‘Emily in Paris’ Director Takes Us Behind the Scenes of Season 5: From Mindy’s Proposal to the American Pantry (Exclusive)

Season 5 of Emily in Paris pushed boundaries — and surprised audiences with some shocking onscreen twists.

During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, director Andy Fleming broke down the biggest scenes from the newest season, which started streaming on Thursday, December 18. Since the most recent installment took the characters from Paris to Rome to Venice, more scenes were filmed out of order than before.

“It’s my job to remind the cast where we’ve been, where they’re coming from and where they’re going. That’s my responsibility,” Fleming noted. “We shot a lot out of order for various reasons and it just makes more work for me. But all the scenes are so good.”

The Netflix series, which debuted in 2020, originally centered around Emily’s (Lily Collins) move from the U.S. to France, and the challenges that come with that. Emily subsequently found herself caught in a love triangle (Lucas Bravo) between Gabriel and Alfie (Lucien Laviscount), but the situation changed significantly by the time season 5 came to an end.

Emily and Gabriel’s attempt to give their romance a chance ended as quickly as it started. She subsequently moved on with Marcello (Eugenio Franceschini) but that faced its ups and downs. Alfie, meanwhile, found an unexpected connection with Mindy (Ashley Park).

“[With the relationships on the show, I just look at each scene independently,” Fleming explained. “I’m really trying to bring out the layers because all of their relationships are so complicated. What I’m always trying to do is keep in mind where they’ve been on the journey.”

He continued: “There’s a lot of kind of reacquainting everybody with the timeline of their relationships because it is complicated.”

Keep scrolling for the biggest insight into season 5:

How ‘Emily in Paris’ Compares to ‘Emily in Rome’ 

“The show really is about Emily’s relationship with Paris. So she kind of has to discover what Paris means to her by going other places,” Fleming shared. “She’s always going to come back to Paris. But we did a lot in Italy. We did four episodes in Rome and then five in Paris and then one in Venice. So half of the season took place outside of France, which was kind of a lot for us.”

Emily found herself at a crossroads throughout the season.

“She’s wondering if this is going to be her new life. Work is always a challenge but Rome is very much about romance,” he continued. “Also, Marcello plays a big part in this season, and Eugenio is amazing. We gave him a lot more to do this season and he’s really so good at it. He really stepped up massively and really dove into this character.”

Finding Ways to Elevate Emily’s Fashion

It wouldn’t be Emily in Paris without the main character’s attire getting its own moment.

“Her look is very different than previous seasons. It isn’t about one splashy look. It’s about her dressing in a more sophisticated, more European way. She’s trying to really feel herself and grow up a little bit emotionally — but also in terms of her the way she’s dressing,” Fleming noted. “She’s having a Posh Spice moment and that’s really what’s happening. It looks good on her.”

How the Pope News Affected Season 5

While Emily in Paris was filming season 5, Rome was adjusting to the death of Pope Francis before Pope Leo XIV was chosen as his successor.

“It was amazing to be there when that was happening. We were there through the whole gamut. We were there when the previous Pope died when the conclave was formed, when he got elected and when he was consecrated as the new Pope,” the executive producer recalled. “We were there — really there — for the whole process. It was amazing. So many people came to the city. It got very congested but Rome was already congested. It was much more exciting and interesting than any kind of problem for us.”

Bringing Mindy’s Musical Moments to Life

“I would say that was maybe the biggest challenge — the musical moment with Mindy singing ‘Espresso’ because with the boat, we shot that in one location. When she’s stepping off the boat, we shot that in a second location. When she’s walking into the party, that was a third location,” Fleming shared. “It was a matter of choreographing that number. But we were shooting those three things on three different days in three different places. So it was there was a lot to keep track of.”

The Technicality of Emily’s Horseback Riding Date According to Fleming, Emily’s date with Marcello included “stunt doubles and these amazing horses that have worked in movies.”

Creating Emily and Jake’s 4th of July Date

There was also the introduction of Bryan Greenberg‘s Jake a.k.a an American working at the Embassy in Paris. Emily got to celebrate the 4th of July in style — with a detour that resulted in the pair strolling the aisles of their favorite American snacks.

“There were a lot of really cool people who read for that part but Bryan was just so funny and charming and had something quintessentially American,” Fleming said. “I toured the real American Embassy in France and saw things and I was inspired. We created our own and that market was our construction. It was a huge amount of work to get that many American products onto this little set. We built that set — I don’t even know how many hundreds of products — but it took months and months of calling each company and getting something sent. The art department really outdid themselves in that scene. ”

The Complications of a Water Sequence

Marcello’s attempt to pull together his first fashion show took just as much work behind the scenes.

“That was the most complicated sequence we’ve ever done on the show. You can’t just go in and flood a piazza in Venice, they won’t let you. We had to find a place where we could build a reservoir in just one part of the piazza. The actual runway of it, that was real water,” the director said. “But the rest of it is digital. That is another whole challenge. But I will say that more work went into that sequence than any other sequence in all five seasons of the show.”

How Mindy’s Proposal Came About in Season 5

That was a challenge that day with four characters and a proposal and a reversal of fortunes on a gondola. I was really worried about it but it went off very well,” Fleming told Us. “What we were doing was we essentially were mounting this camera to a gondola and putting the actors in. They just went off on their own.”

He concluded: “I had a little monitor and I’d be running alongside. But I think they liked it because they were independent of us. They got to sort of be in the moment for the whole take. But it was quite the process.”