How Dead to Me finished filming its final season following Christina Applegate’s MS diagnosis
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For many Dead to Me fans out there, the recent drop of season three on Netflix was very bittersweet. After waiting three years to see unlikely best friends Jen (Christina Applegate) and Judy (Linda Cardellini) back in action, it was also the last time we'd see them together after it was announced in 2020 that there wouldn't be a fourth season.
While the pair are no strangers to challenges on-screen - the new episodes follow Jen trying to get away with murder and Judy dealing with her terminal cancer diagnosis - it was revealed that filming the show was just as demanding, and not just because it took place during the pandemic in 2021. Halfway through filming, Christina was also diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and according to the series creator Liz Feldman, they had "already shot 50% of the final season by the time she received her diagnosis."
Speaking to BuzzFeed, she said: "On Dead to Me, we shoot completely out of order. We had shot scenes from all 10 episodes by the time the news came in, and there was no going back."
Which meant that despite Christina's MS diagnosis, there was no way that anything could have changed in terms of the story.
"We were stuck with the story that we had to tell," Liz continued, "but also, that's the story Christina wanted to tell."
"She chose to finish. We did it on her terms, and nothing in the script changed, really, at all. We did whatever we needed to do to accommodate her in terms of blocking," she added.
Christina also opened up about filming during this difficult time - specifically about conversations that were had on whether they should wrap up altogether. In an interview with The New York Times, the 50-year-old said: "I had an obligation to Liz and to Linda, to our story."
Dead to Me season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.
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