Happy Valentine’s Day to RuPaul fans! Grace and Frankie was renewed for a fifth season, Netflix announced on Wednesday, February 14, and is adding one of the biggest names in reality TV: RuPaul.
He is set to play Benjamin Le Day, a “formidable and quick-witted adversary who faces off with Grace and Frankie,” Variety reports. Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin star in the comedy as Grace and Frankie, two women whose lives change drastically when they find out their husbands (Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston, respectively) are gay and want to be together.
“Hey @LilyTomlin @JaneFonda will there be a Season 5 of @GraceAndFrankie?,” RuPaul, 57, tweeted on Wednesday. Fonda, 80, retweeted the message adding, “Yup, 2019. You want in??” The Emmy-winning host responded: “Does @DollyParton sleep on her back? YES!” Tomlin, 78, responded: “Let’s do this.”
A Valentine tale of beauty, joy and legendary realness told four panels. pic.twitter.com/LCuktIhYud
— Erik Schut (@MrErikSchut) February 14, 2018
RuPaul is currently the host of RuPaul’s Drag Race on VH1, which is about to premiere its 10th season. He won an Emmy for hosting the competition in 2016 and was nominated in 2017, as were Fonda and Tomlin for their roles in Grace and Frankie.
“I thought this was a show that could potentially give a lot of hope to people, especially to older people, especially to women. And I think that’s actually happened,” Fonda told Vogue about the show in 2016. “Episodic television is a different animal and I had never done it before. Being a recurring guest star when you come in every three to four weeks is very different from doing episodic television. It’s very hard work, it’s very long hours. It takes a while for the writers to get used to your voice, to write for you. You have to find your groove. A real comedian has a sense of timing and delivery. And I’ve done a lot of comedies. I started off doing comedies primarily, but I’m not that kind of comedian. So it took me a while for me to get my feet under me.”
The fourth season of Grace and Frankie premiered on Netflix in January 2018 and features guest stars Peter Gallagher and Lisa Kudrow. Season 5 will be available in 2019.
