‘I Don’t Know What the Hell He’s Talking About’: Julia Louis-Dreyfus Is As Confused As We Are About Jerry Seinfeld’s Finale Comments

After Jerry Seinfeld ominously warned that “something is going to happen” related to the much-maligned Seinfeld finale, Julia Louis-Dreyfus came out and clarified that her former co-star’s warning left her just as dumbfounded as the time Seinfeld told her that Elaine would be ending her arc in prison.

Earlier this month, an audience member at a Boston stand-up show asked Seinfeld about his thoughts on the controversial final episode of the hit sitcom bearing his surname. The comic’s response was a coy, noncommittal suggestion that he has “something” planned in the near future related to the conclusion that left the four most iconic characters in sitcom history behind bars and fans scratching their heads. Almost immediately, Seinfeld enthusiasts across the internet began the speculation cycle, wondering whether a reunion or revival could be in the works while maintaining some well-earned skepticism that this is yet another instance of Seinfeld stirring up intrigue without a satisfying payoff. 

Speaking to The Guardian, Louis-Dreyfus fielded the question she knew was coming the second Seinfeld opened his big mouth and teased that the Seinfeld universe may yet live on. “Yeah, I just saw (that news) last night,” she said of Seinfeld’s finale news teaser. “And I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about.” It’s looking increasingly likely that this might all just be Seinfeld’s lead-up to another awkward Super Bowl commercial with Jason Alexander.

Since NBC aired “The Finale” on May 14, 1998, the two-part, hour-and-fifteen-minute Seinfeld episode has gone on to be one of the most controversial pieces of television in sitcom history. Over the last quarter century, episode writer and series co-creator Larry David has continued to insist that “The Finale” was the only logical conclusion of the show’s “No Hugging, No Learning” mantra, even as his star and partner vaguely and repeatedly postulates that they failed to stick the landing.

Louis-Dreyfus, on the other hand, has pledged a lukewarm defense of the episode while acknowledging fan complaints. “I understood why people were disappointed,” Louis-Dreyfus said of the Seinfeld ending in an interview with The Daily Beast back in May. “First of all, expectations were ridiculous. But I also understood, because we didn’t do too much in it. Once we had been arrested and in court, it was just us sitting there watching one person after another parade through.”

Though Louis-Dreyfus has avoided voicing any strong feelings either way about a possible return to Seinfeld, many Elaine fans already found closure on how Jerry chose to close the chapter on TV’s greatest sitcom heroine when they saw their queen take the stage in the last episode of The Late Show with David Letterman, when she told her host in front of Seinfeld, “Thanks for letting me take part in another hugely disappointing series finale.”