SPOILER: This post contains details about The Comeback, Season 3 premiere episode ‘Valerie Gets a New Chapter’
Nine years after actor Robert Michael Morris‘ death, the third and final season of The Comeback premiered this weekend, with one major absence.
In the season premiere episode ‘Valerie Gets a New Chapter’, airing Sunday, March 22 at 10:30pm ET on HBO and streaming on HBO Max, Lisa Kudrow‘s Valerie Cherish reveals what happened to her longtime hairstylist and best friend Mickey Deane (Morris) after the actor died at age 77 in 2017.
“We lost Mickey. He passed away,” explains Val in the episode. “Covid, the first round. Covid OG, I call it.”
Valerie reveals the news while reminiscing about Mickey with Tommy Tomlin (Jack O’Brien), who did guest actors’ hair on her first sitcom, I’m It, also doing Val’s hair when Mickey was out. While Tommy helps Val comes to term with Mickey’s death, O’Brien emphasized to Deadline that he “wasn’t being asked to mimic” Morris in his portrayal.
The Season 2 finale ‘Valerie Gets What She Wants’ saw Val missing her Emmy-winning moment in order to visit Mickey in the hospital after he was diagnosed with cancer.
Dan Bucatinsky, Kudrow’s co-producer who also plays Valerie Cherish’s manager Billy, noted over Zoom, “He was ill in the shooting of all of Season 2, and we worked it into the storyline of Season 2. Him having the opportunity to shoot Season 2 was so healing for him. He found reserves of energy that he had not had in months to make Season 2. It was a huge gift, to us and to him.”
Kudrow’s co-creator Michael Patrick King previously told Deadline at our SXSW Studio that she “didn’t even consider” doing another season after Morris died. “Yeah, that was it. We were done,” she said.
“Mickey’s irreplaceable,” said Kudrow. “And we know that’s how everyone would feel.”
King, a former drama student of Morris years before the actor’s onscreen debut on the HBO show, added, “He couldn’t be replaced. So, we came up with the idea that maybe Valerie hasn’t really felt it yet.”
Morris appeared alongside Kudrow on The Comeback since its 2005 premiere. The mockumentary reality show returned for a long overdue second season in 2014. Season 3 premieres Sunday on HBO, with a tribute episode airing April 5.
