Comedian Jerry Seinfeld has hinted that a Seinfeld reunion may be in-development, more than two decades after the hit series’ contentious finale premiered. At a stand-up performance in Boston on Saturday, the 69-year-old comedy legend revealed that there is unfinished business with the ‘show about nothing’. Responding to a question from the audience, Seinfeld coyly confirmed that he was harbouring a ‘little secret’.
“Well, I have a little secret for you about the ending. But I can’t really tell it because it is a secret,” he told audience members at the Wang Theatre. “Here’s what I’ll tell you, OK, but you can’t tell anybody. Something is going to happen that has to do with that ending. Hasn’t happened yet…And just what you are thinking about, Larry and I have also been thinking about it. So you’ll see, we’ll see.”
While far from confirmed, the comedian’s comments raise an enticing prospect for fans and networks. Over nine seasons from 1989 to 1998, Seinfeld dominated the television ratings, notching up 10 Emmy awards and three Golden Globes, all while skyrocketing the cast into superstardom. The awesome foursome of Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer were arguably the biggest fictional names in entertainment, with the now-infamous finale serving as a comedy magnum opus.
The two-part finale, which aired on May 14, 1998, saw the four main cast thrust into an unusual circumstance, forced to defend their wise-cracking antics in front of a judge. When a man is mugged in front of them, Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer opt to make jokes rather than intervene, a decision that lands them in legal trouble.
Across the finale, several past characters are brought into the courtroom to testify against the quartet, providing new perspectives on previous instances observed on-screen. The finale finishes with the group locked up in prison, with Kramer the only member to see the positive aspects of incarceration.
More than 76 million viewers tuned in to watch the landmark television moment, making it one of the most-watched events ever broadcast, but the response wasn’t entirely positive. Critics labelled it “dismal”, with USA Today’s Robert Bianco describing the ambitious two-part closer as a “slow, smug exercise in self-congratulation”.
While fans have slowly come around to the finale, Seinfeld himself has expressed regrets about how the much-loved series ended. Speaking at the New Yorker festival in October 2017, Seinfeld revealed that he often wonders if they should have ever attempted it.
“I sometimes think we really shouldn’t have even done it,” he said. “There was a lot of pressure on us at that time to do one big last show, but big is always bad in comedy.”
Follow actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus harboured similar thoughts, however, stopped short of condemning the finale. In a podcast appearance with Bill Simmons in 2019, the woman behind Elaine revealed that while the episode was contentious, she wouldn’t change it.
“I understand why people maybe had an issue with it,” she told The Ringer podcast. “But you know what? Think of all the people that watched that thing. F**k it, you’re not going to appeal to everybody, and no one wanted to see the show go off the air anyway.”
Controversial as it may be, the Seinfeld finale bid a surprisingly fitting farewell to the little ‘show about nothing’, taking the cast into uncharted territory as it had so many times before. Seinfeld’s recent comments may suggest that there is more to the story that has gone untold, but whether or not a reunion or reboot is the answer remains to be seen. With the reprisal of fellow ’90s sitcom Fraiser currently suffering a critic savagery, perhaps it’s best that Seinfeld leaves the past in the past.
