''Modern Love'' is an American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air aer ...

series developed by John Carney, based on the weekly column of the same name published by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', that premiered on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

on October 18, 2019. In October 2019, the series was renewed for a second season, which was released on August 13, 2021.

Premise

''Modern Love'' explores "love in its multitude of forms – including sexual, romantic, familial, platonic, and self love", which are presented in eight half-hour episodes. The Amazon series, based on the ''New York Times'' column of the same name, adapts different love stories taking place in New York City.

Cast and characters

Season 1

Episode 1

Cristin Milioti Cristin Milioti (born August 16, 1985) is an American actress. She is known for playing Tracy McConnell in the CBS sitcom '' How I Met Your Mother'' from 2013 to 2014, and for her work in theater productions such as ''That Face'', ''Stunning'' ...

as Maggie Mitchell * Laurentiu Possa as Guzmin *

Brandon Victor Dixon Brandon Victor Dixon (born September 23, 1981) is an American actor, singer and theatrical producer. As a musical theatre actor, he is known for Tony Award-nominated Broadway performances as Harpo in the 2005 musical ''The Color Purple'' and Eub ...

as Daniel * Daniel Reece as Mark * Charles Warburton as Ted

Episode 2

Catherine Keener Catherine Ann Keener (born March 26, 1959) is an American actress. She has portrayed disgruntled and melancholic yet sympathetic women in independent films, as well as supporting roles in studio films. She has been nominated twice for the Acad ...

as Julie *

Dev Patel Dev Patel (; born 23 April 1990) is a British actor. His breakthrough came in 2008 with the leading role of Jamal Malik in Danny Boyle's drama ''Slumdog Millionaire'', for which Patel was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leadin ...

as Joshua *

Caitlin McGee Caitlin Cole McGee (born January 9, 1988) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as attorney Sydney Strait on the legal drama ''Bluff City Law''. She is currently a regular on the ABC comedy ''Home Economics''. Career McGee h ...

as Emma * Erik Jensen as Darren *

Andy García Andrés Arturo García Menéndez (born April 12, 1956), known professionally as Andy García, is a Cuban-born American actor, director and musician. He first rose to prominence acting in Brian De Palma's ''The Untouchables'' (1987) alongside ...

as Michael

Episode 3

Anne Hathaway Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Anne Hathaway, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Awar ...

as Lexi Donohoe * Gary Carr as Jeff *

Quincy Tyler Bernstine Quincy Tyler Bernstine is an American actress and audiobook narrator. In 2019, she won the Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and ...

as Sylvia *

Judd Hirsch Judd Seymore Hirsch (born March 15, 1935) is an American actor. He is known for playing Alex Rieger on the television comedy series ''Taxi'' (1978–1983), John Lacey on the NBC series '' Dear John'' (1988–1992), and Alan Eppes on the CBS seri ...

as cop/vendor/taxi driver

Episode 4

Tina Fey Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and playwright. She is best known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1997–2006) and for creating the ...

as Sarah *

John Slattery John M. Slattery Jr. (born August 13, 1962) is an American actor and director widely known for his role as Roger Sterling Jr. in the AMC drama series ''Mad Men'' (2007–15), for which he was nominated four times for the Primetime Emmy Award fo ...

as Dennis *

Sarita Choudhury Sarita Catherine Louise Choudhury (born 18 August 1966) is a British actress, known for her role as Mina in the Mira Nair-directed feature film ''Mississippi Masala'' (1991). Choudhury has played roles in American and international films and tel ...

as therapist * Aidan Fiske as Jack * Arden Wolfe as Nancy

Episode 5

Sofia Boutella Sofia Boutella ( ar, صوفيا بوتلة; born 3 April 1982) is an Algerian actress, model, and dancer. Early life Boutella was born in the Bab El Oued district of Algiers, Algeria, to an architect mother and a jazz musician father, Safy Boute ...

as Yasmine * John Gallagher Jr. as Rob

Episode 6

Julia Garner Julia Garner (born February 1, 1994) is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as Ruth Langmore in the Netflix crime drama series '' Ozark'' (2017–2022), for which she received critical acclaim and won three Primetime E ...

