Lisa Kudrow Returns to a Famous Role After 11 Years for the Finale of HBO’s Series

After celebrating its 20th anniversary on June 5, the comedy series “The Comeback” is officially coming back for a third season on HBO. The show, co-created by Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King, stars Kudrow as Valerie Cherish, a struggling actress trying to make a comeback.

Even though the announcement calls this the “final season,” fans might want to take that with a grain of salt. Since the show first aired in 2005, returned in 2014, and is now set to come back again in 2026 after starting production this summer, the idea of “final” doesn’t feel so final.

Lisa Kudrow will be back as Valerie, along with Dan Bucatinsky playing her publicist, Laura Silverman as Jane, the reality show producer, and Damian Young as Mark, Valerie’s husband. Sadly, Robert Michael Morris, who played Valerie’s best friend and hair stylist Mickey and passed away in 2017, won’t be returning. The 2014 season had a lot of guest stars like Seth Rogen and Malin Åkerman, but the new season’s full cast list hasn’t been revealed yet.

In a statement shared by HBO, Kudrow and King said, “Valerie Cherish has found her way back to the current television landscape. Neither of us are surprised she did.”

The show first introduced Valerie Cherish as a sitcom actress whose return to TV was documented by a reality show called “The Comeback.” The reality show filmed all her awkward and embarrassing moments, making for a very raw look at Hollywood. Critics didn’t like it much at first, calling it too dark and uncomfortable.

This was just after Kudrow had finished ten years on “Friends,” and King had been busy with “Sex and the City.” The show’s sharp take on the entertainment industry and how women are treated wasn’t what audiences expected, so it got canceled. Still, Kudrow earned Emmy nominations for her role in both the original run and the 2014 return, and King was also nominated for directing.

After it was canceled, “The Comeback” became a cult favorite. Valerie’s lines like “Well, I’ve got it!” and “I don’t want to see that!” turned into popular memes. HBO brought the show back for a second season in 2014. This year, Variety named Kudrow’s performance as one of the greatest TV performances of the 21st century.

At the end of season two, Valerie had gone through more public humiliations but finally earned the recognition she wanted for playing a fictional version of herself in a dark HBO dramedy called “Seeing Red.” She had grown as a character, especially after choosing to leave the Emmys to be with Mickey in the hospital, which also showed how much her marriage to Mark was struggling.

Amy Gravitt, HBO and Max’s executive vice president of comedy, said about the comeback, “No matter what the industry throws at her, Valerie Cherish is a survivor. On the 20th Anniversary of her debut, Michael Patrick King and Lisa Kudrow have brilliantly scripted her return to HBO and we can’t wait to see that.”

King, Kudrow, John Melfi, and Dan Bucatinsky are all executive producers on the new season. Fans will have to wait until 2026 to see Valerie Cherish’s latest chapter unfold on HBO.

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