Amy Sherman-Palladino is one of TV’s most successful auteurs. She’s like Vince Gilligan, Shonda Rhimes, or Taylor Sheridan, if they wore a big hat.
Gilmore Girls is a canonized, endlessly rewatchable classic; Bunheads was canceled too soon; and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel won a boatload of awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series at the 2018 Emmys.
Now, Sherman-Palladino and her husband Daniel are back with a new show for Prime Video: ballet drama Étoile. Here’s everything to know.
Plot
Set in New York City and Paris, Étoile follows the dancers and staff of two fictionial ballet companies, Le Ballet National in France and Metropolitan Ballet Theater in the United States, as they embark on an ambitious plan to save their storied institutions by swapping their most talented stars.
The world of dance is one that Amy Sherman-Palladino knows well: her mother was a dancer, and she nearly was, too. In the late 1980s, she was waiting on a callback to join a “bus-and-truck tour” of Cats when she got an offer to join the writing staff of Roseanne. She went with the TV gig.
“Look, my parents taught me very early to never let things go, and I am my parents’ child,” Sherman-Palladino told Vanity Fair. “Bunheads gave us a little taste of the fun of being in that world on a smaller scale. I trained as a dancer, so I have been mystified that nothing has really come close to capturing the weirdness of the dance world. They’re an odd, amazing bunch of people.”
They’ve also burned by “some of these movies and TV shows that lean into the darkness” of dancing, according to Daniel Palladino. But eventually, the couple won the dancers over they realized the show is “really about the dancers,” Sherman-Palladino told The Los Angeles Times. “They aren’t window dressing. It’s about them and their stories, and that was important to us.
As for the title, “étoile” is basically French for “star” or best dancer. Surprisingly, Prime Video didn’t have a problem with it.
“I thought they were going to have a very strong reaction against it. Weirdly, it was very positive. They tried to get me to change The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. And I believe the words ‘go f*ck yourself’ maybe [came out of my mouth]. But we never had any trouble [with Étoile].
Hey, it beats Bunheads (great show, title could have used some work).
Cast
The fast-talking cast includes Luke Kirby (returning from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Charlotte Gainsbourg, Lou de Laâge, Gideon Glick, David Alvarez, Ivan du Pontavice, Taïs Vinolo, David Haig, LaMay Zhang, Simon Callow, and Yanic Truesdale, as well as Emily Gilmore himself, Kelly Bishop, in a small role.
“People here see me only as a dramatic actress, but I was always looking for comedies as much as I could,” Melancholia and Nymphomaniac star Gainsbourg told Vogue. “I enjoyed doing comedy in France. I’m not always serious. I like to have fun and laugh!” She added, “I love the way I was able to hide the depressed side of my character with her high heels and then [become] a little more authentic when my character is by herself. This duality was fun to play because it’s going to those extremes.”
Release Date
All eight episodes of Étoile premiere on Prime Video on April 24.
Trailer
You can watch the Étoile trailer below.