First hitting our collective consciousness (mostly Gen Z and millennials, to be honest) in October 2020, Emily in Paris provided some much-needed succour to a world pretty much still within the deadly clutches of a globe-altering pandemic.

Its story of a young woman named Emily Cooper — played by a wide-eyed Lily Collins — swapping Chicago for Paris in order to bring an American point of view and social media presence to a venerable French marketing firm, courtesy her master’s degree in communications, and then left to grapple with the challenges of life in the French capital while juggling her career, new friendships and see-saw love life, Emily in Paris may not have won many laurels for theme and treatment in the course of its three-season run, but it scores pretty high on the E-E factor — escapism and entertainment. Not to mention the jaw-dropping clothes, representing the best of Parisian fashion, which has made it the most fashion-forward watch across screens big and small today.

That Emily in Paris comes from Darren Star is not a surprise. The 63-year-old writer, producer and director is no stranger to the world of binge-watching. Described pretty aptly as ‘The Master of Compulsively Watchable TV’ in a recent profiling by Vulture, Star created his first television hit in 1990. Almost 35 years later, the man continues the habit, getting better with every binge-worthy outing.

Born to a Jewish family in Potomac, Maryland, and an alumnus of UCLA where he studied creative writing, Darren Star created his first cult TV show in the form of Beverly Hills, 90210. Running for 10 hugely successful seasons and spurring off many more titles in the franchise, Beverly Hills, 90210 follows the lives of a group of friends living in Beverly Hills, California, as they transition from high school to college and into the adult world. It was based on Star’s own experiences navigating life as a young adult (“Till then, no one had written a show about teenagers from a teenage point of view,” he had said in an interview) and remains the seminal series in its genre.

Functioning as almost a companion piece to 90210, but pretty much its own series with a unique DNA, Star also created the popular series Melrose Place. Playing out over seven seasons, the show was once again about a group of young adults living in an apartment complex on Melrose Place.

Star’s reputation for creating television that was a hit from the get-go was cemented with what is perhaps his best known work. Sex and the City, an adaptation of Candace Bushnell’s newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the same name, and tracing the lives and loves of four female friends in New York City, resonated deeply with women, irrespective of age and colour, across the world.

It may have received some criticism, but Sex and the City unanimously remains everyone’s guilty pleasure watch, with all of us finding our type in either Carrie, Samantha, Miranda or Charlotte. Even those that didn’t couldn’t resist binge-watching this global blockbuster from Star — by then a bona fide hit maker who turned almost everything he touched into gold — which has spawned off two films and a spin-off series.

And then, four years ago, came Emily in Paris. “I was intending to make a show that was aspirational. I wanted to create an entertaining show about an American in Paris,” Star said. The series, premiering on Netflix to huge numbers which it has sustained over the course of three seasons and now possibly a fourth (Star says he sees “at least two more seasons” for Emily in Paris), has just dropped Part One of its latest season (with the second part due to arrive on the streamer on September 12).

With new challenges in Emily’s life at the end of Season 3 and a lot of life-altering decisions poised to be made even as the action shifts to Rome for a bit, t2oS engaged in a video chat with Darren Star.

Season 3 of Emily in Paris ended on a cliffhanger and there were a series of complications in the lives of everyone involved in the show, especially that of Emily, Alfie, Camille and Gabriel. As a result, was writing Season 4 more challenging and demanded an all-encompassing narrative than the previous seasons?

Yes, it was challenging because we did leave off on a lot of cliffhangers and painted ourselves into some real corners. There are a lot of angles this season and many resolutions to be woven in, but I wanted to tell all these stories in the most sort of unexpected but organic ways. In this season, I did spend a lot of time thinking about where this story and these people were heading.

But we all know that the excitement lies in the challenge, right?

Yes, absolutely! I have always believed that in some ways, if it is a mystery to me, then it is going to be a mystery for the audience as well. I wasn’t looking at taking a predictable route with this season.

Two years ago, at the end of Season 3, you had said in an interview that the fourth season would focus on how to balance business and toxic relationships. How far do you think you have achieved that?

Emily in Paris creator Darren Star (right) with lead actor Lily Collins

I think it does, in many ways. This is a more mature season, in a sense, because the characters have evolved. Emily, herself, has matured a lot. In this season, she has more challenges to deal with, personally and professionally. She is looking at a little more work-life balance, but also, her relationship with Gabriel (played by Lucas Bravo) has become more real. So also has her equation with Alfie (Lucien Laviscount).

How has your vision and mission with Emily in Paris the show and Emily the character evolved from Season One to now?

In Season One, Emily was unexpectedly brought to Paris. She was totally a fish out of water. She was very naïve about the culture and also about her place there. She struggled really hard to find her place and also used her smarts a lot to succeed.

At the same time, she had to learn to be more respectful and in tune with the culture of the country and adapt quite a bit to Paris.

In Season Four, we find her really evolved to the point where she is now comfortable living in Paris. But then her challenges are not all about that. I think her challenges are definitely about the cultural differences between American culture and French culture, but, ultimately, just sort of she herself navigating through her life in Paris.

She has made a choice... she is an expatriate living in Paris, and certainly there are always going to be differences in terms of that, but she has made that choice because she loves being in Paris. She has really embraced the culture. And, at the same time, the French characters in the show have embraced her for her differences.

What do you think the core of Emily in Paris, as it opens with its fourth season, is now about?

This season is bigger in scope. That includes in terms of where we have filmed it. From the beginning, the series has helped the viewer to vicariously explore different parts of France. That has formed the core of Emily’s journey too... to be able to sort of travel and see more of the country and making the audience vicariously get to go on that ride with her.

In this season, we have expanded our scope in terms of where we have gone. We have filmed in Giverny in the French Alps and by the end of the season, the action shifts to Rome. We have some amazing locations this season and the ambition of the show has grown as well.

When did you first realise that Emily in Paris has a sizeable male audience and how much did that influence and impact your vision for the series going ahead?

I really love the fact that the show has got a big, broad audience. The viewership of Emily in Paris encompasses a lot of ages and includes both men and women. That is primarily because of the fact that the characters are just really watchable... the show is a great escape. It is a show — and we have always tried to keep it like that — that has something that appeals to everyone.

Is it this factor of reliability that almost always works well on screen for the awkward, fish out of water kind of heroine like Emily is?

If I only concentrate on Paris and answer this, then I will say that there is something so magical and alluring about the city but also very challenging and thrilling to live there by stepping into the shoes of a character like Emily who is doing it every day, and doing it with so much determination. In a way, it is fun to watch her make mistakes!

The show has often come in for criticism that you show a romanticised version of Paris much like you depicted a glossy New York City in Sex and the City, with Carrie Bradshaw in the latter cavorting around in outfits as eye-catching as Emily Cooper. We love the idea of entertainment and escape, but have you ever thought of taking a realistic route with Emily in Paris?

Emily in Paris definitely sees the city it is set in through a romantic lens. That is how the show has been envisioned. It is in the service of providing entertainment and that is what it does. Taking any other route is not what the DNA of this show is.