As is its wont, Only Murders In The Building’s third season ended with a question: What happened to Sazz (Jane Lynch)? Spoiler alert if you’re not caught up, but Sazz was the latest victim of the Arconia’s bad history with violent crimes. Was Sazz the intended target of the murder, or did the killer mistake her for Charles (Steve Martin)? What clue did she leave Charles in her final moments? We won’t know until the next season premieres—but Jane Lynch has all the answers right now.
Jane Lynch on returning to "Party Down"
Speaking recently with The A.V. Club, Lynch says showrunner John Hoffman and star Steve Martin approached her while filming the third season and told her she was going to be the next to die. “And I went—” Lynch mimicks gasping in delight. “I was very happy, because I knew if I’m the murder victim, I get to be on it more in terms of flashbacks and stuff. And they told me how it was going to happen, and oh I was so honored. So I was really happy to hear.”
The fourth season is currently shooting, and Lynch “just finished my first episode, and I’m not quite sure how many more I’ll be in, or how present I’ll be,” she says. “I’m flashbacking. Maybe I’m a ghost. I don’t know.” But, she teases, Hoffman “kind of mapped out the trajectory of the season, which I can’t tell you, and it’s fascinating. There’s tricks and turns—and twists and turns that you won’t expect. It’s going to be really exciting.”
The fourth season is somehow even more star-studded than the three previous, with guests including Molly Shannon, Eva Longoria, Eugene Levy, Kumail Nanjiani, and Zach Galafanakis. Hoffman previously hinted at the direction the season would take, pointing out that Sazz had been trying to communicate something to Charles throughout the third season. “She’s hinting to him in episode five that she’s picking up some ham radio chatter, certainly, right when she arrives in the finale, she’s saying, ‘Can I grab you for a few minutes? It’s a little sensitive.’ So, there’s something on her mind and something she may know but to be found out.”
Reflecting on “playing a character that’s supposed to be a version of Steve Martin,” Lynch tells The A.V. Club that “the funny thing is she’s so herself. She’s gregarious, she’s a happy person, everybody likes her, and it’s so contrary to Steve’s character, who’s kinda shy. …He’s kind of a sad sack. He’s kinda hard on himself.” However, she adds, “They have a great relationship, it’s almost like they’re one person. You know, Sazz is the kind of optimistic, happy, and gregarious person, and he’s kind of the sad sack, kind of the depressive, [a] little bit afraid of life. So it’s kind of a neat combination. But I love that I’m a better athlete than he is, I have more friends than he does, I end up taking his girlfriends away from him and I can’t help because they like me more. But he and I have a bond, and you’ll see more of it in this season, that we’re very good friends and we really rely on each other.”