Summary
- The Bear has gained massive popularity and critical acclaim due to its ensemble cast and lovable characters that viewers have become invested in.
- The introduction of celebrity guest stars in the second season worried Ebon Moss-Bachrach, as he didn't want their presence to distract from the immersive storytelling of the show.
- However, the celebrity cameos in The Bear were well-received by fans, with the focus remaining on the dramatic and powerful moments of the episodes rather than the famous actors themselves.
In the past, there have been some shows that have become known for their many guest stars. A perfect example of that is even though some Friends guest stars are unpopular, more and more were introduced as the seasons progressed.
Even though regularly welcoming guest stars mostly worked for Friends, that doesn't mean that is a good idea for every show. As it turns out, The Bear's Ebon Moss-Bachrach was worried about the Hulu and Disney+ show featuring celebrity guest stars.
Why Did The Bear's Ebon Moss-Bachrach Worry About Celebrity Cameos?
Since The Bear premiered on Hulu in June 2022 and later moved to Disney+, it has become a massive hit for everyone involved. Almost universally acclaimed among critics, The Bear has won a slew of different awards, and it seems likely that it will take home more accolades in the future.
While there are many reasons why critics and fans are so impressed by The Bear, the show's ensemble cast plays a huge role in its popularity. With so many lovable characters that fans have truly grown to care about, many viewers can't get enough of them all.
Before The Bear premiered, many of the show's stars had begun to make a name for themselves. Jeremy Allen White was known for Shameless, Ebon Moss-Bachrach gained fans from Girls, Ayo Edebiri's voice was familiar to Big Mouth viewers, and more.
However, the world of The Bear felt so real that many viewers mostly forget about those past roles after only watching a few episodes. When a show pulls off the feat of making viewers that invested, it can be difficult to not break that level of immersion over time.
During the second season of The Bear, the show introduced several new characters that made their mark. Fortunately, many viewers felt these characters brought more depth to The Bear as they helped viewers to understand what makes Carmy and other characters tick.
In many cases, those new characters were portrayed by famous actors. During the second season, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bob Odenkirk, John Mulaney, Sarah Paulson, Olivia Colman, Jon Bernthal, Will Poulter, Gillian Jacobs, and Alex Moffat all showed up. Aside from Bernthal who'd appeared in the show's first season, all of them played characters that fans hadn't seen before.
During the sixth episode of The Bear's second season, five of those celebrity actors were introduced to fans for the first time. For many viewers, it was exciting to see so many celebrated performers join The Bear but Moss-Bachrach worried fans would have a different reaction.
In June 2023, Moss-Bachrach was interviewed by Variety about The Bear. During the resulting conversation, Moss-Bachrach was asked about the show welcoming so many famous performers during the sixth episode of the second season.
At first, Moss-Bachrach started by talking about how incredible it was to work with the show's celebrity guest stars. However, Moss-Bachrach immediately transitioned to talking about why bringing in so many famous actors concerned him.
"That was incredible. I was a little concerned about having these well-known actors in the show, because I didn’t want it to distract from the story that we’re telling. So much of the virtue of “The Bear’s” first season was it was these relatively unknown actors — or known actors, but nobody super famous."
Moss-Bachrach continued, "And you can really get sucked into the world. The last thing I wanted was for people to be taken out of the story because, “Oh my God, it’s Sarah Paulson! Bob Odenkirk! Jamie Lee Curtis!” But they all did such good work and were so committed."
Looking at Moss-Bachrach's comments, it is easy to understand why he was worried. After all, it certainly is possible for viewers to be taken aback the first time a celebrity appears on The Bear. However, most fans seem to believe that feeling goes away quickly.
A perfect example of why The Bear's celebrity cameos worked for most viewers is the second season's Christmas episode was. Even though that episode introduced several celebrity guest stars, very little of the conversation focused on that.
Instead, the reaction to that episode mostly focused on how blown away people were by how dramatic and stressful the episode. Screen Rant even labeled the episode "One Of The Most Haunting Family Christmas Episodes In TV History".
Similarly, most of The Bear fans loved seeing Marcus' conversation with the character portrayed by Will Poulter. On top of that, many viewers found the scene Richie shared with Olivia Colman's character to be one of the most powerful in the show's history.
Did Jamie Lee Curtis And Bob Odenkirk Like Working On The Bear?
Since The Bear is such a great show, it makes sense that many celebrities want to play a role. However, just because those stars agreed to appear on The Bear doesn't necessarily mean they enjoyed their experience. Fortunately, it seems like guest starring in The Bear is a good experience based on what Bob Odenkirk told Deadline in July 2023.
"Everybody was there to kick a–, to play. Everyone respected each other, every one of those actors, and [creator] Chris Storer runs a set that allows freedom to Discover, and invent, and bring things to life. Jeremy Allen White just sets a ton of professionalism and respect between everyone, and it’s that great thing of, we all want the other person to kick a–.”
When Jamie Lee Curtis' character has appeared in episodes of The Bear to date, she seems so pained. With that in mind, it is gratifying to see what Curtis seemed to cherish playing the role based on what she wrote on Instagram about joining the show.
In her post, Curtis revealed that she felt she was destined to be part of The Bear. "When I saw the first episode of the first show, last summer and Sugar asks Carmen if he had spoken to their mother, in that second I knew that I would play her. Don't ask me how. I just knew."
From there, Curtis went on to write about what it was like to be asked to join The Bear's cast. More importantly, Curtis referred to bringing Donna Berzatto to life as "the role of a lifetime".
"A year later, after the wild success of the brilliant 1st season, Chris Storer offered me the role of a lifetime. There's not a person alive who won't relate to what it feels like to be around someone like Donna Berzatto. I certainly have my own experiences."
Curtis continued, "That's what makes the show so magnificent. We can relate and commiserate and celebrate all of our communal survival in this thing called.... life. Thank you Chris @chrisstorer and the ENTIRE BEAR family of creative human beings and scene partners for allowing me in to let it rip! #thebear"
