On Thursday, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed Meryl Streep will be returning to the hit Hulu series to reprise her role of Broadway star Loretta Durkin.
“Meryl is returning for next season because she had a tremendous time,” 20th Television president Karey Burke, whose studio produces OMITB, said on THR’s TV’s Top 5 podcast, airing Friday.
In season 3, which came to a dramatic conclusion in October 2023, fans got to know Loretta as she developed a romance with Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) and received an offer to work in Los Angeles.
As season 4 grows closer, curiosity looms over what viewers can anticipate. The three main stars — and executive producers — Short (Oliver), Steve Martin (Charles Haden-Savage) and Selena Gomez (Mabel Mora) are expected to return.
In February, Deadline announced that Saturday Night Live alum Molly Shannon would be joining the cast for the new season, playing a “a high powered LA business woman who finds herself drawn into the world of the investigation in NY.”
Jesse Williams, who appeared in season 3 of the Hulu show for the first time, has not been confirmed to return but Martin’s co-creator John Hoffman has expressed hope to see him and Streep again.
“I love them both, Jesse and Meryl, everyone. I mean, for God’s sakes, I would bring Paul back if we can,” he told The Hollywood Reporter before teasing other potential surprises. “Listen, I would bring everyone back, and that might happen. Victims, killers, they’re all able to play in the landscape within this sort of certain narrative ways we can tell our stories.”
Jane Lynch’s character, Sazz Pataki, may also reappear through flashbacks after her character was murdered in the season 3 finale. According to THR, Sazz’s death is expected to be a major plot point for the upcoming season as Mabel, Charles and Oliver search for answers.
“I think the idea of what you create is a thing you put out to the world, and sometimes you can’t be prepared for the repercussions of what potentially the world does with your thing, and how they feel about it,” Hoffman told the publication.
“That’s a challenging line to walk, and sometimes you have to face it in that way,” he continued. “So, the podcast and everything else that’s happened, and what it all means, and what it could have been meaning all along. That’s a really interesting world to look at for these three who stepped in that way.”
The show is set to film in Los Angeles for a short time before the core three return to its central location at The Arconia in New York City, per Deadline. No season 4 release date has been announced.
“The L.A. touchstone was intentional and how we might be able to see that I don’t know yet, but there might be a way that would be exciting. I don’t have a plan yet though,” Hoffman told TheWrap in October, adding that Mabel, Charles and Oliver await a “very new situation” in season 4.
“That excites me, along with a lot of other ideas that can really open up the show in a new way but keep the trio tighter, which I’m sure will make a lot of people happy, but also not shirk on the lovely opportunities to get with incredible people who already are in my mind and being teed up as possibilities for brilliant opportunities,” he said,
The first three seasons of Only Murders in the Building can be streamed in full on Hulu.
