Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is returning for its fourth and final season, and Greg is coming back. (Ahhhhhh!!!!) It’s our favorite TV show, filled to the brim with Jewish jokes and wonderfully Jewy songs, and stars our icon Rachel Bloom as Rebecca. So, you can understand we were excited when we heard Rebecca’s love interest Greg would return. (Even though low-key we’re very #TeamNathaniel at the moment.)
But…. Greg won’t be played by Santino Fontana, but by Skyler Astin.
Wait, what?
At the Television Critics Association press tour, showrunner Aline Brosh McKenna told journalists, “Rachel and I had always been exploring bringing back that character and sort trying to figure out a way to do it in a way that suited our show and also because we felt like we had taken the resolution we wanted for Greg and kind of jammed it into those first 4 episodes of the second season.”
McKenna continued, “We felt like we had completed his arc a bit. Now bringing the character of Greg back, he is part of our storytelling. It’s a plot point in the story that the character is reimagined, so it’s going to be played by a different actor, which is Skylar [Astin].”
It was a conscious decision not to have Santino Fontana return to reprise his role. As Rachel Bloom explains, “It’s not only a big leap and feels experimental and playful like our show, but as we’ll see when the show airs, it’s a great statement on how our perception of people changes, and Greg is sort of a barometer for how Rebecca changes.”
A bit confusing, especially in light of comments made when Santino Fontana left the show in 2016. Fontana told Vulture, “I don’t even think of it as leaving the show, to be honest. The last time I spoke to Aline [Brosh McKenna], she already had ideas of how we’d be able to check back in with Greg, although I don’t know if that can or will happen now.” Similarly, he told IndieWire, “If he returns or not is really up to the fans and up to the writers. I hope I get to come back and play with everybody again… I spoke to Aline. I know she was very optimistic about that, about to check back in with Greg. I would love that.”
But, the fans will get to check back in with Greg — jut not Fontana. Instead, Skylar Astin will take his place.
Jewish actor Skylar Astin (real name Skylar Lipstein) will play new Greg, and he became famous because of Pitch Perfect. And we know he can sing, which qualifies him to be on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
Bloom said they won’t just expect the audience to jump on board with the re-cast —they’re definitely going to comment on new Greg on the show —and it will be a very meta thing.
CXGF is a series firmly rooted in its protagonist’s perspective, even when Rebecca is nowhere on screen. It’s a sneaky way to explore how perception changes over time, to force viewers to think about this, too. Anyway, television is good again, thanks Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. #tca18
— Todd VanDerWerff (@tvoti) August 6, 2018
Honestly, we’re excited to see how it all goes down.
