Although hit show Only Murders in the Building is most certainly a comedy, there has always been an edge to it too thanks to the fact, well, there’s always at least one murder each season – the clue is in the name people!
The upcoming season 4 will see our beloved podcasting trio Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short), and Mabel (Selena Gomez) investigating the mysterious death of stunt double Sazz Patazi (Jane Lynch), which comes with certain complications. Given that Sazz was Charles’ stunt double on his show Brazzos, the question is was he actually the killer’s intended target?
With the gang, particularly Charles, threatened like never before, you could argue that this season is the show’s darkest one yet. This is something Gomez certainly agrees with as she reveals in conversation with GamesRadar+: “I definitely think that because this is as close as we get… we definitely question if Charles is the target which is a huge plot.”
Facing not only the death of one of his closest friends but also the chance that the killer may be potentially after him, Charles is dealing with a lot this season, which gave Martin the opportunity to uncover some new layers to his character.
As the actor told us, he used previous experience with other roles to help shape his performance here: “One of my best friends in Only Murders gets killed which does make it dark. I can’t believe it but I’ve been acting my whole life and have been running into situations like that in films where you have to dig a little deeper. It’s just pitching your performance in the right way.
“Even in Father of the Bride there are very emotional scenes and then the next you are falling into a bush – so, it’s just a balance that you learn through experience. But it’s tough. It’s essentially a humorous show and yet your best friend is killed, so there was a delicate balance in the performance to get it right. And I think I did [laughs]!”
Short is quick to agree with Martin here, jokingly telling his co-star: “You are really great in this season Steve – for the first time we actually believe you!”
Leaning into the darkness which lies at the heart of this season, the sixth episode (titled ‘Blow-Up’) is filmed entirely through a mixture of hidden cameras, security footage, and camcorders in a found footage-esque style. The result is somewhat both chilling and unnerving, especially since this is a new format for the show.
As well as being something fresh for audiences then it was also new to the cast, with Gomez admitting that “sometimes it was weird because there was no camera around”. Short agrees but adds that it presented a different challenge too: “It was kinda fun because there was not a lot of coverage, so you would do the scene three times then they would say ‘moving on’ as opposed to building it.”
However, as Martin notes though this isn’t the first time that Only Murders has thrown a spanner in the works with a different style of episode. As he concludes: “If you notice with our show right around this point there’s something odd. For example, there was an episode with no dialogue [season 1 episode 7] and then this season it was completely from the point of view of hidden cameras or security cameras. There’s always something a little tricky.”
Only Murders in the Building season 4 debuts on Hulu in the US and Disney Plus in the UK on August 27.
For more series to keep on your radar, check out our guide to the best new TV shows heading your way.
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