The fifth season of '' Younger'', an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

created by

Darren Star Darren Star (born July 25, 1961) is an American writer, director and producer of film and television. He is best known for creating the television series ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (1990–2000), ''Melrose Place'' (1992–1999), ''Sex and the City' ...

, was ordered on April 20, 2017. It premiered on June 5, 2018, and revolves around the

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

Liza Miller, who has to manage her career in the

publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

company having faked her identity as a younger woman to get her job, whereas her romantic life is marked by ups and comings. The season was produced by Darren Star Productions and

Jax Media Jax Media is an American film and television production company co-founded by Tony Hernandez, Lilly Burns, and John Skidmore. It is known for producing long-running series ''Broad City'', ''Difficult People'', '' Younger'', and ''Inside Amy Schum ...

, with Star serving as

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...

Sutton Foster Sutton Lenore Foster (born March 18, 1975) is an American actress, singer and dancer. She is known for her work on the Broadway stage, for which she has won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical twice, in 2002 for her role as Millie Dill ...

stars as Miller, with

Debi Mazar Deborah Anne Mazar Corcos (; born August 13, 1964) is an American actress and television personality, known for playing sharp-tongued women. She began her career with supporting roles in ''Goodfellas'' (1990), ''Little Man Tate'' (1991) and ''Si ...

Miriam Shor Miriam Shor (born July 25, 1971) is an American actress. She is known for her performance in the rock musical ''Hedwig and the Angry Inch (musical), Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' and in the Hedwig and the Angry Inch (film), 2001 film adaptation of ...

Hilary Duff Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28, 1987) is an American actress and singer. She is the recipient of various accolades, including seven Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, four Teen Choice Awards and two Young Artist Awards. She began her act ...

Nico Tortorella Nico Tortorella (born July 30, 1988) is an American actor and model, known for roles in filmsincluding ''Scream 4'', the Fox crime drama series ''The Following'' (2013–2015), and the TV Land comedy-drama series '' Younger'' (2015–2021). Fro ...

Molly Bernard Molly Kate Bernard (born April 10, 1988) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Lauren Heller on the television series '' Younger''. Life and career Molly Bernard began her career in 2000 in the drama ''Pay It Forward'' bes ...

and Peter Hermann also returning from the fourth season. They are joined by

Charles Michael Davis Charles Michael Davis (born December 1, 1984) is an American actor, model, producer, and director. He is best known for his roles as Marcel Gerard on The CW television drama '' The Originals'' (2013–2018) and Zane Anders on the TV Land original ...

, who was promoted to

series regular In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, i ...

. The fifth season is the first to feature a

Christmas special Christmas themes have long been an inspiration to artists and writers. A prominent aspect of Christian media, the topic first appeared in in literature and Christmas music. Filmmakers have picked up on this wealth of material, with both adaptation ...

episode. ''Younger'' was renewed for a sixth season on June 4, 2018.

Cast

Main

as Liza Miller *

as Maggie Amato *

as Diana Trout *

as Josh *

as Kelsey Peters * Peter Hermann as Charles Brooks *

as Lauren Heller *

as Zane Anders

Recurring

* Chris Tardio as Enzo De Luca *

Jason Ralph Jason Ralph (born April 7, 1986) is an American actor and theater producer. Ralph began his career in theater, most notably performing in ''Peter and the Starcatcher'' on Broadway and off-Broadway and producing ''The Woodsman''. From 2015 to 20 ...

as Jake Devereux *

Jennifer Westfeldt Jennifer Westfeldt (born February 2, 1970) is an American actress, screenwriter, director, and producer. She is best known for co-writing, co-producing, and starring in the 2002 indie film ''Kissing Jessica Stein'', for which she received an I ...

as Pauline Turner-Brooks

Guest

Grant Shaud Grant Shaud (born Edward Grant Shaud III; February 27, 1961) is an American actor known for his portrayal of the character of Miles Silverberg on the television sitcom '' Murphy Brown''. Early life Edward Grant Shaud III was born in Evanston, I ...

as Bob Katz *

Richard Masur Richard Masur is an American character actor who has appeared in more than 80 films. From 1995 to 1999, he served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He is best known for Nick Lobo on ''Rhoda'' (1974-1977), Stanley Uris in th ...

as Edward L.L. Moore *

Alanna Masterson Alanna Masterson (born June 27, 1988) is an American actress, known for her role as Tara Chambler in the AMC television series '' The Walking Dead''. Early life Masterson was born in New York City, to Carol Masterson and Joe Reaiche, a Lebanese ...

as Kiara Johnson *

Christian Borle Christian Dominique Borle (born October 1, 1973) is an American actor and singer. He is a two-time Tony Award winner for his roles as Black Stache in ''Peter and the Starcatcher'' and as William Shakespeare in ''Something Rotten!''. Borle also ...

as Don Ridley *

Tessa Albertson Tessa Albertson is an American actress. She plays Caitlin Miller on the television series '' Younger''. Early life Albertson was born in New York City. After high school graduation, she took time off for her acting career before attending Pri ...

as Caitlin Miller *

Jesse James Keitel Jesse James Keitel is an American actress, writer, and artist, known for starring in Asher Jelinsky's award-winning short film '' Miller & Son'' (2019), the ABC crime drama '' Big Sky'' (2020) and on '' Queer as Folk'' (2022). Early life Jess ...

as Tam *

Gina Gershon Gina L. Gershon (born June 10, 1962) is an American actress. She has had roles in the films ''Cocktail (1988 film), Cocktail'' (1988), ''Red Heat (1988 film), Red Heat'' (1988), ''Showgirls'' (1995), ''Bound (1996 film), Bound'' (1996), ''Face/ ...

