'The Bear' Star Ebon Moss-Bachrach Readies for a “Softer Season”

Ebon Moss-Bachrach lives for the chaos on The Bear. “For me personally, it’s more fun to shoot the stuff where everyone’s together—under the gun, yelling, sweating on each other with things sizzling all around,” he tells Vanity Fair.

His character, Richie Jerimovich, is often at the center of that chaos. The loud and passionate manager of the eatery can be quick to anger, often leading to heated arguments with every other member of the staff.

But as we chat the day before the second season of the hit series debuts, Moss-Bachrach describes this new chapter as “a departure” from what they did in season one. “This is deeper. This is getting into some of the more true stuff,” he says.

So yes, there will be chaotic scenes in the kitchen as the staff of The Beef—played by Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri, Lionel Boyce, Liza Colón-Zayas, and Abby Elliott—guts and attempts to relaunch the restaurant as The Bear. But the season will also dive deeper into each character’s own journeys and backstories in a way that expands on the first season.

We’ll learn more about Richie’s life outside of the restaurant, including his living situation and his strained relationship with ex-wife and young daughter. And while Moss-Bachrach may not love when his character is on his own, the actor gets a showcase in the seventh episode when Richie goes off on a solo adventure—and performs a scene opposite a surprise Oscar-winning guest actor that is sure to get viewers talking. [Spoiler alert: The actor is named below].

Though he’s careful not to spoil anything—even though the show premieres in just one day—Moss-Bachrach reveals the pressure that comes with following up a hit season, what surprised him about Richie, and what it was like to do a scene opposite a very famous guest star.

Vanity Fair: The second season drops tomorrow. Does this feel different than it did the day before the first season was unveiled?

Ebon Moss-Bachrach: It feels so different from last season. Last time, nobody had heard of anything. We were just this little show that we kind of made in this COVID bubble. And it went out there with very little publicity or fanfare, and through word of mouth and goodwill it became this beautiful, really loved show. And now, obviously, everyone likes it and I'm freaked out.

Second seasons are scary when the first one was such a giant hit.

I think so. I've seen some nice reviews, so that gives me confidence. But the season is a departure from last season, and I think it's really good. I think it grows a lot, but you also don't want to be all of a sudden on a different show.

Tell me about it being a departure. When you first started reading the scripts, how did it feel different to you?

To me, it's a softer season. Whereas the first season was an introduction to this restaurant and this place of work, and all the components that are there, the second season—I don't think it's a spoiler to say we're creating something new to do that everyone needs to look within a little bit and see what it is they want to make new and where they fit in. You're delving a bit deeper into everybody. Just in a very practical way, everyone is spending less time together.

In the first episode, Richie is already having this crisis about what his purpose is. What's your take on why he's feeling that way?

We see him and he's in the basement — that's no accident. He's looking at old pictures and he's digging through the detritus and the memories of this old institution. Richie fought very hard in the first season to preserve something, and I think he lost. And so when we find him, he needs The Beef, and he needs The Bear, and he needs these people because he doesn't really have anywhere else to be. But he doesn't know how he fits in.