Michael Patrick King Says He Hopes Nothing 'Apocalyptic' Forces Another 'Comeback' Season

Michael Patrick King says he and Lisa Kudrow have no plans to bring back The Comeback for a fourth season, and that Season 3 was designed to serve as the series finale.

The Details

King told Deadline he is 'very happy about this being the finale of the series' and that both he and Kudrow are content to let the show rest after its current run. The co-creator said it would take an unexpected industry upheaval to justify another revival. 'So, hopefully there won't be any apocalyptic unknown things appearing in the next 10 years that would warrant us to come back,' King told the outlet.

The announcement follows a separate Deadline interview published May 11 that framed Season 3 as Lisa Kudrow's farewell to her character, Valerie Cherish, reinforcing that the latest installment was conceived as an ending rather than an open-ended continuation.

King said Season 3 took a long time to develop creatively because the writing team needed what he called 'the right machine' to build a show around. That search led to the season's artificial-intelligence-focused storyline. He described the season as a 'fear-based comedy' centered on the use of AI tools in Hollywood and the industry's broader anxiety about the technology.

'The original thought was taking the most human person we could think of and putting her up against a machine, which is AI,' King told Deadline, explaining the creative premise behind the season's focus.

Context

The Comeback is an HBO mockumentary comedy co-created by King and Kudrow. The series has aired with long gaps between previous seasons. Season 3 uses AI in Hollywood and post-strike industry anxiety as part of its satirical storyline. Deadline's March 2026 SXSW coverage reported that the Season 3 team discussed 'paranoia' around AI and recreating the 2023 Hollywood strikes, which corroborates AI as a central theme of the revival.

What's Next

King and Kudrow have no announced plans to return to the series. King indicated that only some new, unforeseen industry upheaval would justify another revival.