Erika Henningsen Knows Why The Four Seasons Age-Gap Romance Works

When she booked the role of millennial ingenue Ginny in Netflix’s adaptation of The Four Seasons, Erika Henningsen knew she couldn’t just rely on the 1981 Alan Alda and Carol Burnett film for inspiration. “In the movie, Ginny is mainly sweet and laughing,” the 32-year-old actor from California says. “I remember thinking, ‘There’s no way that Tina [Fey] and company are not going to expand this out. There’s no way they’re going to let the female characters of this show be stereotypes.’”

Sure enough, Henningsen’s version of Ginny gets a lot more depth in the new miniseries. A large part of that was highlighting the loving aspect of her relationship with the much older Nick (played by Steve Carell), rather than the discomfort around a romance between people of different generations.

“There is something to be said for the beauty of an age-gap relationship,” Henningsen says. “This is not Nick trying to prey on her youth, but actually, she’s teaching him this new language of maturity. She’s of the generation that’s gone to therapy and read self-help books, where Nick’s generation wasn’t always given the tools to deal with certain feelings. That’s my favorite thing about them — she’s giving Nick a way to uncover what his shortcoming have been in past relationships.”

The show’s retooling of Ginny and Nick’s relationship leads to some of the biggest changes from the movie. Unlike in the film, Ginny and Nick take a winter trip with her friends rather than joining Nick’s usual cohorts for a cozy cabin getaway. “I remember getting that episode and being like, ‘Our writing team is so brilliant,’” Henningsen says. “The pattern of this same group going on vacation could get a little old after eight episodes, so I love this massive curveball.”

The biggest change of all comes at the end of the series, so consider this your SPOILER ALERT. Nick’s sudden death is a complete divergence from the original movie, but it led to some of Henningsen’s most cherished moments of the whole project.

“My favorite scene is when Ginny is crying after the funeral starting to think her relationship with Nick didn’t mean anything, and Anne reaches out to say, ‘He was really happy with you,’” Henningsen says. “It completes both Ginny and Anne’s stories all at once. It lets Ginny hold and also release this love that was short-lived but meaningful, and at the same time, bonds her to this other person who loved him.”

Shortly after Ginny and Anne’s heart-to-heart, the show drops another bombshell. The miniseries ends with the reveal that Ginny is pregnant, and Henningsen is hoping the “massive mic drop” cliffhanger could lead to a second season. “When I saw the last line of Episode 8, I was like, ‘Please, please, please let this mean I get to come back,’” Henningsen says. “My dream is if we do get a Season 2, it’s Anne helping Ginny through this phase in her life. Like Younger in reverse — instead of Hilary Duff teaching Sutton Foster to be younger, it’s Anne teaching Ginny how to be an adult and a mom.”

As she awaits an official decision from Netflix, the Broadway star, who’s currently in the jukebox musical Just in Time with Jonathan Groff, reveals the surprising Wicked character she relates to, plus how she turned Carell into a Chappell Roan stan.

Elite Daily: What’s your personal favorite season?

Erika Henningsen: Fall in New York. It’s the only time I like New York. All the other nine months, I’m a curmudgeon.

ED: What is your ideal friend-trip destination?

EH: My friends and I rented a house on Fire Island for a week, and we had the best time. I also love wine tasting, and I have friends who really know things about wine. So I would love to go wine tasting with them abroad. I don’t know anything about the grapes, but they would make me feel like I did.

ED: What is a dream Broadway role that you haven’t played yet?

EH: I wish they would do A League of Their Own as a musical, so I could play Kit. And there’s a great musical that I want Colman Domingo to direct called Golden Boy, and I want to be in it.

ED: Are you more of an Elphaba or a Glinda?

EH: I’m going give you a quote that my best friend Grey Henson told me, which I’ll never forget. He was looking at me backstage one day and said, “You’re not really a Glinda; you’re not really an Elphaba. You’re more of an Nessarose."

ED: Oh, interesting! Are you proud to be a Nessarose?

EH: I’ll take it. The reason I’m Nessarose is that I’m kind and agreeable, but if you give me a dose of power, I will mess sh*t up. Don’t mess with me. She’s a boss lady. So I get why he said that. It still cut me to my soul, but he’s not wrong.

ED: What TV show are you currently obsessed with?

EH: The Studio. It’s so good. I was in L.A. last year, and I fell in love with it, and The Studio is such a love letter to Los Angeles. It’s so beautifully styled; I love the cast, I love the writing. And the cameo appearances are absurd. It’s like the L.A. version of Law & Order. I hope it runs forever, and it becomes a thing where it’s like “Have you guest starred on The Studio?”

ED: What’s the movie that you’ve rewatched the most in your life?

EH: Lady Bird and Crazy, Stupid, Love.

ED: What is your comfort show to watch after a long day?

EH: When I’m very tired, I come home and watch The Office.

ED: Crazy, Stupid, Love and The Office — both starring Steve Carell! Tell me about working with him.

EH: We had this great moment during the episode where Nick goes on the winter trip with Ginny’s friends where we're all sitting around a fireplace, and Steve Carell is telling us a really long-winded awkward story. Everyone on set that day knew him from The Office, and we're all obsessed with him. We just got to sit back and watch him do what he does best — which is tell a story that is awkward and uncomfortable. Instead of realizing that, he just keeps going. It was an hour and a half of that, and I think all of us were like, 'I can't believe this is our day on set — it's just watching Steve Carell do what he does best.'"

ED: What is your favorite song of this past year?

EH: Anything by Chappell Roan. Fun fact, I introduced Steve Carell to Chappell Roan, and he is now obsessed. But actually, my favorite song is “Juno” by Sabrina Carpenter.

ED: Do you remember the first concert you ever went to?

EH: Spice Girls, 1998. It was amazing; I’d love to see them again. I heard they might be having a reunion tour, and I texted my sisters like, “I didn’t pay up for Beyoncé, I didn't pay up for Taylor Swift, but I will pay up for Spice Girls.”

ED: Who’s an actor that you'd love to work with one day?

EH: There are two: Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick. I know they have a daughter who’s an actor, but I really want to play their daughter in something. I’m obsessed with them. They live in New York so I see them all the time, but I’m too afraid to say hello.

ED: Is there a TikTok rabbit hole you've fallen down recently?

EH: Yes, Jeremy Hasson. Tina and Kerri [Kenney-Silver] sent me his videos. He’s very sweet and joyful, posting things for the girlies, and I feel seen.

ED: What are you manifesting for the rest of this year?

EH: Season 2 of The Four Seasons! And I’d love to do a film. I really want to do a concise story where we know what every beat is leading to — because in a series, you don’t really know where anything’s going. And in a musical, you have a finite beginning, middle, and an end, but then you have to do it over and over. I’m either telling the same story on repeat or doing something for one day and then never again. So I think an independent film is the next challenge I want to try.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.