as Madeline "Maddy" *

Shea Whigham Franklin Shea Whigham Jr. (born January 5, 1969) is an American actor best known for portraying Elias "Eli" Thompson in the drama series ''Boardwalk Empire''. He also appeared in the first season of ''True Detective'' and the third season of ' ...

as Peter *

Myha'la Herrold Myha'la Herrold (; born April 6, 1996) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Harper Stern in the British television drama ''Industry'' and her role as Jordan in the comedic horror film ''Bodies Bodies Bodies''. She acted primarily i ...

as Tami

Episode 7

* Andrew Scott as Tobin * Brandon Kyle Goodman as Andy *

Olivia Cooke Olivia Kate Cooke (born 27 December 1993) is an English actress. In television, she has starred as Emma Decody in the thriller '' Bates Motel'' (2013–2017), Becky Sharp in the period drama '' Vanity Fair'' (2018), and Alicent Hightower in ...

as Karla *

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

as Mick

Episode 8

Jane Alexander Jane Alexander (née Quigley; born October 28, 1939) is an American actress and author. She is the recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and nominations for four Academy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. From 1993 to 1997 ...

as Margot *

James Saito James Tomio Saito (born March 6, 1955) is a Japanese-American actor of stage, motion pictures, and television. Saito is best known as the original Shredder in ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'', Dr. Chen in the ABC series ''Eli Stone'', Harry Kim i ...

as Kenji * Peter Hermann as Philippe * Petronia Paley as Janice *

James Waterston James Waterston (born January 17, 1969) is an American actor whose first role was playing Gerard Pitts in the 1989 film ''Dead Poets Society''. Personal life Waterston grew up in New York City, the son of actor Sam Waterston and Barbara Rutle ...

as Chris

Season 2

Episode 1

On a Serpentine Road, With the Top Down *

Minnie Driver Amelia Fiona Jessica "Minnie" Driver (born 31 January 1970) is an English actress. She rose to prominence with her break-out role in 1995's '' Circle of Friends''. She went on to star in a wide range of films including the cult classic ''Grosse ...

as Stephanie Curran * Tom Burke as Michael *

Don Wycherley Don Wycherley (born 15 September 1967, Skibbereen, County Cork) is an Irish actor. He played Father Cyril McDuff in ''Father Ted'', Father Aidan O'Connell in ''Ballykissangel'', and Raymond in '' Bachelors Walk''. Wycherley is a fluent Irish ...

as Neil

Episode 2

Gbenga Akinnagbe Olugbenga Enitan Temitope Akinnagbe ( ; born 12 December 1978) is an American actor and writer, best known for his roles as Chris Partlow on the HBO series ''The Wire'' and as Larry Brown on the HBO series '' The Deuce''. Early life Akinnagb ...

as Jordan *

Zoë Chao Zoë Carroll Chao (born September 19, 1985) is an American television and stage actress and screenwriter, principally known for her role as Isobel in '' Strangers'', and Zoe in '' The Afterparty''. Early life Chao was born in Providence, Rhode ...

as Zoe *

Aparna Nancherla Aparna Nancherla (born August 22, 1982) is an American comedian and actress of Indian descent. She has appeared on '' Inside Amy Schumer'' and has written for ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' and '' Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell''. Nancherla ...

as Vanessa

Episode 3

Lucy Boynton Lucy Boynton (born January 17, 1994) is a British-American actress. Raised in London, she made her professional debut as the young Beatrix Potter in '' Miss Potter'' (2006). She starred in television productions '' Ballet Shoes'' (2007), '' Sens ...

as Paula *

Kit Harington Christopher Catesby Harington (born 26 December 1986) is an English actor who is widely known for his role as Jon Snow in the HBO epic fantasy television series ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019). After studying at the Royal Central School o ...

as Michael *

Jack Reynor Jack Reynor (born 23 January 1992) is an Irish-American actor. His notable roles include the films ''What Richard Did'', '' Transformers: Age of Extinction'', '' Glassland'', ''Macbeth'', ''Sing Street'', and ''Midsommar'', as well as the serie ...

as Declan *

Miranda Richardson Miranda Jane Richardson (born 3 March 1958) is an English actress. She made her film debut playing Ruth Ellis in '' Dance with a Stranger'' (1985) and went on to receive Academy Award nominations for ''Damage'' (1992) and ''Tom & Viv'' (1994). ...

