Bill Hader says goodbye to Barry

Barry Berkman is ready to take his final bow.

It's been five years since Bill Hader introduced Barry, his bleak comedy about a hitman-turned-aspiring-actor. Since then, the series has won over critics and fans alike, juggling jaw-dropping action scenes, thoughtful explorations of redemption, and absurdist gags. (It's certainly the only show on television where cartel mobsters hold meetings at a Dave & Buster's.)

Now, the curtain is falling on Barry, as the show prepares to end with its fourth and final season. The season 4 premiere, which debuted April 16, finds Barry (Hader) in prison after his longtime acting teacher Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler) helped put him away. As Hader tells EW, the new season deals in familiar themes of redemption and penitence — while also veering in unexpected directions.

"Everyone asks me about the final season, and I'm like, 'It's weird, but I think it makes sense for the characters,'" explains Hader, who co-created the show with Alec Berg. "That was a thing we talked about: It's the last season, so let's make sure we don't play it safe. Let's still take big swings."

Here, the 44-year-old Hader opens up about saying goodbye to Barry.

Merrick Morton/HBO Bill Hader on 'Barry'

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You've talked about how you started writing season 4 during the pandemic, and then you went back and rewrote season 3 before filming. At what point did you realize you were ready to end the show?

BILL HADER: It was pretty much while we were outlining. It was all very clear that once Barry was caught at the end of season 3, the cat's out of the bag. The story should probably end soon. But I know that when we actually start writing scripts, the story will go where it wants to go. You can be writing something, and it's like, "What if this happened?" A good example is in season 3 when Cousineau is in the trunk of Barry's car. In the outline, he was in the trunk of the car the whole show. But then you're writing it, and you're getting bored, and you go, "He should escape!"

So, I kind of held off on it for a while. Finally, [producers] Duffy Boudreau, Liz Sarnoff, and I were going through everything, and we said, "You know what? I think it ends." So, that was when I called HBO and told them, and then we told the cast. And that was it.

You're also directing every single episode this season. You've obviously directed episodes in the past, but what made you decide to take on all eight?

I think it was two things. One was I became much more confident in directing. Directing and writing is a thing I've always wanted to do. That's why I moved to Los Angeles 25 years ago: It was because I wanted to write and direct. So, getting a chance to finally do that over the seasons, I think I've gotten more confident at it.

Then pragmatically, it was Aida Rodgers, our producer. On the second to last night of shooting season 3, she said, "I think you should direct all the episodes." Because it didn't matter who we brought in to direct — even if it was Alec Berg, the co-creator — I was standing behind them, looking over their shoulder going, "I think it should be that." I had a very clear idea of how it should look, so I became more of a control freak. She said, "Instead of it being a game of telephone, I think it might be better if you just direct them all." So yeah, I was probably driving people crazy. [Laughs]

I'm curious what it's like to be simultaneously directing and acting — especially in this season, which has some pretty intense moments. How does your brain work when you're doing both at the same time?

I just kind of see it as all one job. It honestly starts from writing. When you write, that tells you how you're going to play it and direct it. For me, it's kind of easy to go between the two because it feels like all one thing. It's really in the writing where I'm stressed out. I tend to write full versions and throw them out, and then I'll write another totally different idea, and then throw that out. But once [the script] is locked in, it's actually quite easy.

But it's also nice when you have really talented actors like I have on the show because they will give you things that inform [the directing]. They've worked on it so much and have ideas that make you say, "That actually works better than what we have on the page."

Merrick Morton/HBO Bill Hader on 'Barry'

I know you're a big film nerd. Were there any influences or inspirations you were thinking about this season?

Not really for this season. I think for earlier seasons I was, but this season was more about: How can I tell a story with a shot? How can we lose all this dialogue and make it just a single shot? How can we tell a story visually, as opposed to a scene of two people talking? Don't get me wrong: I like scenes where two people are talking. But how can we visually tell the story, too?

Doing that, you'll make references to things. Obviously, there's a scene in episode 2 where NoHo Hank and Cristobal are having a meeting with these guys, and that was very much inspired by a scene from The Untouchables with Robert De Niro walking around a table. So, you'll have moments like that.

But no matter what, I watch the show after we cut it, we color correct it, we mix it. I look at it, and I go, "Oh man, this looks like the Coen brothers." [Laughs] I think it's just ingrained in me. Or at the end of season 2, we were mixing it, and Barry is going through this monastery shooting people, and I went, "Oh man, this is a lot like Taxi Driver." Or there are parts of "ronny/lilly" I watch, and I go, "Oh man, I really like Alfonso Cuarón movies. This shot is directly out of Y Tu Mama También." [Laughs] But it's all kind of in there.

It's the same thing as a performer. When I was at Saturday Night Live, I would rarely watch the episodes back, but I'd be at some place like a talk show, and they would play a clip, and I'd go, "Oh man. I'm just doing Phil Hartman right now."

Hey, there are worse people to be inspired by.

I guess so. But I think the things you like are just in your DNA. What else can you do?

Tell me about your last day on set for Barry. What do you remember most?

Well, there were like three last days on set. We had the initial day, which was really beautiful. We were at a location in Big Bear, and I was directing. We did the final take, and then I went out and gave a speech to the crew, and I cried — which I think might have surprised them all. But they've seen me cry in character a lot. They've seen me punch myself in the face in character, so maybe it wasn't too weird for them. [Laughs]

But I was just going to miss them. It really was this sense of, "Man, I'm going to miss you guys so much." And they really helped me. You know, you come up with an idea in your room, and then all these amazing people come out and they help you with your idea. It's very humbling. They're all such wonderful people.

Then, we had some reshoots, and the end of that was a nice quiet moment with me and Anthony. The last thing we shot was something with Anthony, and he and I hugged and walked to our cars. He was in costume, and we sat and talked. It was sweet.

And then, one of our writers, Emma Barrie, is really smart, and she watched the episodes after we'd done the reshoots. She said, "Hey Bill, this scene doesn't really make sense." I tried to fix it in the edit, and then Aida Rodgers was like, "Do you want to go back and reshoot that scene?" And I was like, [long sigh] "Yes." So the third last day on set was just three weeks ago with Henry Winkler and Fred Melamed. So by that time, everybody was like, "Alright. Bye. Go away. See you at the premiere."

Merrick Morton/HBO Bill Hader on 'Barry'

So, what's next? Do you have something else lined up? Do you want to take a vacation? I think you deserve a vacation.

I was just talking about this with my girlfriend, and she pointed out that I've not had a vacation in 10 years.

Oh my God.

So yeah, I think I'm going to take a vacation. [Laughs] I haven't gone on a trip just to go on a trip. It's always for work or something. I did go to San Francisco to hang with my girlfriend, but that doesn't really count as a trip. So, I think I'm going to go on a vacation.

Work-wise, I want to make a movie. I would love to direct a movie. The things I'm writing right now tend to be movies. And if I could think of another TV show, that'd be awesome. But right now, the idea of doing another TV show makes my bones hurt. [Laughs] My body physically reacts. We shot seasons 3 and 4 back to back, and someone pointed out to me that I've written, directed, and starred in the equivalent of four movies in a year and a half. So, I think I need a break from the TV schedule. I haven't read a book in a long time, so I think I'll probably do that. I need to watch movies, get excited, and get inspired again.

New Barry episodes hit HBO and HBO Max on Sundays.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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