Interview
‘Emily in Paris’ Star Samuel Arnold Reveals Season 5 Hopes & Julien’s True Feelings About Emily
Emily Cooper’s (Lily Collins) epic European journey will continue with Emily in Paris Season 5. Emily has a new job in Rome, and the rest of her cohorts are still stationed in Paris. Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) chose Emily to run Agence Grateau’s Rome office over Julien (Samuel Arnold) and Luc (Bruno Gouery). So, how does Julien really feel about Emily getting yet another opportunity over him?
“Here’s what I think: I think Julien’s favorite thing about Emily is the fact that she’s brilliant,” Arnold told TV Insider. “She’s an amazing marketing executive. But the thing that he hates about her is that she’s brilliant and that she’s an amazing marketing executive. Do you know what I mean? I think that was fueling the feud between them, and she wasn’t helping at all with her attitude. But since they went through this little war, and Julien left, and he came back, I feel like he’s come to terms with the fact that she’s a genius. He has to accept it, and she’s on his side. The way I see is that if she’s winning, he’s winning.”
But with Julien, Luc, and Sylvie heading back to Paris, Emily’s new position could provide a window for Julien to showcase himself. “It would make sense for me that Julien would use Emily’s absence in Paris to take more space himself, but I don’t know,” Arnold said. “Every time I speculate about something, the writers do something that I didn’t see coming and is way better, so we’ll see.”
When TV Insider brought up the idea of Julien and Luc traveling to the U.S. to work, Arnold chimed in, “That was my pitch in Season 1. I was like, let’s have a Julien in Chicago. He goes and works with Madeline Wheeler.”
According to Arnold, having the show at least temporarily set in Rome opens up a world of possibilities for the Netflix series. “We’ve been going through different cities, and that makes me realize that the show has a really strong DNA,” he noted. “It’s really about culture and what the environment can bring to you. It brings you love, it bring work opportunities, it brings drama. That can happen anywhere, not only in Paris, and we see that decision with Rome. So we’ll see. Maybe we’re going to go to the States. Maybe we’re going to go somewhere else in Europe.”
Emily has had many suitors over the last four seasons, and Arnold would love to explore Julien’s romantic life more in Season 5 and beyond. “I realized this season that he was not that confident about that and that he was more of a one-night stand and player because he maybe has some fear of commitment,” the actor pointed out. “Maybe that’s something we can explain next season.”
He continued, “I just wanted to add, love can come in very different natures, and it doesn’t have to be a romantic love. I think that the show really tells a lot of stories and puts a lot of things forward. I’d love for Julien to tell things in a different way. I don’t know which way, but I’d love for him to vehicle something different.”
Arnold is also manifesting a dance moment for Julien. “I really want to know how he dances because I’m a dancer, and Julien would not dance like me,” he told TV Insider. “I would love to see him on the dance floor. That’s one thing that I’d love for the next season. I want a scenario where Julien can dance and show off his dance skills.”
Emily in Paris, Season 4, Streaming Now, Netflix