When it comes to Emily in Paris—which made its Netflix debut in 2020 featuring smoldering Frenchmen and dreamy Parisian backdrops—I will forever stand by the wise words of my brilliant colleague Dana Dickey, who reviewed the series at the time: “We all need a guilty pleasure, an escapist treat that neither edifies nor challenges.” Hunkering down to binge Emily in Paris, specifically the first four France-set seasons, has always been that for me.
Forget ‘Emily in Paris’ — ‘Emily in Rome’ Might Be the Best Season Yet
Why I can’t get enough of Emily’s Roman Holiday
Published Jan 5, 2026
•7:03pm
Netflix
Netflix
But—spoiler alert—the season four cliffhanger made crystal clear: With the arrival of Marcello Muratori (played by Eugenio Franceschini), a dreamboat of an Italian businessman, Emily (Lily Collins) makes a shocker of a career move and, with Sylvie’s blessing, decides to up and leave Paris for Rome. (No, she wasn’t quitting Agence Grateau, simply opening their newfound Italian office while sorting her feelings for Gabriel vs. Marcello. Mamma mia!)
Fast forward a whopping 16 months to the debut of season five this past December and, even as Netflix cheekily scratched out the word Paris in the show’s title and replaced it with Rome, I still wasn’t convinced that I’d care enough about Emily’s Roman Holiday—or even Marcello—to carry on past the first episode or two.
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Reader, I was wrong.
Emily in Rome—complete with un peu of back and forth to Paris—is a delight and, with a range of new Italian-set backdrops and characters, manages to breathe new life into the series. It also reminds me why I signed up to watch in the first place.
Parisian cafés and boulevards are quickly traded for Italian piazzas and fountains. Emily is once again challenged to learn a new language, but is more sophisticated about it. She also undergoes a micro-makeover that’s less cutesy and more confident. It’s giving Audrey Hepburn in the real deal Roman Holiday film, complete with refined silhouettes and vibrant patterns. Maybe it’s her chic bob, but at first glimpse, Emily’s world, quite frankly, feels wanderlusty again.
Netflix
Change location, change everything? Perhaps that’s all the series needed to give it a bit of a reboot. But Emily has also matured and the show benefits from the arrival of Marcello and other new Rome-based faces. (For example, Minnie Driver’s debut as Princess Jane, a penniless, yet popular—on social media that is—royal who will shill for any and every endorsement is hilarious and fun.) Don’t get me wrong, I love Gabriel (played by Lucas Bravo), but watching the love triangle between him, Emily and Camille (Camille Razat) play out for four seasons was getting tiresome. (He makes a few steamy and expectant cameos this season, but Marcello is a welcome palette cleanse.)
Netflix
To be clear, the regular and beloved cast of characters—Sylvie (played by Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu), Luc (Bruno Gouery), even Mindy (Ashley Park) and Alfie (Lucien Laviscount)—all get ample screentime in season 5. I’ve shared my feelings about Sylvie before and, thankfully, the show’s writers continue to make her role quite prominent as the various plotlines play out.
But I was surprised how much I enjoyed Emily’s jaunt to Italy—not just Rome, but Venice, too. Like the first season, I found myself researching airfare upon season 5’s conclusion, eager to daydream about an escape to the show’s elegantly romanticized backdrop...which is kind of the fun?
As for where Emily ends up, no more spoilers here. You’ll have to watch. But let’s just say there was one more thing I Googled after the finale: Will there be a season six? I hope, I hope.
