All of 'The Bear' Season 3 Guest Stars and Celebrity Chefs
SPOILER ALERT: This list contains spoilers for Season 3 of “The Bear.”
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“The Bear” wowed audiences in Season 2 with a head-spinning number of guest stars, most of them appearing in one episode as members of the extended Berzatto family.
Many of those guest stars — Jamie Lee Curtis, John Mulaney, Gillian Jacobs — are back in Season 3, as well as fan favorites Olivia Colman and Will Poulter, who play fictional chefs in Carmy’s (Jeremy Allen White) orbit.
Among the newbies this season are a murderer’s row of culinary legends playing themselves, the real-life spouse of a “Bear” cast member who now plays their on-screen spouse, and a certain WWE star-turned-actor.
For a complete list of Season 3 guest stars, read on.
John Cena Plays Sammy Fak
“These lemonheads need more horsepower, so they called a horse.” Another member of the Fak family joins “The Bear” in Season 3, and it’s none other than John Cena, who arrives at the restaurant to help buff the floors. Sammy Fak torments his brothers Neil and Ted, promising to “haunt” them if they don’t “say the password” and admit to stealing SD cards. Matty Matheson, who plays Neil, told Variety that working with Cena “was a trip.” “He’s bigger than life. He was reading in between takes, and we were all like, ‘What’s that book on his chair?’ He was reading, like, literally a medical doctrine on neurology. It was crazy,” Matheson said.
Josh Hartnett Plays Frank
Josh Hartnett joins “The Bear” as one of Season 3’s biggest guest stars. The “Lucky Number Slevin” and “Oppenheimer” actor plays Frank, the fiancé of Tiffany (Gillian Jacobs), the ex-wife of Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). The two have a sweet but slightly awkward interaction after Richie drops off his daughter.
Frank seems like a good father figure to Richie’s daughter, Eva (as evidenced by the sloppy manicure he probably allowed her to give him), and he genuinely wants to have to have a good relationship with Richie. Frank apologizes to Richie for not warning him that he was going to propose to Tiffany, and he expresses interest in coming to the new restaurant.
Thomas Keller, Will Guidara and More Culinary A-Listers Play Themselves
While Season 3 does still has some surprise cameos from faces you’d typically see on a red carpet, it’s culinary celebrities who get the spotlight this time around.
Episode 1, “Tomorrow,” is a hodgepodge of flashbacks from Carmy’s career before he moved back to Chicago. At one point, chef Terry (Olivia Colman) watches Carmy shuck peas from across the kitchen of Ever, even while a dish is being prepared right in front of her by Dave Beran. In real life, Beran is the chef and owner of Pasjoli in Santa Monica, who also played a role in Jeremy Allen White’s culinary training ahead of Season 1.
Chef Terry eventually sends Carmy to work at Noma in Copenhagen, where he shares a quick glance with the world-famous Rene Redzepi, who’s poring over recipe photos on an outdoor bulletin board.
Throughout the episode, Carmy is mentored by Daniel Boulud of New York City’s Daniel, who helps him refine his technique while prepping vegetables, using truffle and cooking potatoes, which Carmy thinks back to in flashbacks throughout the season.
The finale, “Forever,” opens with a flashback to Carmy’s days at the French Laundry in Northern California, where chef and owner Thomas Keller teaches him how to take the wishbone out of a chicken before beginning a conversation about having a legacy in the kitchen.
Terry’s decision to close Ever and retire draws chefs from all over the world to Chicago for the restaurant’s funeral dinner, which is the focus of the rest of the episode. Luca (Will Poulter) peppers Alinea chef Grant Achtaz with questions until he can’t take it anymore and awkwardly excuses himself. Carmy catches up with Wylie Dufresne (WD50, Stretch Pizza) and Kevin Boehme (Boka Restaurant Group) before sitting down for dinner.
As they eat, Carmy and Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) listen to other guests share stories from the highs and low of their careers. Among their table mates is Will Guidara, restaurateur and author of the book “Unreasonable Hospitality,” which Richie learned from during his training at Ever in the Season 2 episode “Forks.” (The book’s most famous quote guides “The Bear” and certainly the Season 3 finale: “People will forget what you do; they’ll forget what you said. But they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”) Guidara — who was also a judge on Dan Levy’s short-lived cooking competition “The Big Brunch” — is a co-producer and consultant on “The Bear.”
