Netflix

Lily Collins‘ Emily Cooper will be living the dolce vita in Rome with her Italian beau Marcello in the much-anticipated fifth season of Netflix‘s “Emily in Paris.” Or at least some of it. The new season of hit romantic comedy created by Darren Star will kick off production this May in Rome before moving to Paris later in the summer.

Slated to premiere later this year on Netflix, Season 5 is expected to give Emily (Lily Collins) an embarrassment of riches when it comes to her love life, bringing back her two one-and-off boyfriends, the sexy French chef, Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) and dashing Brit, Alfie (Lucien Laviscount), alongside her new Italian love interest, Marcello (Eugenio Franceschini).

While the production will be partly set in Rome, the key French cast will also return, notably Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu who plays Collins’ chic and nonchalant boss Sylvie Grateau, Samuel Arnold (Julien), Bruno Gouery (Luc), William Abadie (Antoine Lambert), as well as Ashley Park who stars as Emily’s best friend, Mindy Chen.

Some actors, however, won’t be returning to the show, such as Camille Razat, who played Camille, the “villain,” in the first four seasons of the show. The last season was marked by the arrival of a new sexy and deceitful antagonist, Geneviève, played by Thalia Besson (who happens to be the daughter of French director Luc Besson) but she hasn’t yet signed on to be back.

The plot of Season 5 remains under wraps, and Variety can reveal that Season 5 picks up days after Season 4 ends, as Emily settles into her beautiful apartment in Rome to run Agence Grateau’s Italian office. Alfie has moved on with a new girlfriend after Emily chose Gabriel over him. But ultimately, Emily grows tired of Gabriel’s ambiguous relationship with Camille and indecision, and starts flirting with Marcello Muratori, the charming and confident heir of a family-owned cashmere company in the picturesque fictional village of Solitano, near Rome. Season 4 wraps with a cliffhanger as Gabriel, who’s had an epiphany, surprises Emily by showing up on the doorsteps of her new flat in Rome upon learning that she has relocated there.

Late last year, Bravo sparked some headlines after expressing his frustration over his “Emily in Paris” character Gabriel. While promoting Melanie Laurent’s “Freedom” in which he plays a notorious French gangster, Bravo told IndieWire that his character in “Emily in Paris” had been “slowly turned into guacamole.” “The ‘sexy chef’ was very much part of me in Season 1 and we grew apart season after season because of the choices he makes and because of the direction they make him take. I’ve never been so far away from him,” Bravo said.

Yet, Bravo will be back and so will Gabriel’s Michelin-rated restaurant, which will be one of the backdrops of the upcoming season which is currently being written, according to our intel. The actor’s career has taken off in the three years thanks to “Emily in Paris.” He landed roles in “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” “Tickets to Paradise,” “The Honeymoon” and “Freedom,” as well as Noemie Merlant’s sexy genre movie “The Balconettes.”

“Emily in Paris” Season 5 is executive produced by Tony Hernandez, Lilly Burns, Andrew Fleming, Stephen Brown, Alison Brown, Robin Schiff, Grant Sloss and Joe Murphy. It’s produced by MTV Entertainment Studios, Darren Star Productions, and Jax Media.

The impact of “Emily in Paris” on popular culture and soft power has been such that French President Emmanuel Macron told Variety in a cover interview last October that France “will fight hard” for the series to remain in the country. That declaration then provoked a lighthearted feud between the French President and Rome mayor Roberto Gualtieri.