Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino have embarked on their second foray into the world of ballet with their latest series, Prime Video‘s Étoile.
After previously working for one season on the 2012 drama Bunheads, Sherman-Palladino says her desire to tell another ballet-centric story was fueled by one thing: “vengeance.”
She’s joking, sort of.
“I wasn’t done, and I figured, let’s go back,” she said at the Deadline Studio at Prime Experience. “The first time, it was more about coming of age, and then 10 years later, I assume they’ve all come of age. We thought, how fun it would be to go backstage into if they become professional ballerinas?”
See the panel discussion in the video here and photos of the event below.
Set in New York and Paris, Étoile follows the dancers and artistic staff of two world-renowned ballet companies as they embark on an ambitious gambit to save their storied institutions: swapping their most talented stars.
“The dance world is beautiful, but it’s also kind of weird, and it’s very, very intense, and it’s intense behind the scenes, and we wanted to show that,” Palladino explained.
The cast reunites Sherman-Palladino with actors from several of her previous projects including Luke Kirby (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Gideon Glick (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Maestro) and Yanic Truesdale (Gilmore Girls). The series also stars Charlotte Gainsbourg, Lou de Laâge, David Alvarez, Ivan du Pontavice, Taïs Vinolo, David Haig and Simon Callow.
Kirby, who plays the director of the Metropolitan Ballet Theater, says he took on the project primarily due to his “great affection for dance” and the desire to learn more about the inner workings of that world. And, it also felt like it was a story about something bigger than just ballet.
“The need to keep it afloat in a contemporary world that is on this fast track towards some kind of weird obsolescence, it felt very vital in a way,” he mused.
Ivan du Pontavice, Taïs Vinolo, Yanic Truesdale, David Alvarex, Simon Callow, Luke Kirbk, Gideon Glick Étoile at Deadline Hollywood Portrait Studio at Prime Experience 2025 – “Étoile” on May 06, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Anthony Avellano for Deadline
Luke Kirby Étoile at Deadline Hollywood Portrait Studio at Prime Experience 2025 – “Étoile” on May 06, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Anthony Avellano for Deadline
Gideon Glick, Luke Kirby Étoile at Deadline Hollywood Portrait Studio at Prime Experience 2025 – “Étoile” on May 06, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Anthony Avellano for Deadline
Gideon Glick, Luke Kirby Étoile at Deadline Hollywood Portrait Studio at Prime Experience 2025 – “Étoile” on May 06, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Anthony Avellano for Deadline
Gideon Glick Étoile at Deadline Hollywood Portrait Studio at Prime Experience 2025 – “Étoile” on May 06, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Anthony Avellano for Deadline
Daniel Palladino, Amy Sherman-Palladino at Deadline Hollywood Portrait Studio at Prime Experience 2025 – “Étoile” on May 06, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Anthony Avellano for Deadline
Luke Kirby Étoile at Deadline Hollywood Portrait Studio at Prime Experience 2025 – “Étoile” on May 06, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Anthony Avellano for Deadline
The Palladinos agree. For as much as Étoile is a love letter to ballet, it is also a plea to audiences and artists alike about the necessities of keeping art alive.
“It’s really about the struggle for people to make original things and to get an audience for that,” Palladino said. “We don’t want people to think, ‘Oh, this is just show about a bunch of ballerinas just dancing around’ … It’s about the fragility of the arts. With everything going on, we hope this message resonates.”
Joked Sherman-Palladino: “Right now I’d like to discuss people buying a lot of toilet paper on Amazon, courtesy of Étoile, so that we can continue the fight to keep arts alive in the world.”
All eight episodes of Étoile are currently streaming on Prime Video.
