Did Lenny Bruce die in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel series finale?

Lenny Bruce made a surprise return in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel series finale. Was it to cover his death? Here’s a look at how he returned.

Caution: This post contains spoilers for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel series finale.

When we saw Lenny Bruce in the series premiere of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 5, it felt like a goodbye. There was a finality to the moment. So, color us surprised when he returned for the series finale.

He was in a 1965 flash-forward. This was a chance to see Lenny back on stage, but it wasn’t to a bunch of laughter this time. We got to see the downward spiral that he was in—a spiral that in history he never got out of. Would we end up seeing all the way to the end of his life?

What happened to Lenny Bruce in the Mrs. Maisel series finale?

The show didn’t give us the death. The real Lenny Bruce’s death has been covered heavily in real life publications and other fictionalized retellings. There was no need to cover it again in this series. What Mrs. Maisel offered was a look at that last attempt to save him.

Midge sent Susie in to offer to be Lenny’s manager. Midge and Susie both knew, deep down, that it was a waste of time, but it was a chance. Midge could see that he was spiraling, and she wanted him to be the great comedian that he once was.

However, Lenny couldn’t see a way out of his downward spiral at this point. In real life, it was just a year later that he was found dead after a drug overdose.

Would things have been different had Midge shown her face and showed that she wanted to save him? Probably not. Part of Lenny was just probably happy that Midge became the star that he knew she could be.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 5 is available in full on Prime Video.