After years of “cautious” optimism from the powers that be at HBO, Curb Your Enthusiasm is officially set to return for it’s long-awaited ninth season this October.
The revival of Larry David’s acclaimed comedy comes six years after the season eight finale aired. Suffice it to say, there’s a lot of speculation about the details surrounding the return of TV’s favorite “social assassin.”
To help keep track of all the season nine details as they emerge, The Hollywood Reporter has compiled all the details — so far — and will continue to update this post as more emerge. Bookmark this page for the latest updates.
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The Creative Team
David will return as showrunner, along with series star and longtime exec producer Jeff Garlin as well as veteran Curb exec producer-writer-director Jeff Schaffer. Not returning are fellow exec producers-writers-directors David Mandel and Alec Berg, likely because of their commitments to HBO comedies Veep and Silicon Valley, respectively, on which they serve as showrunners. In addition to Schaffer, directors on the new season include Larry Charles, Robert B. Weide, Jessie Nelson and Bryan Gordon.
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Episode Count
Like every other season of the Emmy-winning series, season nine will consist of 10 episodes. The new season kicks off Sunday, Oct. 1 at 10 p.m., airing after HBO’s new David Simon drama The Deuce.
The Cast
Returning series regulars include Garlin, as well as his TV wife Susie Essman and JB Smoove, who memorably joined the cast later in the show’s original run as Larry’s roommate and friend Leon. Former series regular Cheryl Hines, who played David’s TV wife until their on-screen divorce at the beginning of season eight, is also set to return. Other returning faces include real-life Hollywood power couple Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, as well as longtime fan-favorite Richard Lewis, who will once again play fictional versions of themselves. Confirmed new additions include Lauren Graham, Jimmy Kimmel, Elizabeth Banks, Bryan Cranston, Ed Begley, Jr., Carrie Brownstein, Nick Offerman, Nasim Pedrad, Elizabeth Perkins, June Diane Raphael, Casey Wilson, Andrea Savage, Damon Wayans Jr., Steven Weber, Katie Aselton and Judge Judy herself, Judith Sheindlin.
Overall Theme
Like past seasons of the series, details about upcoming plot points and storylines are being under tight wraps. However, HBO released a somewhat vague season nine description on Sept. 15: “This season, Larry has a new venture that elicits promising feedback from a number of prospective investors – until a string of missteps undermines the plan, at least temporarily.”
Cast members have been equally tight-lipped about the upcoming season, but teased that the new episodes will take a few unexpected turns. “It’s coming back with all the things about it that people love,” Garlin said in May. “But it’s not following any big formula. The storyline is rather insane. Like people are gonna go, ‘I can’t believe they’re doing this!’ That’s what they’re gonna say. And I don’t often think that with our show.”
Steenburgen echoed those sentiments. “It will definitely cause people to ask me questions. We’re going to stir up a little bit of a hornet’s nest with it, I’m afraid, but it’s how he saw it and what he wanted to do,” she said in March. “There are aspects of it that are a little challenging for me. And I think for Ted, too. But it will be interesting. It will be really interesting.”
At the Television Critics Association summer press tour in July, Schaffer also teased some surprise twists. “You’re going to find out very quickly when the show starts what’ he’s been up to the for last five years and what everyone has been up to for the last five years,” Schaffer told reporters. “Once the show starts to air, it will be self-evident. … It goes to this really strange, fun, crazy place and then you’ll never expect where it ends.”
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