Emily in Athens? Netflix show looks set to ditch Paris for Greece
Triter-than-trite (and whiter-than-white) show should really be retired, but until then...
Could Emily in Paris be heading for its own Big Fat Greek moment? If the predictably vacuous show gets picked up for a sixth season, the Netflix dross might be packing its bags again—this time for Greece.
Season five, which dropped on Thursday, December 18, saw Emily (Lily Collins) and her crew bouncing from Rome back to Paris, with a final stop in Venice in the finale. But the last scene really got fans talking: Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) was shown working on a boat about to dock in Marina del Rey—or maybe it was actually (hint, hint) Greece—hinting that the show could be heading somewhere new.
Gabriel also wrote Emily a heartfelt letter about his feelings and invited her to come visit, which doesn’t feel accidental. It seems like another clue that Emily in Paris could keep expanding beyond France in future seasons — should you care? The show’s exec. producer apparently does:
“Assuming we’re picked up, I definitely want to go back to Paris—but I want to go other places too,” director and executive producer Andrew Fleming reportedly told Us Weekly. “We tease where we might end up at the end of season five, and Greece is a possibility.”
The cast seems just as excited about the idea, though we aren’t. Wouldn’t it be more fun to reboot this hackneyed AF show with a French twist, à la Joëlle in Jersey or some such? Picture it: Joëlle arrives fresh from a drab Paris suburb to even uglier Newark, looks around, realizes the gravity of her mistake and promptly throws up. She films it, generating one million likes on TikTok. So she quits the job she just got working the register at Dunkin’, but not before meeting her match, husky racist truck driver Joey, and together they pursue their dream of going to Hollywood where they can tell people like Andrew Fleming and various others what shallow hypocrites they are, then open an AirBnb in Woodland Hills and enjoy some bodacious tacos.
We obviously take a dim view generally of “set-jetting” — the phenomenon whereby people with apparently a lot of free time on their hands see some place that isn’t the suburban catsick they call home on a screen (phone or silver) and then decide to go there. We’ve covered this sort of travesty, mostly under duress, for such outlets as Forbes and “The Points Guy” and on regrette beaucoup. It is to travel what Las Vegas is to authenticity: a brazen affront.
Anyhoo, the dumdum series follows Emily Cooper (golly Mr. Showrunner, could we get any whiter?) after she moves from the U.S. to France for a new job (which never happens, by the way—we’ve worked in France before and can attest that the French will never offer you a job—you’ve got fight like hell just to get an internship). She finds herself caught in a messy triangle d’amour between Gabriel and Alfie — and we know what they were up to.
Après ça, Emily starts dating Marcello (Eugenio Franceschini), but by the end of season four, Emily heads to Rome and seems ready to start a new chapter with Marcello. Before season five aired, creator Darren Star shut down rumors that the show was turning into Emily in Rome. “She didn’t change her Instagram handle,” he told Deadline in September 2024. “She’s working in Rome sometimes—Sylvie’s company has an office there, and Emily’s helping get it up and running. But it’s not a permanent move. We’re not leaving Paris.”
The idea of moving the show even sparked some political chatter. In October 2024, French President Emmanuel Macron told Variety that he planned to do something uncharacteristically French — “fight hard” — to keep the show from relocating to Italy for season five.
Still, Star has been clear that exploring new countries is about growing the show—not ditching its roots. Talking to TVLine in September 2024, he said the move to Italy helps “expand the universe” of Emily in Paris.
“Just when Emily finally feels comfortable in Paris, she’s dropped into another country with a whole new culture,” Star explained. “There are also fun differences between French and Italian culture to explore. It’s a new world, but Paris isn’t going anywhere.”
Even if it seems Emily is.
