Is Lenny Bruce back in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 5?

When we found out Luke Kirby wasn’t returning as a series regular in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 5, we worried about what that meant. Will it mean Lenny Bruce’s story is going to be told off-screen?

Hearing an actor isn’t coming back as a series regular is hard. That’s especially the case when it’s an actor who plays a character we adore. And Lenny Bruce is one of those characters we adore.

He ended the fourth season giving Midge the telling off she needed. He knows that Midge has what it takes to make it big, and he hates to see her MCing at the club because she’s scared of failing again. He made it clear that she should be dreaming much bigger than she currently is.

Will Lenny Bruce be in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 5?

Luke Kirby isn’t returning as a series regular, and we feared that meant Lenny wouldn’t be back. Well, it turns out he will be. There is at least one photo from the season that includes Kirby’s character.

This season is sure to bring a devastating end to Lenny’s story. Lenny is based on a real-life comedian who faced a downward spiral into alcoholism and drug addiction. He died due to a drug overdose, and it does look like we’re seeing some of this downward spiral happening in the series.

It is worth noting, though, that Lenny’s death was in 1966. The show is still four years from there. Could we see some sort of time jump that allows the series to address his death? Could the death be pulled earlier into the timeline for the show’s sake? Could it be some sort of card at the end of the series to mark when it happened?

We’ll have to wait and see. One thing we do know is that Lenny is back for at least one episode.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 5 premieres on Friday, April 14 on Prime Video.