Genie Kwon, chef and owner of Chicago’s Kasama, has consulted on “The Bear” too, and appears at the dinner, as do Malcolm Livingston II (Noma), Anna Posey (Elske), Rosio Sanchez (Noma, Sanchez, Hija de Sanchez) and Christina Tosi (Milk Bar).
There’s one cook who doesn’t play himself, though. Paulie James of L.A.’s Uncle Paulie’s Deli shows up in Episodes 6 and 7 as Chuckie, who helps Ebra (Edwin Lee Gibson) run the sandwich window at the back of the Bear — the restaurant’s only profitable component.
Jamie Lee Curtis Returns as Donna Berzatto
Jamie Lee Curtis is back as Mama Berzatto, teased in flashbacks from the Season 2 favorite “Fishes” until she appears in full force in Season 3, Episode 8, titled “Ice Chips.” A very pregnant Natalie (Abby Elliott) goes into labor right as Carmy, Sydney, Richie (and everyone else she knows) stash their phones in lockers before dinner service. Because, of course. She’s dodging traffic and sweating up a storm, and no one is picking up the phone. So, Natalie resorts to calling her estranged mom, Donna, who shows up at the hospital in a tizzy. Most of the episode is a two-hander between Curtis and Elliott as Donna coaches Natalie through childbirth and asks, with sadness, why her daughter didn’t tell her she was pregnant in the first place.
Molly Gordon Returns as Claire
Carmy’s love interest is mainly on the outs in Season 3, but Molly Gordon’s Claire appears in various montage sequences and is eventually ambushed at work by Neil and Ted Fak (Ricky Staffieri). Since Carmy hasn’t reached out to Claire since his Season 2 finale freakout, the Fak brothers visit the hospital where she works — without Carmy’s knowledge — and tell Claire that Carmy still loves him. Aww, so sweet.
Jon Bernthal Returns as Mikey Berzatto
Jon Bernthal has been a consistent scene-stealer throughout all three seasons of “The Bear.” As Carmy and Natalie’s late brother Mikey, he only appears in flashbacks, but his presence hangs heavily over the show even when he’s off-screen. In Season 3, Bernthal stars in an episode centered on Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas), who wanders into The Beef on a whim, down on her luck after losing her job and failing to land a new one. Richie gives her a free coffee and Italian beef sandwich, and she attempts to dig in before breaking down in tears. Mikey, the owner of the shop at the time, comes over and consoles her, sharing stories about his bad day and eventually offering her a job as a line cook at The Beef. “This fucking place, it sucks,” he says. “But, I swear to you, there are days that it is so much fun.”
Will Poulter Returns as Luca
Everyone’s favorite hot chef is back, with Will Poulter returning in the Season 3 premiere, as well as in the finale. In the first episode, we see Carmy working with Luca under Chef Terry at Ever years before Carmy would send Marcus (Lionel Boyce) to Copenhagen to train under Luca. Poulter also plays a prominent role in the season finale, at Ever’s “funeral dinner.”
Olivia Colman Returns as Terry
In case it’s not already clear, Olivia Colman again plays Terry, the fictional executive chef of the real-life Chicago restaurant Ever. In Season 2, she gave Richie a much needed pep talk that helped him understand how working in the hospitality industry could help him to soothe the anger and pain of his personal life. In the Season 3 finale, she’s the belle of the ball as she hosts that previously mentioned funeral dinner for Ever, where, surrounded by chefs and friends, she gives a toast explaining that her culinary career was all about connecting with others. Later, when Carmy asks what advice she has for him, she says, “You have no idea what you’re doing, and therefore you’re invincible.”
Joel McHale Returns as David Fields
in flashbacks, Joel McHale has haunted all three seasons of “The Bear” as a New York City chef who simultaneously trained and traumatized Carmy early in his career. Those nightmares continue through Season 3, but they come to life in the finale. At the funeral dinner for Ever, Carmy finally gets a chance to confront the man — finally revealed to be named David Fields — who turned him into the anxious, dysfunctional chef he is today. It doesn’t go well: David essentially says “you’re welcome”; Carmy is left in tears.
