‘Servant’ Season 4 Stars Rupert Grint and Nell Tiger Free Talk the ‘Uncomfortable’ New Dynamic Between Julian and Leanne
The Apple TV+ series Servant Season 4 returns on Jan. 13, 2023 (a Friday the 13th, to be exact), and with it, fans finally get to gather all the pieces of the mysterious puzzle put together by M. Night Shyamalan. The series, which premiered in November 2019, stars Lauren Ambrose, Toby Kebbell, Rupert Grint, and Nell Tiger Free. Dorothy (Ambrose), a local TV correspondent, and Sean (Kebbell), a chef, hire Leanne (Free) to care for their infant. However, from the start, viewers realize this isn’t any normal situation. Dorothy and Sean tragically lost their son, Jericho, and as a way to help with the grief, Dorothy carries around a lifelike doll in his place. Tensions and eerie mysteries accumulated over the course of the first three seasons, and now we’re nearing the end of the Turners’ story.
Nell Tiger Free says Leanne and Julian’s relationship amps up in ‘Servant’ Season 4
Grint, who plays Julian, Dorothy’s brother, decided to help Sean with the ruse of making Dorothy believe nothing ever happened to Jericho before season 1 began. Audiences learned Dorothy, addled with lack of sleep from a newborn, accidentally left baby Jericho in the car while Sean traveled out of town at the end of season 1. Since then, both Julian and Sean have debated whether or not Dorothy needed to face the tragedy. However, Sean listened to a therapist and went along with the idea of pretending the doll was real for Dorothy’s sake and even agreed to hire a nanny.
When Leanne arrived, literally out of nowhere, her meek disposition and odd social interactions put everyone on edge. Especially considering that once she showed up, the doll came to life. Julian, especially skeptical, kept Leanne at a distance, convinced she had some nefarious plans to enact on the family. However, over time, Leanne grew more bold and eventually began a sexual relationship with Julian. Now, in Servant Season 4, it looks like that relationship gets put in the spotlight.
Speaking to Jonatan Blomberg, Free explains, “In season 4, we’re kind of the heads of the household because Julian’s moved in and Leanne’s taken over. So, we’ve kind of stepped into the shoes of Sean and Dorothy. We’re kind of playing house a little bit. It’s definitely graduated from a sort of like secret flirtation to a full-blown ‘we own this place’ kind of thing.”
Grint describes the relationship between Julian and Leanne as ‘uncomfortable’
Throughout all three seasons of Servant, Julian deals with alcohol and drug abuse. His disdain for what seems like everything also seems to serve as the driving factor behind his attraction to Leanne at first. However, in Servant Season 4, he describes the pair’s relationship as uncomfortable.
“It’s a very uncomfortable dynamic,” Grint tells Blomberg. “It’s very hard. I always struggle to understand whether it’s real sincere love or if it’s more kind of driven by fear and something else more disturbing. It’s a really interesting relationship. I think now that Julian’s living in the house, it’s kind of added a whole new dynamic to it. As Nell says, they’ve become this weird kind of alternate mom and dad figure. It’s a very strange new element to the house.”
It remains unclear to viewers if Julian actually developed feelings for Leanne or if his fear of her unexplained powers keeps him coming back to her.
‘Servant’ Season 4 finally answers fans’ remaining questions
With Shyamalan at the wheel, it’s no surprise that viewers still have several unanswered questions. Whether it’s about Leanne’s true intentions or if the Turners have possibly brought this upon themselves somehow, we only have 10 episodes left to discover what’s really going on in the family’s lives.
There’s no denying that we can’t wait to see how it all ends. Servant Season 4 premieres on Jan. 13, 2023.
