[This story includes major spoilers for season three of Only Murders in the Building.]
Only Murders in the Building season three went out with a bang — literally.
After revealing that the (spoiler alert!) producers of Death Rattle Dazzle, Cliff (Wesley Taylor) and Donna (Linda Emond), were the ones who killed Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd) because he was ruining their show, the final moments of the third installment also revealed the show’s next murder victim: Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch).
Charles’ (Steve Martin) longtime stunt double was in his apartment, grabbing a bottle of wine to celebrate the Broadway show’s successful opening night, when a bullet shot through his window and hit her square in the chest. As she’s dying, she begins writing something on the kitchen floor with her blood, and the screen cuts to black.
Season four of Only Murders will see Mabel (Selena Gomez), Charles and Oliver (Martin Short) searching for answers about who killed Sazz, if they were actually aiming for Charles and why anyone would want to kill either of them. These are all questions showrunner John Hoffman and his writers room will have to explain in the next installment of the series.
As for what he can tease, the co-creator previously told The Hollywood Reporter that the fourth season will likely explore consequences — though consequences for what is still to be determined.
“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,” he said. “That’s a challenging line to walk, and sometimes you have to face it in that way. 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.”
Below, THR breaks down what there is to know about Only Murders in the Building season four thus far. (This list will be updated as more is revealed about the upcoming season.)
When Is 'Only Murders' Season 4 Coming Out?
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Hulu announced Only Murders in the Building was renewed for season four on Oct. 3, the day season three released its final episode. Disney announced the first episode of the next installment in the series will be released on Aug. 27, with episodes dropping weekly after that.
Who Will Be in 'Only Murders' Season 4?
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News is starting to trickle in about the cast. The first thing fans could take comfort in is knowing the show’s core trio — Mabel, Charles and Oliver — will be returning, without a doubt. Despite season three’s devastating loss of Sazz, Lynch will be back, most likely in flashbacks, similar to how Rudd’s Ben had a role in season three despite dying in the first episode.
In an interview with People, the Glee star confirmed that she has “some really great flashbacks” and revealed that she’ll “also appear in [the season] another way” but wouldn’t specify how. “I don’t want to give it away though, but I’m in it a lot,” she said, smiling. “I’m in five out of 10 episodes, so I’m excited.”
Meryl Streep and Jesse Williams both joined the show’s third season, as well as a few other new faces. Co-creator Hoffman told THR after last season ended that there was “no greater hope for me” than bringing the two of them back: “I love them both, Jesse and Meryl, everyone. I mean, for God’s sakes, I would bring Paul back if we can. 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.”
Now it’s been confirmed that Streep will indeed be returning. The Oscar-winning actress will reprise her role as Loretta Durkin, the love interest to Short’s Oliver Putnam. Season three ended with Loretta getting an offer to work in Los Angeles.
Other castmembers who are likely to return to season 4 in some capacity are Michael Cyril Creighton’s Howard, Ryan Broussard’s Will, Jackie Hoffman’s Uma, Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s Detective Dee Williams, Jason Veasey’s Jonathan and James Caverly’s Theo. While Nathan Lane’s Teddy Dimas wasn’t in season three due to scheduling conflicts, he has said he’s open to returning to the series if he’s able to. Hopefully, Tina Fey’s Cinda Canning will come back as well, though her role in season three was pretty limited — only appearing in one episode to try to convince Mabel to join her podcast.
In February, news broke that Molly Shannon is joining Only Murders in the Building season 4. She will play a high-powered, Los Angeles businesswoman, who finds herself drawn into the world of Sazz’s murder investigation in New York. Not much else is known about her role.
Shannon may have been the first new castmember announced for this season, but Eva Longoria, Eugene Levy, Kumail Nanjiani and Zach Galifianakis’ castings quickly followed. Like Shannon’s character, Longoria, Levy and Nanjiani’s roles are being kept under wraps, but they will all be integral to the twists and turns of season four’s investigation.
What Will 'Only Murders' Season 4 Be About?
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As with every other season, the final moments of season three revealed whose murder the trio will be investigating in season four. This time around, Mabel, Charles and Oliver will have to find who killed their beloved friend and Charles’ longtime stunt double, Sazz. Only Murders in the Building executive producer Jess Rosenthal suggested Sazz be the person who gets murdered, and Hoffman immediately lit up at the idea. He told THR he thought it was simultaneously “awful” and “perfect.”
“I immediately, it’s the thing of like, if we get a chance to go more, it’ll be the thing that it just started exploding ideas in my head,” he said. “So, that was thrilling. And then the second part of that was actually talking to Jane Lynch about it and saying, ‘This is what we’re thinking.’ We had to do that pretty early, too, and that was very sweet. She was like, ‘I love it.'”
At the very end of the final episode of season three, as Sazz was dying, it looked like she was trying to write something on Charles’ kitchen floor with her own blood. What that is is unknown, but it will certainly come up in the next installment of the show. Hoffman explained that during production, there were discussions about how long to hold the shot of her trying to write something and how long to have her finger moving for. They decided to keep it as abstract as possible for now in order to keep their options open for the fourth season.
“It feels very in her character to send a message,” he continued. “She’s been trying to do it to Charles throughout the season. She’s hinting to him in episode five that she’s picking up some ham radio chatter, certainly, right when she arrives in the finale, she’s saying, ‘Can I grab you for a few minutes? It’s a little sensitive.’ So, there’s something on her mind and something she may know but to be found out.”
As for who may have wanted to kill Charles — if that’s what they were trying to do — is also still up in the air. Hoffman played coy, only sharing that there’s a lot of exploring to do down that road. One thing they had in mind when thinking of season four’s victim was wanting to choose someone who is close to someone in the trio because the more personal it is to one of them, the better. Sazz’s death felt like an opportunity to make the victim someone Charles was close to and explore their connection.
“We’ve loved writing Sazz so much, and that’s the beauty of the show is, you get a lot more time with the victims,” Hoffman said. “They’re not gone when some ill fate happens to them. And that’s, I think, also why Jane said she was excited because it’s a good opportunity to go deeper with Sazz and find out what the whole big life and everything else was with her and the world of stunt doubling.”
Is There an 'Only Murders' Season 4 Trailer?
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Only Murders released the first teaser for its upcoming season as a part of Disney’s upfront presentation in May. The one-minute-and-a-half look at the Emmy-winning series picks up right after the end of season three, where Mabel, Oliver and Charles celebrated a successful Death Rattle Dazzle opening night. With the party over and the season’s killers unmasked, the trio is eager for their next murder mystery when they discover Sazz’s body on Charles’ kitchen floor.
Oliver immediately dives into the mystery, despite Charles’ shock learning his longtime stunt double and friend is dead. When Mabel announces she’s received an email from a Hollywood studio that wants to turn their podcast into a movie, the pals pack their bags and head for Los Angeles, which just so happens to be where Meryl Streep’s Loretta Durkin ended up after season three.
“The pictures?!” Oliver exclaims. “Pack your bags, bitches. We’re going to the movies!”
The look at the upcoming season also teases it’s the show’s “starriest” one yet, showing brief clips of new, previously announced characters played by Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria, Zach Galifianakis, Molly Shannon, Kumail Nanjiani and Richard Kind. It also reveals a surprise appearance from Melissa McCarthy.
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