Warning: Spoilers ahead! Do not proceed unless you’ve watched “The Bear” Season 5, including the series finale.
A spoonfull of Sugar…
“The Bear” star Abby Elliott exclusively told The Post her onscreen sibling, Jeremy Allen White, is like “a brother to me” off screen, too.
In the fifth and final season of the restaurant dramedy, now streaming on Hulu, Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (White) steps back from the titular Chicago restaurant, The Bear.
The Emmy-wining show originally premiered in 2022, following Carmy as he took over his brother Mikey’s (Jon Bernthal) restaurant The Beef after Mikey’ suicide.
Throughout the series, he eventually turns the eatery it into a fine-dining spot with the help of his sister, Natalie “Sugar” Barzatto (Elliott); his protégé, Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri); his best friend, Richard “Richie” Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and the rest of their staff.
For most of the final season — which mostly takes place over the course of one day — Carmy is still working with everyone as they try to do dinner service in the middle of a storm. However, the plan is for Sugar, Sydney and Richie to take over in a partnership after he departs.
“He’s saying goodbye and handing it off to Sydney, Richie and Sugar — and it feels like Jeremy Allen White [doing it] instead of Carmy,” Elliott told The Post.
The former “SNL” actress noted that while Sugar has helped out in the kitchen, she hasn’t really cooked before Season 5.
“And so, Jeremy was actually teaching me how to plate, as Carmy was teaching Sugar how to plate. So, there are a lot of parallels to real life,” she shared.
Throughout the five seasons of the show, Carmy and Sugar’s dysfunctional relationship with their mother, Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis), has been explored to deep, emotional depths.
In Season 5, Donna and Sugar are in a better place.
Elliott called working with Curtis “the thrill of a lifetime” and told The Post Curtis has become a “dear friend.”
The “All Her Fault” actress added, “I just look up to her so much, and to have gotten to know her is such a blessing.”
Elliott said the two women reach a sense of “catharsis” in the final season. Sugar is “wrapping her head around” trusting her mother and is “questioning” it, but ultimately is “still moving forward” with it.
“She relinquishes a little bit of control,” the “Odd Mom Out” star explained, adding that Donna “appreciates that so much” and “it’s what both of their characters need.”
Elliott said there was no tearful final table read because “The Bear” is “wonderfully unique in that way — we really don’t do table reads.”
The “Better Off Single” actress explained the show never had “a lot of rehearsal.”
“We just go and shoot and see what comes out,” she said. “And a lot of the stuff that that makes it in is like the first take — something very natural and not perfect, per se.”
That “scrappy” element is what makes the show “special,” she noted.
Elliott revealed the cast keeps close contact through a group chat, sharing, “We’ll always be in touch. This is like a forever family.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
