Louis: Dreyfus vows 'Veep' character true to self until the end
PASADENA, Calif. (Reuters) - Don’t expect Selina Meyer to hold anything back in the upcoming final season of “Veep,” star Julia Louis-Dreyfus said on Friday.
Meyer, the self-centered and foul-mouthed former president and vice president at the center of the Emmy-winning HBO comedy, will be trying to work her way back into the White House when the show returns on March 31 for seven episodes.
“She is truer to herself, as true to herself as she can possibly be by the time this season ends,” Louis-Dreyfus told reporters at a Television Critics Association event. “I’ll leave it for you to determine whether or not it’s a good thing.”
A send-up of Washington power brokers, “Veep” has aired on AT&T Inc’s HBO since 2012, but the show took a hiatus after Louis-Dreyfus began undergoing treatment for breast cancer in late 2017. The former “Seinfeld” star said last year she was cancer free.
Producers said they had decided to end the show with the upcoming seventh season before the cancer diagnosis.
In one clip from a future episode, Meyer questions part of the pitch to voters that her staff has prepared for her.
“I’m not sure about this part where I say I want to be president for all Americans,” Meyer says to an aide. “I mean, do I?”
Upcoming scenes also showed Meyer, who often insults staff with blunt and off-color remarks, being confronted with anonymous complaints about her workplace behavior.
Louis-Dreyfus said Meyer is unlikely to change her ways in the show’s final episodes. “I’m not sure that evolution is necessarily her game,” she said.
“I think where our show ends up ultimately is a place I’m very happy about, and I think it will surprise viewers too,” she added.
“I think it’s the right ending for America,” joked executive producer and writer Dave Mandel.
“Veep” has won the Emmy for best comedy series three times, and Louis-Dreyfus has earned six consecutive best actress Emmys for the role, surpassing the totals of past female comedy icons like Mary Tyler Moore or Lucille Ball.
Also an executive producer of “Veep,” Louis-Dreyfus said the show’s writers have had to work harder to push boundaries and generate laughs in the face of the unconventional style of real-life U.S. President Donald Trump that dominates the news.
“It is now a tad more challenging, but we were able to do it,” Louis-Dreyfus said. “So get ready.”
Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Bill Berkrot
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