In the world of Sutton Foster’s Liza, it might appear that everything has come full circle by the end of Younger.
Seven seasons ago, Younger began with Liza, a divorcée and single mother in her 40s, telling a lie that she was in her 20s in order to land a junior position with the top New York City publishing firm run by Charles .
In a callback to how the pair met in the pilot, Josh approaches Liza as she struggles to get a bartender’s attention and they replay their own meet-cute from when they first met in a bar seven seasons ago.
A common thread through every season of Younger has been the love triangle between Charles, Josh and Liza.
“Her happy ending would not be about finding a man,” Star tells The Hollywood Reporter of his starring character.
Where that connection goes could be a lot of places, but I think the most important thing is that it reinforces the influence the two of them have had on each other’s lives over the course of the series and how important they are to each other.
For me, it was a really elegant way to end the series in a way that didn’t necessarily wrap things up in a neat bow.
The show thematically is about ageism, but it also deals with how important work is to people — these characters are all very passionate about work.
We talked about a number of different endings, but we were always wanting to come back to the idea that her real victory would be at work.
The idea that Liza influenced Charles to reinvent his life is something that was unexpected, but Peter really loved the idea that that’s where his character was going and that his character wasn’t being defined by his relationship with Liza.
I don’t think that her options are narrowed down to: is she going to be with Charles or is she going to be with Josh? Her world is completely opened up by the end of the series.
Telling this story in the #MeToo era really affected the storytelling and the stakes of the story in a way that didn’t exist when the series started, and I think it is responsible for a lot of big plot turns in the story.
I hope viewers leave the series feeling like they’ve spent seven seasons with these characters and that their time has not been wasted, that all of the characters have been given really satisfying endings.
She had come to the end of the road in terms of work and publishing, and I think as people talked about the fact that publishing is not the shiny, sexy glamorous business that it was, she’s heading to L.A.
I think she’s off doing something else and regardless of a spinoff or not, this was always our ending for Kelsey.
I think that she unintentionally had a big impact on Max, her ex-boyfriend, in a way that she never expected and that speaks to who Lauren is.
But I thought from the beginning that Molly brought such a fresh character to the series and I really wanted to include that voice on the show.
We wanted to do something that was speaking to where she was in her life — her age and her career — and finding that she was compatible with somebody in a surprising way.
For me, I just hope it inspires people to chase their dreams and to take chances.
That was always a constant in the series, so I don’t think we were ignoring the idea that publishing was going through some tough times right now.
It’s always something to look forward to that’s been a really wonderful experience and I think the camaraderie between the cast comes through on screen.
It makes me want to double down on telling stories about relationships and people, because it makes people come out of this realizing how interpersonal relationships are so key.
It’s amazing how the audience still has such love for those characters, and I think it’s a testament to the characters and to the actors that the show keeps giving life to the series.
I feel like it’s still a little too fresh to think about, but I think it would be something fun for all of us to revisit in the future if there was the opportunity.