as Jane

Episode 4

Dominique Fishback Dominique Fishback (born March 22, 1991) is an American actress and playwright who is best known for having played Billie Rowan on ''Show Me a Hero'', Darlene on '' The Deuce'', and Deborah Johnson in ''Judas and the Black Messiah'', the latte ...

as Lil *

Isaac Powell Isaac Cole Powell (born December 30, 1994) is an American actor and singer. He played the role of Daniel in the Broadway revival of the musical ''Once on This Island'' and was cast as Tony in the 2020 Broadway revival of ''West Side Story''. Ea ...

as Vince * Milan Ray as Lil (age 12) * Pierson Salvador as Vince (age 12)

Episode 5

Lulu Wilson Lulu Wilson (born October 7, 2005) is an American actress known mostly for the horror films '' Ouija: Origin of Evil'' (2016) and '' Annabelle: Creation'' (2017), as well as the television series adaptation of ''The Haunting of Hill House'' (2018) ...

as Katie *

Maria Dizzia Maria Teresa Dizzia (born December 29, 1974) is an American actress. Dizzia was nominated for the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in ''In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)''. Early life ...

as Lori * Grace Edwards as Alexa * Telci Huynh as Moush *

Linda Powell Linda Margaret Powell (born April 16, 1965) is an American actress. Early life Linda Margaret Powell was born in Fort Benning, Georgia, on April 16, 1965 the daughter of Alma and Colin Powell, the former United States Secretary of State, Nation ...

as Mrs. Vacher

Episode 6

Garrett Hedlund Garrett John Hedlund (born September 3, 1984) is an American actor. His films include ''Troy'' (2004), '' Friday Night Lights'' (2004), '' Four Brothers'' (2005), ''Eragon'' (2006), ''Death Sentence'' (2007), '' Tron: Legacy'' (2010), ''Country ...

as Spence *

Anna Paquin Anna Hélène Paquin ( ; born 24 July 1982) is a New Zealand actress. Born in Winnipeg and raised in Wellington, Paquin made her acting debut portraying Flora McGrath in the romantic drama film ''The Piano'' (1993), for which she won the Aca ...

as Isabelle *

Ben Rappaport Ben Rappaport (born ) is an American actor. He played the role of Todd Dempsy in the NBC sitcom '' Outsourced'', which aired during the 2010–11 television season. The series marked Rappaport's debut acting role on screen. Life and career Rapp ...

as Nick * Jeena Yi as Jeannie *

Susan Blackwell Susan Blackwell is an American actress, writer, and singer, best known for playing characters based on herself in the original musicals '' itle of show' and ''Now. Here. This''. She has appeared in other plays, musicals, films, and television s ...

as Allison

Episode 7

* Zane Pais as Robbie * Marquis Rodriguez as Ben

Episode 8

Sophie Okonedo Sophie Okonedo (born 11 August 1968) is a British actress and narrator. The recipient of a Tony Award, she has been nominated for an Academy Award, three BAFTA Television Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. She began her f ...

as Elizabeth Cannon *

Tobias Menzies Tobias Simpson Menzies (born 7 March 1974) is an English stage, television and film actor. He is known for playing Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in the third and fourth seasons of Netflix's series ''The Crown'', for which he won the Primetime ...

as Van *

Eileen Walsh Eileen Walsh (born 16 April 1977) is an Irish actress. Biography Born and raised in Cork, Ireland, Walsh was raised in a Catholic household, and had no intention of becoming an actress, until she followed in the footsteps of her elder sister ...

as Lily De Courcy

Episodes

Season 1 (2019)

Season 2 (2021)

Production

Development

On June 11, 2018, it was announced that

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of eight episodes. The series was set to be directed, written, and produced by John Carney. Production companies involved with the series were slated to include Storied Media Group and ''

''. On November 26, 2018, it was reported that

Emmy Rossum Emmanuelle Grey Rossum (born September 12, 1986) is an American actress, director, and singer. She is known for her portrayal of List of Shameless (American TV series) characters#Fiona Gallagher, Fiona Gallagher in the television series ''Shame ...

Sharon Horgan Sharon Lorencia Horgan (born 13 July 1970) is an Irish actress, writer, director, comedian and producer who co-wrote and starred in the comedy series '' Pulling'' (2006–2009) and ''Catastrophe'' (2015–2019). She also created the HBO comedy ...