as Chrissie Hart * Michael McKenzie as Luca * Lois Robbins as Penelope * Paul Fitzgerald as David Taylor *

Maddie Corman Maddie Corman (born Madeleine Cornman; August 15, 1970) is an American actress. She has appeared in over 25 films, including ''Seven Minutes in Heaven'', '' Some Kind of Wonderful'', ''The Adventures of Ford Fairlane'' and ''A Beautiful Day in th ...

as Julia Katz * Sarah Cohen as Rose Katz *

Tonye Patano Tonye T. Patano (born October 16, 1961) is an American actress. She may be best known as Heylia James on the television series '' Weeds''. She has appeared in television shows such as ''Law & Order'', ''Sex and the City'', ''Monk'' and ''Third ...

as Akilah Jeffreis * Stephanie Szostak as Dr. Sophia Bell *

Sally Pressman Sally Pressman Bernstein is an American actress and dancer. She is perhaps best known for her role as Roxy LeBlanc on the Lifetime television series ''Army Wives'' (2007–2013). Early life Pressman was born Sally Pressman Bernstein in New Yor ...

as Malkie *

Martha Plimpton Martha Plimpton (born November 16, 1970) is an American actress. Her feature-film debut was in '' Rollover'' (1981); she subsequently rose to prominence in the Richard Donner film ''The Goonies'' (1985). She has also appeared in '' The Mosquito ...

as Cheryl Sussman *

Laura Benanti Laura Ilene Benanti (née Vidnovic; born July 13, 1979) is an American actress and singer. Over the course of her Broadway career, she has received five Tony Award nominations. She played Louise in the 2008 Broadway revival of '' Gypsy'', winni ...

as Quinn Tyler *

Michael Urie Michael Lorenzo Urie (born August 8, 1980) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Marc St. James on the ABC dramedy television series ''Ugly Betty''. He can be heard as Bobby Kerns in ''As the Curtain Rises'', an original podcas ...

as Redmond *

Phoebe Dynevor Phoebe Harriet Dynevor (; born 17 April 1995) is an English actress. Dynevor is known for her role as Daphne, the fourth Bridgerton child, in the Netflix period drama ''Bridgerton'' (2020–present). She began her career as a child actress, ...

as Clare

Episodes

Production

Development

''Younger'' was renewed for a fifth season on April 20, 2017, ahead of the fourth season's premiere. The season started filming in February 2018. Foster has revealed that the season has a

installment and the premiere episode revolves around the

Me Too movement #MeToo is a social movement against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture, in which people publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media in ...

Casting

In February 2018, it was announced that

had been promoted to

, after appearing in a recurring capacity in the previous season. In March 2018, Sutton Foster's ex-husband

joined the cast in the guest role of a journalist named Don Ridley. In May 2018,

was announced as a guest actress, playing a "self-made billionaire" who "pitches a book to Millennial on her every-woman-for-herself approach to business." While being interviewed to ''TV Insider'', Foster revealed that

is returning to season 5 as Cheryl Sussman, a recurring character in the series. Moreover, Molly Bernard revealed that Jesse James Keitel would portray a "gender-queer assistant" to her character.

Marketing

The first teaser trailer of the season was released on May 9, 2018. On June 3, 2018, the season premiere was screened at the annual Split Screens television festival in New York, followed by a "questions-and-answers" interview with cast members

and

, and executive producers Dottie Zicklin and Alison Brown. The second episode of the season was screened in June 2018 at the annual

ATX Television Festival ATX Television Festival is an annual event based in Austin, Texas, that celebrates and showcases the past, present, and future of the television industry. Screenings, Q&As, cast reunions, and industry panel discussions take place over four days an ...

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

Reception

Ratings

Critical response

''Younger'''s fifth season received positive reviews from critics. The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

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 ...

gave the season a 100% approval rating, with an average rating of 7.87/10, based on 9 reviews. Hanh Nguyen of

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...

deemed that the fifth season is a "more mature phase" in front of previous seasons, stating that the series "shows promise in being able to adapt and grow, no matter what its age." While analyzing the premiere episode, Lizzy Buczak of TV Fanatic affirmed that the fifth season is "shaping up to be quite a great season." Jen Chaney of the ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

'' magazine praised the season's take on reality, stating the series "obviously has no qualms about stretching the bounds of believability to suit its narrative, but the season's ending is one of those times when the show actually opts to be realistic."

and her character Diana Trout were among ''

TVLine ''TVLine'' is a website devoted to information, news, and spoilers of television programs. History In late 2010, ''Entertainment Weekly''s Michael Ausiello announced that he would be leaving ''EW'' after nearly two years in their employ to est ...

'''s "Scene Stealers" of 2018, praising the character's "eventful" course in the season and Shor's performance. Upon the season finale's airing,

was mentioned in ''TVLine'''s "Performers of the Week" article, with the writers commenting, "Tortorella’s innate ability to pivot from optimistic to devastated, as effortlessly as one would flip a light switch, is truly a gift."

Accolades

Due to her performance in the season, Shor was nominated for a

Critics' Choice Television Award The Critics' Choice Television Awards are accolades that are presented annually by the Critics Choice Association (CCA). They were established in 2011, and the first ceremony was held on June 20, 2011, and streamed live on VH1.com. The fourt ...

for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. The series was among the

binge-watching Binge-watching (also called binge-viewing) is the practice of watching entertainment or informational content for a prolonged time span, usually a single television show. Statistics Binge-watching overlaps with marathon viewing which places mo ...

-worthy shows of 2018 of the 44th ceremony of the

People's Choice Awards The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls until ...

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 3288518, Younger 2018 American television seasons