‘The Bear’ Cast Dishes on Ayo Edebiri’s Directing Debut, Certain Romantic Implications, and the Chicago Food Scene

The Bear quickly rose through the ranks to become one of TV’s most devourable series. Now, it’s serving up a new season of chaos and confrontation.

During a virtual press conference with reporters this week, I had the opportunity to hear The Bear cast’s thoughts on this chapter for their characters, whether Carmy and Syndey’s romantic chemistry was intentional, and what they love most about filming in Chicago (spoiler, it’s the food).

Cast in attendance included Ricky Staffieri (Ted Fak), Matty Matheson (Neil Fak), Liza Colón-Zayas (Tina), Lionel Boyce (Marcus), Abby Elliott (Natalie), Ayo Edebiri (Sydney), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Richie), and Jeremy Allen White (Carmy).

Character Growth:

The Beef underwent extensive renovations, and so did its employees. Now that the doors are open, their growth will be on full display.

Moss-Bachrach echoed concerns that Richie’s new persona might not be sustainable. “He’s been exposed to a more evolved way of being, and I think he sees a path to head towards. But it’s one thing to see the path, and it’s another thing to walk it.”

As for Natalie, Elliott says grief plays a significant role in Sugar coming into her own as a parent. “She’s processing her grief, and she’s about to become a mother. She’s grappling with the fact that her brother had this horrible demise, and her relationship with her mom and her brother is not in a good place.”

Carmy will indeed continue to be his high-strung perfectionist self, and Allen White wanted to set the record straight on how different he is from his character. “I am so the opposite,” he laughed. “It’s something I admire a lot about Carmy, and I think it’s something that I try and strive for in my life. But no, that’s not a quality Carm and I share.”

Finally, Boyce touched on Marcus having to “elevate” alongside the restaurant. “I was working with Courtney Storer and Malcolm Livingston, learning more techniques and just making cool things. I learned how to make Nutella from scratch, and that was cool.”

Romantic Implications:

Last season, there was discussions online about Sydney and Carmy’s relationship and the romantic implications that may be present in their shared love for food.

When asked if there was any discussion in the room about that, Edebiri and Allen White confirmed it was not something discussed. “No? No, there was no talk in the rooms about any romantic implications,” Allen White clarified.

What could very well be the byproduct of palpable chemistry was not initially on the menu. Yet, Allen White said Carmy wants to open up to Sydney, and he has his own ways of doing that.

“I think for Carmen, he’s not the best communicator but he will often kind of make a sort of grand gesture like that to try and communicate to Syd or the kitchen or whomever. And I think that’s his way of kind of reaching out — but I think he’s got a lot going on in his mind all the time and people aren’t always aware of exactly what’s going on.”

“You’ll see obviously how that affects Carmen and Syd’s relationship. I think Carmen’s trying to welcome her in a little bit was the point of the partnership agreement.”

Chicago Food Scene:

When asked how we can expect the Chicago food scene representation to change with the show’s trajectory, Matheson responded, “You’ll have to watch,” to which Allen White joked, “You can do more.”

Allen White said Chicago is “such a great city” with “beautiful food at every single sort of scale; you can be impressed by something at every level — which I guess is true of a lot of cities, but I find it to be very clear and sort of in your face in the city of Chicago.”

“Chris Storer loves Chicago very much, and we’ve all fallen in love with it dearly,” Matheson agreed, “And I think showing and shining a light on a lot of amazing things about Chicago in a positive way are things that we love doing.”

Edebiri added, “Many restaurants and people who work there have been so beneficial to our show and helping us make it. Be that actual chefs coming in from amazing spots in Chicago and helping us and teaching us, or letting them use their locations, it’s a beautiful relationship we’re all very grateful for.

“This season does reflect how important they are to us telling the story,” Moss-Bachrach agreed.

While filming in Chicago, the cast tends to use each other as a soundboard for memorable spots to get their next meal. Their favorite spots include Kasama, Birrieria Zaragoza, Duck Duck Goat, and Viaggio.

“I didn’t do a lot of high-end restaurants,” Liza Colón-Zayas confessed. “I do dig the Puerto Rican food. My favorite was this restaurant, Ponce.”

“I love getting a dog at Gene & Jude’s,” Matheson added. 

“What was that sundae spot — the ice cream spot we all went to that time?” Allen White asked the group. “Margie’s Candies — up in like uptown. That was nice,” Staffieri confirmed.

Director, Ayo Edebiri:

Edebiri made her directing debut this season with The Bear Season 3 Episode 6, “Napkins,” and the actress couldn’t stop gushing over the new gig.

“Directing was a blast. I really loved it. It’s like a dream to work with our crew as an actor. I got to direct some of my favorite actors in the world, and it felt like a master class but also a gift,” Edebiri explained, going on to say she might have found her new calling.

“I was like, this is maybe the best job in the world? Or tied for first place, at least, with the one of acting.”

When asked if she got to pick the episode she would get to direct, Edebiri revealed the happy coincidence that led her to work on her favorite episode of the season.

“He [Christopher Storer] had one in mind. We’re lucky enough to read all the episodes as actors beforehand, and we’d been talking about it for a while. Because I wasn’t the only guest director this season. Our AD, Duccio Fabbri, also directed an episode. And so, I think they had in their minds who would go where.”

“We had a conversation, and he asked, ‘Which scripts are you responding to?’ And I was like, “I would literally give you my firstborn child, who does not exist yet if I could do the Liza episode because I would love to work with Liza in that way.” And then, he was like, “Well, we have nice little parallel thinking.'”

As for the rumors that The Bear would shoot Seasons 3 and 4 back-to-back, the cast showed fans some mercy and gave us this tiny tidbit.

“We did something like that,” Allen White teased, and Edebiri backed his confirmation. “Yeah, a little version of it, sort of. But not exactly.”

Heard, chefs. If it is answers you crave, you’ll have to watch Season 3 to find out — and it just so happens that all ten episodes are already streaming.

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Season 3 of The Bear is available to stream on Hulu.

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