John Mulaney Returns as Stevie
John Mulaney (briefly) returns as Stevie in Season 3 of “The Bear,” mostly to tuck Carmy in on his couch in flashback sequences in the season premiere, a visual collage of sorts that is meant to illustrate Carmy’s ambition and trauma, as shown by scenes of his various cooking jobs before he returned to Chicago. Back when Carmy was working in New York, his cousin-in-law Stevie let him crash on his couch. In one scene, Stevie laments to a sleeping Carmy, “You smell like a goddamn donkey!”
Gillian Jacobs Returns as Tiffany Jerimovich
Gillian Jacobs returns in Season 3 as Tiffany Jerimovich, Richie’s ex-wife. In Season 2, Tiffany tells Richie she is engaged to another man, declining his invitation to a Taylor Swift concert with Eva despite her being a big fan (spot the “1989” tee?). In Season 3, Tiffany and Richie are getting the hang of co-parenting, with Tiffany asking to come to the restaurant and telling Richie that he is the closest family she has.
Adam Shapiro Returns as Adam Shapiro
Adam Shapiro first appeared in Season 2 as a character who bears his own name, the chef de cuisine at Ever who gives Sydney some advice as she prepares to open The Bear. In Season 3, after the announcement that Ever is closing, Adam tells Sydney he wants her as the head chef of a new spot he’s opening. It’s clearly a much better gig than The Bear — better salary, better benefits, more recognition and the chance to build a healthy workplace away from Carmy’s dysfunction — but it would require leaving behind people she loves and not getting a chance to finish what she started. The decision ahead of her is the cause of Sydney’s intense panic attack in the season finale.
Sarah Ramos Returns as Jessica
Sarah Ramos first appeared in “The Bear” in the Season 2 episode “Forks,” in which Richie spends a week at Ever learning all that goes into the craft of serving at a fine dining establishment. In Season 3, while Richie spends time reflecting on his young daughter’s comment about his loneliness, a phone call with Jessica is the only time we see him talk to someone outside of the restaurant and his family. They reunite in the finale, when Richie chooses to hang out with the servers of Ever rather than sitting down for the restaurant’s glitzy final dinner service, and there’s a light flirtation in the air — maybe Richie won’t be so alone in Season 4.
Brian Koppelman Plays the Computer
Brian Koppelman, the co-creator of Showtime’s “Billions” and writer of films such as “Ocean’s Thirteen” and “Rounders,” joins “The Bear” as Nicholas Marshall, a.k.a. The Computer. As Uncle Jimmy’s (Oliver Platt) financial adviser and confidant, The Computer tells it like it is: The Bear is too expensive, and they must cut costs before the restaurant goes out of business.
David Zayas as David Marrero
Does the name sound familiar? Fan-favorite supporting star Liza Colón-Zayas takes the spotlight in Episode 6, “Napkins,” which marks Ayo Edebiri’s directorial debut and tells the story of how Tina wound up at The Beef. In it, we meet Tina’s kind and supportive husband, David — who’s played by Colón-Zayas’ real-life husband, actor and “Dexter” star David Zayas.
The Owner of Mr. Beef and Other Chicago Easter Eggs
The biggest Easter egg in “The Bear” is the Chris Zucchero, owner of Mr. Beef — the real restaurant the series is based around. Zucchero has been friends with series creator Christopher Storer since the two were in kindergarten, when it was Zucchero’s father running Mr. Beef. Zucchero guest stars as Chi-Chi, who served as The Beef’s meat supplier in Season 1 and now brings Carmy boxes of micro-radishes and other fine dining bits and bobs.
“Isn’t it funny that the two of us are in here again? Remember when we were kids, wiping tables? It felt like we could have done anything,” Chi-Chi says to Carmy in Season 3’s second episode. If you know, you know.
In Episode 5, the staff of The Bear frantically preps the restaurant for a visit from a Chicago Tribune photographer played by Chicago comedian Pat Whalen, who becomes the victim of Richie’s harassment about whether the Tribune’s review of The Bear will be positive.
When Natalie gives birth in Episode 8, her doctor is played by Keith Kupferer, a legend of the Chicago theater community who stars in “Ghostlight,” currently in theaters via IFC.
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