‘The Bear’ stars Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri address Season 3 character romance rumors: ‘Scripts were so strong’
Yes, chef.
Jeremy Allen White, 33, and Ayo Edebiri, 28, have officially addressed the rumors that their characters, Carmy and Sydney, might have a romance on “The Bear” Season 3.
“No, there was no talk in the rooms about any romantic implications,” White said during an FX/Hulu press conference that The Post attended.
Returning Wednesday (9 p.m) for Season 3, Hulu’s “The Bear” follows Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (White), a chef from the fine dining world, who returns to Chicago to helm his brother Mikey’s (Jon Bernthal) sandwich shop after Mikey dies by suicide.
The journey isn’t easy, since the ragtag team is resistant to Carmy’s management style.
By Season 3 of the show, which has become an awards darling, together with Sydney (Edebiri), Carmy has wrangled the crew — including his “cousin” Richie Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and pastry chef Marcus (Lionel Boyce) – and given the place a fine dining makeover.
Sydney and Carmy are friends and colleagues, but many fans have speculated that romance could be on the horizon. However, while White said there was “no talk” of that, Edebiri had a more pointed answer: “No.”
White added that Carmy is “not the best communicator” but will sometimes make a “grand gesture” to reach out to Syd or the rest of the staff, even if they aren’t “prepared to receive” his gesture.
“He’s got a lot going on in his mind all the time, and people aren’t always aware of exactly what’s going on. You’ll see how that affects Carmen and Syd’s relationship, but I think Carmen is trying to welcome her in,” he said.
Regarding where Season 3 is going, since Carmy was stuck in a walk-in refrigerator in the Season 2 finale, White said, “I do get out of the walk-in refrigerator. And that’s good, and I think Carmy does what he does, which is, he sort of buries himself back into his work and really tries to challenge himself. In doing so, he really challenges everybody around him, and becomes quite challenging to be around, as well. A lot of challenges!”
He also said that he doesn’t share Carmy’s quality of being a perfectionist.
“I am so the opposite. It’s something that I admire a lot about Carmy, and it’s something I strive for in my life, but that’s not a quality that Carmy and I share, I struggle often,” White shared.
In the wake of winning an Emmy and two Golden Globes for his role — and skyrocketing to new levels of fame — he admitted that when he returned to the show, “I think the pressure is real.”
The former “Shameless” star added that before shooting Season 2 and especially Season 3, after the success of awards season, he was “very anxious.”
He continued: “I knew the scripts were so strong, and we have great opportunities, like we always do. But the pressure is very real. After a couple weeks of getting back around [the rest of the cast] and our beautiful crew, everything falls back into place and it feels fun again, and it all feels possible again.”
The hit show has already been renewed for a Season 4 ahead of its third season, and it was rumored that the two seasons were shot back to back.
When asked if that was true, the cast was evasive.
“We did something like that,” said White, while Edebiri chimed in that they did “a little version of [filming Seasons 3 and 4 back to back]. Sort of, but not exactly.”
