This article contains spoilers for The Comeback Season 3.
The Comeback returns for its long-awaited third season on March 22, more than 20 years after Lisa Kudrow first introduced Valerie Cherish to television audiences in 2005. Co-created with Michael Patrick King, the series initially followed Valerie, a fading actress trying – and often failing – to revive her career by allowing reality cameras to follow her as she filmed the sitcom Room and Bored. Although Kudrow developed the character at LA’s Groundlings, her performance as Cherish cleverly reflects her own career trajectory, from starring in Friends between 1994 and 2004 to navigating Hollywood after the sitcom ended. Cherish herself found fame through the ‘90s sitcom I’m It.
Audiences were not ready for The Comeback in 2005, perhaps because it arrived so soon after Friends and Sex and the City concluded. King wrote, directed, and executive-produced the HBO series, which finished its original run the same year as Kudrow’s NBC hit. Yet time, a growing audience, and viral social media posts meant The Comeback returned to screens for a second season in 2014. Despite Kudrow earning a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series at the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards, the show once again failed to return for more. Now, more than a decade later, The Comeback returns for its third and final season on HBO. Weekly episodes run through to May 10.
The crux remains familiar: Valerie Cherish chasing relevance in an industry seemingly dead set on humiliating her. This time, she accepts the lead role in a new multi-cam sitcom, How’s That?, written by an AI program. As cameras follow Valerie through the latest phase of her career, she must navigate a Hollywood that has changed around her. She does so with the help of documentarian Jane (Laura Silverman), who has an ulterior motive of her own.
There is, admittedly, plenty to be nervous about. AI remains a serious topic, particularly given conflicting industry and public opinion. King’s recent return to the Sex and the City universe with And Just Like That additionally drew frequent criticism for its writing. Yet The Comeback Season 3 returns as though it never left. King, co-writing with Kudrow, demonstrates an understanding of the tone that has made a cult classic. Surprisingly, the series is at its most shaky when revolving around Mark (Damian Young), who was Me Too’d.
Season 3 wastes little time reminding audiences why Valerie Cherish remains one of television’s greatest characters. The premiere takes viewers back to July 2023, with Valerie preparing to open in Chicago on Broadway during the writers’ strike. She has had exactly one rehearsal, struggles to keep up with the choreography, and insists the guide track drums are too loud. Kudrow slips back into the role effortlessly. When Valerie blurts out that she cannot dance or sing and has no idea why she was hired in the first place, the response from a cast member is as biting as it is accurate: “Guess they got to the Vs.”
The series then jumps ahead to 2026, where Valerie’s career has taken another expected turn. She now hosts a podcast titled Cherish the Time, a project she insists will improve once they begin inviting guests. At the same time, her manager and producing partner, Billy (Dan Bucatinsky), tells her she has landed the lead role in a new multi-camera sitcom from NuNet, a revived version of her former network that collapsed after a failed streaming pivot. The twist is that the show, How’s That?, is written by an AI program called Alassist.
Valerie’s reaction to the AI concept perfectly highlights her contradictions. She marched – or rather posed – alongside writers during the strike and understands why the technology is controversial. She also knows that a starring role as a woman of a certain age is a rare opportunity. Network executive Brandon Wollack (Andrew Scott) insists the show falls within union agreements, yet showrunners Mary (Abbi Jacobson) and Josh (John Early) openly resent the AI program they are meant to guide. Meanwhile, the scripts themselves veer between plagiarised sitcom material and hallucinated nonsense, including one episode that inexplicably places the characters in prison.
The Comeback, therefore, expands its long-running satire of Hollywood. Executives appear through endless Zoom introductions that Valerie struggles to follow, sitcoms are treated as disposable despite their cultural impact, and assistants suddenly find themselves responsible for creative decisions far beyond their job description. Throughout it all, Valerie desperately tries to maintain good relationships with everyone involved, convinced that writers still hold the power to make or break her career. The irony, of course, is that she has become the public face of a system that threatens to replace them.
Kudrow is phenomenal throughout. Just as she delivers your new favourite line, she goes again. Her delivery of “collab” in particular is exceptional, adding a new way of pronouncing the word to your repertoire. For any other actor, Valerie Cherish would be a career-defining role. It’s a testament to Kudrow’s talent that the character will sit alongside Phoebe Buffay as two of the best characters comedy has to offer.
The season also takes time to honour Robert Michael Morris, who played Valerie’s hair stylist and closest confidant, Mickey. Morris’s absence is felt, though the show introduces Tommy (Jack O’Brien) to fill the void. It’s not entirely successful, but no one could replace Mickey. Morris died in 2017, and the series pays tribute to him in a moving third episode as Valerie searches through storage boxes for Mickey’s ashes in a bid to say farewell to her friend somewhere meaningful. If there were ever an episode to nominate for its writing, that would be it. It’s also handy to have tissues nearby while you watch.
The Comeback Season 3 welcomes several other new additions to the cast. Ella Stiller plays Valerie’s social media assistant Patience, while Kudrow’s son Julian Stern appears as Evan, the technology troubleshooter who plays a key role in keeping the production afloat. Zane Philips, Brittany O’Grady, Barry Shabaka Henley, Tim Bagley, and Matt Cook round out the cast of How’s That?.
The season fares well with guest stars, too. James Burrows returns as himself to direct the pilot of the NuNet sitcom, while Lance Barber and Malin Akerman reprise their roles as Paulie G. and Juna, respectively. Other notable cameos include Bradley Whitford, Justin Theroux, and Adam Scott as three television giants. Jane Fonda also appears as herself, delivering a pointed “Vote” to the camera when Valerie, who avoids politics, asks her to appear on her social media.
As the production of How’s That? continues, the AI storyline becomes increasingly chaotic. Scripts arrive with countless alternate jokes, and actors worry about their reduced screentime in favour of new characters that do not exist. At one point, the production even hits its daily spending limit for the AI program, leaving the team scrambling for solutions. In these moments, The Comeback reveals its central argument: regardless of how sophisticated the technology becomes, the process of making television still depends on the people in the room.
More than two decades after her debut, Valerie Cherish remains one of television’s great comic characters. Season 3 proves that The Comeback still understands both the character and the industry she inhabits. The series continues to balance cringe comedy with sharp cultural commentary, and Kudrow’s performance leads it with the same mixture of sincerity and determination that defined the original run. In an era where television itself is confronting technological advancement, The Comeback turns that uncertainty into one final, painfully funny chapter in Valerie Cherish’s career.
