Lisa Kudrow has had many memorable moments on screen, but filming the final season of ‘The Comeback’ on Stage 24 turned out to be one of the most personal. It was the same soundstage where she spent a decade playing Phoebe Buffet on ‘Friends’, and this time, her son Julian Stern was right there alongside her, making his acting debut.According to a report by Starry Mag, in ‘The Comeback’ press conference, Kudrow reflected on the emotional weight of returning to that space and what it meant to share it with her son.
A moment two decades in the making
Kudrow shared that she had brought Julian to the ‘Friends’ set when he was just two years old. “I have a picture of him at two years old in the craft service kitchen washing his hands. And then there he is, back and acting. Oh my God. And part of this finale,” she said.Julian plays Evan in the show, a behind-the-scenes crew member on Valerie’s new project.
Even Lisa Kudrow forgot he was her son on set
What made the experience even more special was just how naturally Julian took to acting. Kudrow recalled, “He’s been in short films, but not anything like this. That was heaven. And a little bit of guilt because I forgot that he was my son. He was that there and good. And so was I. Because he forgot he was when he said, ‘I was just talking, I was Evan talking to Valerie.’ I didn’t have the heart to say, ‘Me too, I didn’t care about you.‘ Yeah, it was really thrilling.”The show also sneaks in a nod to ‘Friends’ as the camera pans to a plaque on the wall highlighting the series filmed on that soundstage. Per Variety, co-creator Michael Patrick King joked, “We were mostly interested in how close we could get to Valerie actually saying the word Friends.”
More about ‘The Comeback’ season 3
Julian is not the only famous child in the final season. Ben Stiller’s daughter, Ella Stiller, also stars as Valerie’s social media assistant Patience.In the show, Kudrow’s character Valerie Cherish is headlining a new project called ‘How’s That?!’, with a notable twist: the show is being written by AI.The rest of the cast includes Dan Bucatinsky, Laura Silverman, Damian Young, Tim Bagley, Matt Cook, Jack O’Brien, John Early, Barry Shabaka Henley, Abbi Jacobson, Tony Macht, Brittany O’Grady, Zane Phillips, and Andrew Scott. The series finale streams on Sunday, May 10, internationally, and on Monday, May 11, on JioHotstar.
