Emily in Paris star Lucien Laviscount says his character, Alfie, will be picking up the pieces of his broken heart after the emotional whiplash of the season 3 finale.
“I think Alfie wants to run into the darkest room and hide in a corner under some floorboard somewhere,” Laviscount, 32, exclusively shared in the latest issue of Us Weekly while discussing season 4 of the Netflix hit. “I think Alfie’s just trying to figure out what went down. It was a whole explosive ending in season 3, and Alfie was definitely in the firing line. So I think he is just kind of torn between the life he thought he was about to have and then the life he’s [now] got. He’s all over the place, really.”
Warning: Spoilers ahead for Emily in Paris season 4 part 1:
While Emily (Lily Collins) and Alfie seemed to be on the same page in the first half of season 3, things exploded in the finale when Emily and her old flame Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) admitted to still having feelings for each other — at Gabriel’s wedding to Camille (Camille Razat). Season 4, Laviscount said, is about Alfie being a “tug of war” with his feelings.
“I think he’s obviously madly in love with [Emily], and the life that she introduced him to, this friendship group, this world. And then that just gets flipped on its head and he’s just the lost little puppy,” Laviscount told Us. “Trying to stand by his own morals, but then also his heart and his head are just kind of getting in the way. So it’s a little bit of a battle between the heart and the mind, I think, for Alfie.”
Laviscount noted that, despite the pair’s fragmented relationship, Alfie does ultimately want “what’s best” for Emily in his “heart of hearts.” He added that the character is “quite amazing” at taking “himself out” of the situation and allowing his ex to “live her truth.”
“He doesn’t really want to get in the way of that as much as he should,” he quipped. “I think he should probably get in the way of it a little bit more. Say, ‘Listen, girl, it’s a difficult time. It is. [But] it’s Alfie and Emily. Let’s run off into the hills and do our thing.’”
All jokes aside, Laviscount isn’t 100 percent sure what he would do if he were in Alfie’s. When asked how he would win Emily back from Gabriel in a love triangle, the actor took a long pause before deciding he would likely “bow out” entirely.
“I think [if] I’m not an obvious choice, then I don’t think there’s any way to sway someone’s mind,” he explained. “I think I’d probably just bow out and just be, like, ‘Listen bro, this is your deal. I’m not going to be caught in this kind of rivalry or anything like that.’”
“Look,” he continued, “there’s a lot of people out there and, you know what? At the end of the day, I think being heartbroken is kind of an amazing thing to feel things anyway. I’ll come back stronger.”
There’s no bitterness here, though — at least not from Laviscount’s point of view. Despite the masquerade ball mess that once again leaves Alfie heartbroken in episode 3, Laviscount said he understands Emily wanting to keep Alfie in her life post-breakup.
“I feel like Alfie’s the only kind of consistent thing within the relationship with Gabriel, even some of her friendships, like with Camille,” he continued. “Alfie’s always been solid for her. And I think that although she was kind going through a decision period, I think she just missed him as a friend and she wanted that support to figure out what was going on. And Alfie just needed his space to figure his stuff out.”
So, does that mean Laviscount is Team Alfie, or Team Gabriel? Truth be told, even Laviscount can’t argue with Emily and Gabriel’s sparks.
“Listen, if I walked up to Lucas Bravo on the street and I wasn’t Alfie, I’d probably say Team Gabriel,” he confessed, laughing. “But look, he was there first and foremost. I think most people are Team Gabriel still. I think Alfie came in a little bit late to the party maybe.”
The end of Alfie’s relationship with Emily, however, doesn’t mean the end of his story. Laviscount said that his character is learning to “pick up the pieces” of his broken heart and figure out what his life looks like after “moving permanently” to Paris to be by her side.
“I don’t want to say changed who he is [for Emily], but he’s seen the world in a different light, and I think he definitely got schooled in the world of emotions,” Laviscount told Us. “I think she’s definitely taken him on a rollercoaster and Alfie just needs to find who he is with this new kind of love for Paris and where he fits into the world, again with this new perspective.”
Part 1 of Emily in Paris season 4 is now available to stream on Netflix.