, and Tom Hall would serve as additional directors for the series. Horgan and Hall also wrote the episodes they were set to direct while Rossum was expected to direct an episode written by

Audrey Wells Audrey Ann Wells (''née'' Lederer; January 25, 1960 – October 4, 2018) was an American screenwriter, film director, and producer. Her 1999 film ''Guinevere'' won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. Early life Wells was born in San Francisco, ...

. Additionally, it was further reported that Dimitri Hoffman,

Sam Dolnick Sam Dolnick is an American journalist, film and television producer, and assistant managing editor for ''The New York Times''. He helped launch ''The Daily'' podcast and the documentary series, '' The Weekly''. Biography Dolnick was born to nov ...

, and

Choire Sicha Choire Sicha ( , born November 19, 1971) is an American writer and blogger. In June 2021, he became an editor-at-large at ''New York''; he had been the editor of ''The New York Times'' Style section since September 2017. Previously, he served as ...

would serve as executive producers, Trish Hofmann as a producer, and Daniel Jones as a consulting producer. On October 24, 2019, Amazon renewed the series for a second season which premiered on August 13, 2021.

Casting

On November 26, 2018, it was announced that

, Andrew Scott,

, Gary Carr,

, and John Gallagher Jr. had been cast in the first season. In April 2020, it was revealed that

Jesse Eisenberg Jesse Adam Eisenberg (; born October 5, 1983) is an American actor, writer, and director. He has received various accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awar ...

has been cast in the second season. In February 2021, the second season cast was announced, including

and

. In May 2021,

and

joined the cast of second season.

Filming

Principal photography for the series had begun by September 18, 2018, in New York City. The second season was filmed in the New York cities of

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

, Albany, and

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...

, as well as in

Enniskerry Enniskerry (historically ''Annaskerry'', from ) is a village in County Wicklow, Ireland. The population was 1,889 at the 2016 census. Location The village is situated on the Glencullen River in the foothills of the Wicklow Mountains in the ea ...

and

Stoneybatter Stoneybatter, historically known as Bohernaglogh (), is a neighbourhood of Dublin, Ireland, on the Northside of the city between the River Liffey, the North Circular Road, Smithfield Market, and Grangegorman. It is in the D7 postal district. Th ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland.

International versions

In April 2022, Prime Video announced the Indian version of the series in three different languages ''

Modern Love Mumbai ''Modern Love Mumbai'' is an Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy anthology Amazon Prime Video series produced by Pritish Nandy, that premiered on Amazon Prime Video on May 13, 2022. Its episodes run from 40 to 45 minutes. ''Modern Love Mu ...

'' in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

, ''

Modern Love Hyderabad ''Modern Love Hyderabad'' is an Indian Telugu-language romantic anthology streaming television series produced by Elahe Hiptoola and directed by Nagesh Kukunoor, Venkatesh Maha, Uday Gurrala and Devika Bahudhanam. It stars Nithya Menen, A ...

'' in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

and ''Modern Love Chennai'' in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

. A Japanese version of the series, titled ''Modern Love Tokyo'' has premiered worldwide on October 21, 2022. A Dutch version of the series, titled ''Modern Love Amsterdam'' will premiere worldwide on December 16, 2022.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

it received an overall score of 66%, and an overall score of 65 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

Season 1

The first season held a 75% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 64 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's critical consensus read: "Carried by its charming cast, ''Modern Love'' sweet and simple sensibilities are easy enough to enjoy, even if its quaint portrait of modern life in New York City doesn't always ring true." On Metacritic, the first season received an average rating of 66 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Season 2

The second season held a 58% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The site's critical consensus read: "''Modern Love'' struggles in its second season, favoring romantic clichés over the more complicated truths that make its source material so appealing - still, there's no denying the allure of its talented cast, which might be enough for some viewers." On Metacritic, the second season received an average rating of 61 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Modern Love (TV series) 2010s American anthology television series 2010s American romantic comedy television series 2019 American television series debuts 2020s American anthology television series 2020s American romantic comedy television series 2021 American television series endings Amazon Prime Video original programming English-language television shows Television series by Amazon Studios Television shows filmed in New York (state) Television shows set in New York City