Marin Hinkle (‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’) on ‘creating joy’ as a matchmaker and her ‘meta’ stand-up performance [Exclusive Video Interview]

“I don’t feel that similar to Rose, but this particular part of her I feel very fused with,” shares Marin Hinkle about her character on Amazon Prime’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” who in the fourth season becomes a full-fledged professional matchmaker. “I have actually been a somewhat successful matchmaker in my own life,” she explains, emphasizing how Rose feels “delighted at creating joy” and love. Watch our exclusive video interview above.

“Maisel” fans learn a lot of new details about Rose’s past in the fourth season, including the fact that she and husband Abe (Tony Shalhoub) were set up by a matchmaker. Hinkle shares that she loves coming across those little details in the scripts and she holds onto them to “see how that informs other parts” of the character going forward. This process of continuous discovery is unique to television, she says, adding that creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and writer Dan Palladino “surprise us every single episode.”

SEE ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ scene stealer Tony Shalhoub is coming for that 5th Emmy

Of course, Rose’s career faces a roadblock because of her daughter Midge’s (Rachel Brosnahan) line of work as a stand-up comedian, who this season takes a gig as an emcee at a strip club. Hinkle thinks Rose has subtly become more open to Midge’s career, but when a wealthy new client stresses that Rose must have an impeccable background to work for him, those old doubts about Midge come to the fore again. Hinkle describes this tension as a “selfish, self-involved perspective from Rose,” since she “cannot let her daughter’s work get in the way” of her own new line of work that she loves.

Hinkle has an extraordinary scene in the penultimate episode of the season, “Ethan… Esther… Chaim,” in which Rose gets hypnotized at a magic show and performs one of Midge’s sets that she saw on a secret visit to the strip club where Midge has been performing. The scene required Hinkle to evoke Midge while putting her own character’s spin on the material. “It was Marin playing Rose playing Midge, played by Rachel,” Hinkle elaborates on the incredibly “meta” moment. To capture Brosnahan’s delivery, Hinkle watched old episodes to study her co-star’s work, including how she carries herself physically when she performs stand-up. The end result is a performance that channel Brosnahan but also stands out as uniquely Hinkle and hilarious.

The fourth season also includes a number of memorable guest stars, including Milo Ventimiglia, Jason Alexander, and Kelly Bishop. “I still get really, really starstruck,” Hinkle admits, and she felt especially so when working with Alexander. She remembers muttering to the “Seinfeld” star, “I really love your work,” before putting her admiration aside to find the dynamic between Rose and Alexander’s character Asher. “He is such a delight,” she reveals.

Hinkle was pretty mum on details about the series’ forthcoming fifth and final season. Bishop will return in the role of Benedetta, a longtime matchmaker who has waged war against Rose for taking away her and her colleagues’ business. “There’s a massive, intense level of fight” ahead for Rose as she tries to hold onto this new job she enjoys, Hinkle teases. She also reveals how much she’ll miss the series once it wraps, sharing candidly, “I don’t want to believe that this show is really going to be over after this season.” “I can’t let this one go away,” Hinkle concludes.

PREDICT the 2022 Emmy Awards nominees now

Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?