Marco Calvani said filming The Four Seasons in Italy carried the feel of a homecoming, but also of a responsibility, because the cast and crew were coming to shoot in his own country. Now back on the set for Season 2, he is playing Claude as the character and his boyfriend Danny consider starting a family, a storyline Calvani says echoes questions he and his husband were asking in real life at the same time.
That is one reason the search for four seasons netflix has picked up around the show’s second season: the new episodes put a gay couple’s private life at the center of a glossy ensemble comedy, and Calvani’s own return to acting gives that turn extra weight. Colman Domingo, who plays Danny, directed the season premiere, while Kate, Jack, Anne and Ginny round out the returning ensemble with Tina Fey, Will Forte, Kerri Kenney-Silver and Erika Henningsen.
Calvani said he was happily surprised when he first read the storyline because it treated Claude and Danny’s questions about parenthood as ordinary and specific, not exceptional. He said that was what made it resonate so strongly for him: the fiction, in his words, mirrors the reality, and it shows a gay couple dealing with the same mysteries and choices any couple faces when thinking about family.
The location added another layer. Calvani said it was cool and clever to move the show to Italy during a season set in winter, and he noted that northern Italy can be cold enough to fit the tone. He also said the move felt personal because he spent three months with the cast and crew during Season 1 and saw that period as a true bonding experience for everyone, not just for viewers.
There is one detail that gives the role a sharper edge. Calvani said he has not been in front of a camera in more than 16 years, and he described this project as his comeback. That made the work feel less like a routine guest turn and more like a return he had to earn, especially in a season that asks him to carry the story toward its end.
Steve Carell does not return in Season 2 after Nick’s death in Season 1, which shifts the ensemble and leaves the surviving characters to move the story forward without one of its original anchors. Calvani said the cast kept texting after Carell’s exit, a small sign that the bonds from Season 1 were still intact even as the series changed shape.
What happens next for Claude and Danny is still the question at the center of the season. The show has not yet revealed how their decision about starting a family will play out, but Calvani’s comments make clear that the storyline is built to land as something more than plot mechanics: it is a return to Italy, a return to acting and, for him, a story close enough to home to feel lived in.
