring several surprise guest stars, including Ryan Broussard and Jeremy Shamos, reprising their roles as Oliver and Loretta's sons, William and Dickie... series co-creator John Hoffman, who plays Oliver and Loretta's wedding officiant... and Minnie the Bulldog as Oliver's beloved pooch Winnie, who was last seen in Season 2.
Of course, it wouldn't be an Only Murders finale unless someone gets whacked, so poor Lester (played since Season 1 by Teddy Coluca) turns up dead. Our trio discovers their doorman's lifeless body in the courtyard not long after the introduction of another surprise guest star, Tea Leoni (Madam Secretary). who plays Sofia Caccimelio, wife of Nicky "The Neck" Caccimelio — aka the dry-cleaning king of Brooklyn. She comes to Charles and Mabel for help finding her husband; the police believe he's dead, but she thinks otherwise. When Charles and Mabel tell Mrs. Caccimelio that they only deal with murders in the building, she assures them that Nicky's disappearance has everything to do with the building. Hmm....
Below, Hoffman breaks down the events of the Season 4 finale, looks ahead to Season 5, and clarifies whether a few supposed reveals in Episode 7 were meant as a misdirect or something more.
TVLINE | Let's start with our killer reveal. You've said that Season 4 is about mirror versions of our characters. We first introduced the "doppelgängers" — the mirror versions of Charles, Oliver and Mabel — and now we have Rex, a fellow stunt double who, like his mentor Sazz, wants to make it as a writer... so much so that he's willing to steal her script and kill her so his secret doesn't get out. But is Rex really a mirror of Sazz? Or is he a reflection of all of our worst impulses?
That really is it. You have to think, like, "Who would want to kill this person? And for what reasons?" And you have to think about Sazz. "What did she do and how did she engage with someone who would want to do this?" She is an intuitive person who feels a lot when she feels a connection. She recognizes something in this young mentee that felt very much in line with the stories we were telling — of seeing something in someone that reflects on you. She says, you know, "You remind me of me," and I think her growing understanding of being a writer in some ways came from [Rex]. He was inspiring. The terrible thing here is that the desperation in Rex is so acute.
TVLINE | Talk to me about the decision to have Jan swoop in and save the day.
When that idea came [up in the writers' room], it felt like we could pull it off in a way that really catches [you by surprise]. You really don't know [it's Jan] until the blinds go up.... The thing about Jan is that she's ruthless. She says to Charles in Episode 2 about when a killer misses ["You get rid of the body because you've killed the wrong person, and you don't want the right person on alert. And trust me, once you've crossed over and tried to kill, if you fail, you come up with way more f--ked up ways to finish the job"] and she's talking about a killer's mindset. Her own mindset. So, the idea of someone taking away someone that she cares about...? There's no living for that person. That really has been the mission, all season, off screen for her.
TVLINE | Charles and Sazz get a touching goodbye via Charles' subconscious. But have we really seen the last of Jane Lynch? Or is there a chance that Sazz returns via subconscious or in flashbacks?
Killer or victim, I will never take anybody off the table for coming back.
TVLINE | At the end of Episode 7, it seemed as though whoever killed Sazz had also been after our trio since Season 1. We now know that to be false... but is there some truth to the idea that someone has been after Charles, Oliver and Mabel since the beginning? And is that something we'll circle back to in Season 5?
A very good question. We do answer some things. Helga is not entirely wrong [in Episode 8] when she's saying that someone was "doing weird things, trying to get you to look other places," so I won't fully take [anything] off the table [while] accrediting of some of that to the Westies.... There will always be [loose ends] to a mystery story, and leaning into those loose ends, holding them every now and then, and playing a card when you want to play it, feels right to me for an ongoing mystery like this.
TVLINE | So, is it fair to say that that reveal of sorts at the end of Episode 7 wasn't necessarily a red herring? That it could be something we circle back to in a future season?
For me, yes.
TVLINE | Let's talk about Oliver's wedding! We have several surprise returns, including Will and Dickie, who walk Loretta down the aisle. But perhaps more importantly, we have Howard escort Winnie down the aisle, who we have not seen since Season 1....
Now, wait a minute! I think we have seen Winnie. I believe in Season 2.
TVLINE | We did not see her this season or last. Where are we to believe that Winnie has been for the past two years?
You know, it's hard, because we had a lot of rehearsing going on in Oliver's apartment during Season 3. I feel like maybe we had one shot of Winnie...? Maybe we didn't! Either way, I love that dog so much, and I love that relationship. I mean, for God's sake, we got out of control with the animals! [Her absence] was more just a balancing of our wild, all-star cast, and then dealing with the animals and animal handlers.... Winnie has, you know, found a home somewhere in one of the three bedrooms in Oliver's apartment, off in the corner. Oliver gave her a nice bacon treat to gnaw on for a while.
It was really important to me to have all of those people back. Ryan Broussard, who plays Will, was in Vancouver shooting [Fox's Alert: Missing Persons Unit]. That was a big ask, and he really said, "I will get there. I will do everything I can with my schedule to get there." And it's nice being able to entice someone with, "You're going to walk Meryl Streep down the aisle." Both of them, Dickie and Will, felt like they had to be there. That was the list of family that had to come.
TVLINE | I also spied a familiar face in the role of "Wedding Officiant." How did you land the coveted part?
