'The Bear's Abby Elliot gives her thoughts about the internet's theories on Ayo Edebiri and Jeremy Allen White's relationship.
Abby Elliott is sharing her thoughts on the internet's passionate response to the friendship between The Bear co-stars Ayo Edebiri and Jeremy Allen White.
While the chemistry between Edebiri, 28, and White, 33, on-screen has led to a frenzy of fan theories about their characters, Sydney Adamu and Carmy Berzatto, since the FX dramedy began three seasons ago, the real-life friendship between the actors has also recently become fodder for romantic theories.
"The internet ships a lot of people," Elliott diplomatically said when asked for her thoughts on fans hoping her co-stars on The Bear would get together during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen on Wednesday.
As for the on-screen partnership between Sydney and Carmy, Elliott admitted that the characters weren't intended to have a romantic relationship.
"It was, you know, a platonic relationship from the start," she said of creator Christopher Storer's initial plans for the characters. "But who knows what the future holds?"
The Bear follows the story of Carmy, a fine-dining chef who teams up -- and oftentimes butts heads -- with his sous chef, Sydney. The two start as partners in pursuit of saving Carmy's late brother's restaurant, The Original Beef, but later move their efforts to the development of their own restaurant, The Bear. Elliott plays Carmy's sister, Natalie "Sugar" Berzatto.
Sydney and Carmy's on-screen relationship has sparked a fiery debate on whether there's potential for a love story between the show's two protagonists. Previously, Edebiri has said that she doesn't believe fans hoping Sydney and Carmy will become romantic will "get what they want."
"It's really not our thought process when we're making the show," Edebiri told The Hollywood Reporter last August. "I think it's incredibly cool to have this dynamic onscreen that isn't romantic, but that feels charged and sexy."
But as the show gears up for the June 27 premiere of season 3 -- and the reportedly already greenlit season 4 -- fans' hopes are sparked anew. Some fans have even begun to scrutinize the pair's real-life friendship as fodder for their theories.
Social media was sent into a frenzy when footage of the cast at a Chicago Cubs game went viral last month because White and Edebiri sat next to one another, with the father of two caught gently rubbing her back and draping his arm around her at one point.
"Work wife-husband relationship is going crrazzyyy," one X (formerly Twitter) user wrote, while another user wrote they were "trying so hard to be normal about this."
In a wide-ranging profile for Edebiri's cover story for Vanity Fair last month, she and White gushed about how their bond has grown since beginning their award-winning journey on the FX series.
"We really enjoy each other in life, on camera and off camera. I have a tremendous amount of respect for her as a person, but also as an artist. And so I hope that sort of that kind of thing shines through on camera between Carm and Syd," White told the outlet.
"Syd is always able to...I don't know, to deliver something different to Carmy, and she's usually right," he added. "And I guess I think Ayo is also usually right."
"The most joy that I feel from those awards shows are hearing her and Ebon's names," White earnestly shared, referring to their co-star, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who won a supporting actor Emmy for his role as Richie, Carmy's cousin.
Edebiri capped an amazing awards season during which she swept the major categories for her role as Sydney on the FX series. In January, Edebiri became the third Black woman to win in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series category, a year after Abbott Elementary's Sheryl Lee Ralph became the second.
When theorizing how her friendship with White is reflected in the relationship between Sydney and Carmy on-screen, Edebiri told Vanity Fair that work "can be a very intimate thing and a very personal thing and a very emotional thing," and something about working in creative industries "also invokes feelings of passion."
"Also, boy's got some beautiful blue eyes. You know what I mean? Those are eyes you want to project onto," she quipped.
The Bear viewers will just have to wait and see if their theories about Sydney and Carmy come true in the upcoming seasons.
Although, Edebiri told ET at the 2024 Met Gala that she cannot "confirm or deny" whether the restaurant drama has been renewed for a fourth season, she did share that she and the cast have been "working hard" to bring fans a new season.
Around the same time as the show's renewal, ET spoke with White, and he gave an update on how he is preparing for season 3.
"I haven't read scripts yet, that's the truth," White shared with ET at the time. "But, yeah, we will be going back [into production] in, like, late February, early March. I'm gonna get together with some chefs starting in January and start doing some prep."
All 10 episodes of The Bear season 3 will be available to stream on Hulu June 27.
Watch Abby Elliott's appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in the video below.
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