Bustle Exclusive
Ayo Edebiri Got “Very Emotional” While Filming The Bear’s Final Season
The Emmy-winning actor looks back at Chef Sydney’s early days — and how much has changed since then.
In The Bear’s fifth and final season, Sydney Adamu leads the kitchen through what may be its most chaotic, hail-mary shift yet. The chef has come a long way, and so has Ayo Edebiri. As the Emmy-winning actor tells Bustle, it all came flooding back (Season 5 pun intended) during an unexpected moment at work.
“The last fitting was very emotional,” she says. “At the studio, they have all of our clothes there on racks outside, and something about just walking through everybody’s clothes just reminded me of that first fitting where we didn’t know anything — and you’re just creating, trying to figure out who this person is.”
Looking back, Edebiri says “the tactile things” helped her understand Sydney on an up-close level. “What I’m wearing — the fit of this, my hair — what does it say about this person? And then by the time it’s five years later, you’re like, ‘I know! I know how her jeans fit.’”
In addition to feeling nostalgic for those early days of filming, Edebiri praised the people who craft The Bear’s look behind the scenes. “I just love our costuming team,” she says.
And just as that final fitting had Edebiri emotional, the show’s last outing is sure to do the same for fans. Across The Bear’s five delicious seasons, Sydney became the beating heart of the show and its titular restaurant. As Carmy told her while walking away from the restaurant in Season 4, “Any chance of any kind of good in this building — it started when you walked in. And any possibility of it surviving... it’s with you.” (Exactly, #sydcarmy!)
Of course, Edebiri’s influence could be felt beyond her performance on screen. The multi-hyphenate also helmed some of the show’s most memorable episodes behind the scenes. She directed Season 3’s “Napkins,” which depicted Tina’s moving journey to the restaurant (and earned Edebiri her first directing nod at the Emmys).
Then, in Season 4, she and Lionel Boyce (who plays Marcus) co-wrote “Worms” — the standalone episode where Sydney ponders her career future over a Hamburger Helper side quest. It earned its share of critical acclaim, too, and several outlets considered it to be one of 2025’s best episodes of television.
