Martin Starr, Ken Marino and Adam Scott are amongst the returning cast members donning their iconic pink bow ties over a decade after the original Party Down came to an end on Starz. For the third season, newcomers Tyrel Jackson Williams and Zoë Chao take the place of Lizzy Caplan’s Casey Klein, who may well return if the sitcom comes back for more.
Starr and his co-star Ryan Hansen were both disappointed Caplan was unable to reprise her role as Casey for the third season of Party Down.
The two cast members spoke exclusively to Express.co.uk about the series’ revival, and confirmed her absence was simply down to a scheduling conflict.
“Hopefully, should we get a fourth season, I have to imagine that she’ll drop everything to be a part of the show,” Starr joked.
“I know she was very heartbroken. She sent us cupcakes and kept checking in on us as we were doing it.
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“It especially hurt because she was working on something else that got pushed back because of COVID protocols.”
Caplan’s absence may be explained by her recent dramatic turn in Fleishman Is In Trouble, Hulu’s scathing divorce drama which was recently released on Disney+.
She also lent her voice to the adult animated series Inside Job and appeared in the rom-com The People We Hate at the Wedding.
The TV and film star will next be seen in the horror movie Cobweb, and this year’s upcoming streaming adaptation of Fatal Attraction, opposite Joshua Jackson.
Despite not coming back for season three of Party Down, Caplan was clearly still supportive of the revival and has kept in touch with the cast throughout.
“It’s not something you could predict and obviously by the time we’re in production you can’t shift anything so drastically,” Starr continued.
As for the new season, he quipped: “I’m sure she’ll watch it unless it’s too difficult.”
Party Down’s third season consists of just six episodes, so it will be easily binge-able once the finale is released later this month.
Details about the rest of the season are under wraps, so it’s unknown if recurring stars like Jennifer Coolidge, JK Simmons or Ken Jeong will be reprising their roles from the original.
Thankfully, the cast have confirmed they’re fully committed to the revival, and plenty more guest stars could be thrown into the mix in seasons four and five.
“I don’t know why we only start out with six, but I think it’s just more of a teaser to see if this works and we can get back into the show again,” Starr revealed.
“Which I hope. We’d all love to do this as much as they will allow it at the glorious Starz network.
“It’s so fun that they got back behind it. Not that they weren’t behind it before, but we went through a regime change there and somehow we’ve outlived that.”
“People are there who really love the show and are champions of it and we get to do it again.”
His co-star Hansen added: “I will say, only doing six… I was kind of bummed. Like, ‘Oh, we only get to do six’.
“But it made the energy and excitement so much greater and tighter. We were all just so pumped every day.
“Sometimes it can get long when you’re doing 10-plus, 13 episodes or whatever. It gets a little dragged out, but this made it so exciting.”
Party Down season three continues Fridays on Starz in the USA and Lionsgate+ via Prime Video in the UK.