Six years since leaving our screens, Curb Your Enthusiasm is coming back.
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10 more episodes are scheduled in for the show’s ninth season, which equates to at least a couple hundred horrifically awkward situations for Seinfeld co-creator Larry David to get himself into. 17 years since debuting on HBO, it’s since become the channel’s longest-running scripted comedy. The cult favourite promises to be just as gut-wrenchingly hilarious as ever. And even if it fails to live up to expectations, it’ll at least be pretty, pretty, pretty good.
In true Larry David style, Curb confirmed it was coming back on Monday June 10, with the star dressed as a Roman. As if he’s be wearing anything other than a wreath. Watch the first trailer below.
Larry David is back. #CurbYourEnthusiasm returns for Season 9 on October 1. pic.twitter.com/mijjn4OQdy
— HBO (@HBO) July 10, 2017
With the show announcing its return, here’s everything we know about Curb season 9.
*Don’t read ahead if you don’t want to see Curb spoilers*
Curb Your Enthusiasm season 9 release date
It’s coming back on October 1 2017, airing at 10pm US time. This marks a six-year gap since it last left us, back in 2011.
Dressed in Roman attire, Larry David confirmed by return by saying: “In the immortal words of Julius Caesar, I left, I did nothing, I returned.”
Who is returning for the new season?
Apart from Larry (obviously), you can expect returns from beloved characters including Jeff Garlin (Jeff Greene), Smoove (Leon Black) and Ted Danson, who plays himself.
Cheryl Hines (Cheryl David) is also confirmed to return, despite her character divorcing from Larry in season 8.
Who else is involved?
A few big names are getting in on the Curb action. Lauren Graham, who plays Lorelai in Gilmore Girls, is set to have a recurring role in season 9.
Pret-ty, pret-ty, good.
RIGHT? https://t.co/4q9LCOJksw— Lauren Graham (@thelaurengraham) February 24, 2017
Chris Williams, who played rapper Krazee-Eyez Killa on season 3, will be returning to the show. IMDB also states that Rachel Heinemann (Iris Bahr) is returning. She was last seen jumping from a ski lift in season 5, injuring herself in the process.
Susie Essman (Susie Greene) is also coming back. “Half the old crew from six years ago is coming back,” she told NY Daily News. “They’re incredibly loyal to him, so he couldn’t be the jerk that he is in the show if that was the case.” She added: “We haven’t shot in six years so I am so pumped to get into those Susie Greene crazy outfits, and I’m trying to come up with a new fashion theme for her this year.”
What’s the Curb 9 plot?
There are very few details about a plot, although Mary Steenburgen – who appears alongside Ted Danson – told Entertainment Weekly it’s going to ruffle feathers. “We’re going to stir up a little bit of a hornet’s nest with it, I’m afraid, but it’s how he saw it and what he wanted to do.”
“I’m so glad because it [has been] so long now that we really didn’t know if it was going to happen,” she added. “And we never got a straight answer out of him when we would ask him over the last couple years. And people asked us constantly, ‘When’s Curb coming back?’ That, and ‘When are you making Step Brothers 2?’ And then last summer, he suddenly said, ‘I think we’re doing it,’ and he pitched the idea for our part of it.”
Why has it taken so long for Curb to come back?
Back in 2014, Larry David suggested he wasn’t 100% sure Curb would ever come back. Its extended hiatus is partly down to its creator needing enough strong material to work with.
Speaking to Grantland, he spoke about how he never wished to give a show a clean conclusion, as he did with Seinfeld. The show’s final episode received mixed reactions. “I wouldn’t say I’m mad about it, but it taught me a lesson that if I ever did another show, I wasn’t gonna wrap it up.”
Thankfully, he’s decided to give the beloved show another run. Filming began back in March 2016. HBO shared a skit teaser in November last year, which saw Smoove (Leon Black) approaching Larry’s on-set trailer only to be completely shunned. He wasn’t having any of it.
Filming is taking place in Los Angeles, not New York, so the show will be returning to its roots. Season 8 took place in the Big Apple, which became a slight distraction, David described crowds watching filming as “very vocal … and enthusiastic… where you can’t get one person to stop,” when speaking to the Huffington Post.
This blog will be updated with new information as and when it comes in.
Additional research: Hector Parsons.