By much begrudging resistance. Oh, I fought it, and [executive producer] Jamie Babbit talked me into it. It was really hard to say no to just standing there, acting like I'm marrying Meryl Streep and Martin Short, who I have grown to just adore. I had a weak moment. I'm an actor, I'm still happy to do that, but something about this show... People have suggested, like, "When are you going to put yourself in?" I feel like I've always had in my head, "If I see myself in the show, I will lose all perspective." Like, "What am I doing? Get me out of there!" I pretty much did that with Shelley Westerman and Payton Koch, who edited this finale, and said, "You have way too many shots of me. Cut me! Cut me!" I made [costume designer] Dana Covarrubias put me in a hat for some stupid reason... I feel like I look like Sazz's long-lost brother at the end of the aisle! But anyway, that was fun to do. It was. I'm happy at the end of the day.
TVLINE | Oliver and Loretta agree to continue the long-distance thing, even now that they're married. Is this simply a way to buy yourselves time in order to accommodate Meryl Streep's schedule heading into Season 5?
It's partly pragmatic in that way, sure. But really it's about what the trio has built together, and what Oliver and Loretta have built together. That is a little wink to Hollywood at the moment when she's saying how, suddenly, the budget [on her show] is requiring [they shoot in] New Zealand. That was one part of it. But then it feels to me like a beautifully adult decision that she comes to, saying, "We don't have to do this in any way traditionally... we never have... we shouldn't." There was a slightly longer speech there talking about "we can long for other, and pine for each other, and then when we're together, it's that much more magical. That's all I want is to keep that." So, we'll see how it goes. Nothing would make me happier than more Meryl Streep in the show.
TVLINE | In Episode 9, Nicky "The Neck" Caccimelio goes missing. Then in the finale, the great Tea Leoni makes her debut as his wife, Sofia Caccimelio. Can you confirm that Tea will recur in Season 5?
It is my tremendous, great hope and belief that that might be true.
TVLINE | So, in other words, no T's have been crossed, and no I's have been dotted just yet.
First of all, she's the best. I will give up that we have had texts about things that can happen in Season 5, as recently as a few days ago.
TVLINE | When Sofia first walks out of the elevator, and she introduces herself to Charles and Mabel, I got a bit of a mob wife vibe. Is there a mob element to this story?
There is a real opportunity, I think, for Season 5 to take us back into the land of New York today, in many ways... and maybe even headlines about New York City today, in the real world, might influence some of the stories in a way that we haven't done yet.
TVLINE | Poor Lester is our latest murder victim. He always seemed so sweet, so innocent... but is there a chance that his death is in some way tied to the dry-cleaning king's case?
You have to wonder, don't you? There are a lot of areas that we've been talking about [in the writers' room]... looking at the life of someone who was a doorman in a pre-war apartment building in New York City at this moment, and all that it encompasses. Who is this person? And what stuff might have been going on in his life? What sort of factions [of New York City] has he touched? That feels really intriguing to me as far as where we're going.
Now, Teddy Coluca... I felt terrible. I make a very strong point of talking to the actor who might be the next victim before they read the script, and I missed by a day with Teddy. He said, "John!" I said, "Don't tell me you've read." And he said, "I read yesterday, I burst out in tears." I felt terrible, and I was like, "Let's sit down. Let me talk to you about all this stuff." He is the greatest guy, and it's like Jane. It helps a lot when you have some sense of caring for the character in some way — for our trio, as well — to have that emotional hook.
TVLINE | Jackie Hoffman's Uma is the last person we see before Sofia introduces herself to Charles and Mabel, and the last tenant we encounter before the trio finds Lester dead in the courtyard. And it got me thinking that maybe, juuuust maybe, Uma has been operating as some sort of queenpin of the New York underworld this entire time.
Well, now you're going too deep! There are a few elements within the story that we're telling for Season 5 that, certainly, I hope make people happy. But it's both a further delving into the dynamics within the building and its people — tenants we have grown to love that we may have missed a little bit here and there, but also some new faces as well that are in the building that we haven't yet discovered... and some ripe opportunities for lovely guest star hits, too. This feels like a season that is going to sit in the lane that I love, which is the great character actors, and actors in New York City, will be hopefully employed and in good stead.
TVLINE | Sofia suggests that her husband's disappearance is perhaps, in some way, tied to the building. Given that tie, and Lester's long history at the Arconia, would you say that Season 5's mystery will be connected to the story of the Arconia in a way that maybe the show hasn't been since Bunny's death in Season 2?
Do you have a little microphone in the writers' room? These are questions we asked, for sure, and have relevance to the stories we may be looking at for Season 5.
TVLINE | You're still writing Season 5, but have you given any thought to who you might cast as Nicky? How are you imagining that character?
This is an area that has been well trod.... I don't want to give too much away, but I think we play with, as the show has done from the beginning, classic meets modern....
TVLINE | After he kills Sazz, but before he attempts to kill our trio, Rex kills Glen Stubbins. Now, Paul Rudd has the distinction of being the first actor on this show to inhabit two roles....
The first person who has died three times!
TVLINE | See, you gotta go for four! Any chance he returns in a third role?
I mean, Paul likes a good, repetitive joke. The fact that he likes the show as much as he does, and keeps at it with us, moves me to the point of making terrible choices. Dramatically, I can't take anything off the table for him or for Jane Lynch. Or anyone else, frankly.