Emily in Paris’ Lucas Bravo Addresses His Absence From Season 5 Trailer After Criticizing the Show

Lucas Bravo is returning as Gabriel for season 5 of Emily in Paris — so why wasn’t he in the trailer?

Netflix released the first look at their hit show on Thursday, October 23, which focused entirely on Emily’s (Lily Collins) romance with Marcello (Eugenio Franceschini) after the title character relocated from Paris to Rome at the end of season 4.

There were several notable absences in the trailer, including Lucien Laviscount‘s fan-favorite character, Alfie and Bravo, 37, in the role of Gabriel.

“I would love to tell you something,” Bravo told E! News on Friday, October 24. “I like the fact that I’m not in the trailer and that it creates a conversation, and I’m gonna keep the conversation running. I won’t say anything.”

Bravo leaned into the questions about whether this hinted at his fate on the show, adding, “I don’t know. I’m not in it.”

It was previously confirmed that Bravo filmed scenes for season 5 when the show went into production in May. Gabriel’s Michelin-rated restaurant was one of the backdrops while some scenes were filmed in Rome after Emily got a job offer in Italy.

Before signing on for more episodes, Bravo made headlines when he admitted he felt frustrated with where Gabriel’s story was going.

“The ‘sexy chef’ was very much part of me in season 1 and we grew apart season after season because of the choices he makes and because of the direction they make him take,” Bravo told IndieWire in October 2024. “I’ve never been so far away from him.”

Bravo found Gabriel “slowly turned into guacamole” before making a dig about narrative “souffles” and a “lack of risk” on screen.

“In season 1, there was a lot of me in him. But as they made him kind of unaware of his surroundings, of the dynamic, always victimizing and always being completely lost in translation and oblivious to anything that is happening around him and being manipulated by everyone, it kind of became not fun for me to shoot,” he noted. “Or to see a character I love so much and brought me so much, being slowly turned into guacamole. I really grew apart from him.”

Bravo recalled trying to voice his complaints. “[But] there is only so much I can do in the limits of a script,” he added. “I tried for seasons to bring nuances but we don’t have much liberty on set. We cannot change a word or an emotion. They know what they want and we just have to comply.”

The actor even hinted that he might step away from the show.

“It makes me question if I want to be part of season 5 — because my contract ends at season 4. I really want to see if Gabriel gets back to his fun, cheeky, playful, alive self,” he continued. “Because three seasons playing melancholic, sad, depressed, and lost is not fun anymore. It’s a comedy, everybody is having fun around me, everybody is jumping around, and I’m just slowly sinking into god knows what.”

At the time, a source spoke to Us Weekly about what Bravo’s frustration meant for Emily in Paris, saying, “The show is Emily in Paris — not Gabriel in Paris. Everyone is so upset about the remarks he made. There is going to be a lot of tension.”

Emily in Paris returns Thursday, December 18, on Netflix.