Is <em>The Bear</em> Coming Back for Season 5?

This story does not contain spoilers for The Bear season 4.

How long can Carmy go on like this? That was the most pressing question on audience’s minds heading into The Bear season 4, where Jeremy Allen White’s tense Chicago chef continues to wrestle with some of the demons that have plagued him over the past four seasons.

When we last left The Bear, the FX drama’s “To Be Continued” banner metaphorically locked viewers in the fridge just as the kitchen started firing on all cylinders. Carmy and Sidney’s (Ayo Edebiri) restaurant, the Bear, was seconds away from reading its first major review in the Chicago Tribune. Of course, Carmy and Co. did everything in their power to keep the critic from clocking the absolute chaos inside the Bear’s kitchen.

Honestly, I assumed when The Bear finally returned for season 4 that the conclusion to the drama from season 3 would mark the final episodes of the series. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. According to FX head John Landgraf, The Bear’s record-breaking 23 Emmy nominations say a lot about the potential longevity of the culinary drama.

“These decisions are really creative decisions,” Landgraf told Variety last summer, though he expressed hope that creator Chris Storer “has more than one more season of story to tell” beyond season 4. “Not to the extent that if there was one great season or three mediocre ones, I’d rather have one great one,” he continued. “You just have to follow the creative.”

Who knows! By the time The Bear comes to an end, maybe we’ll all be staring down a Fak cousins spin-off. I wouldn’t say no!