Issa Rae’s ‘Insecure’ days will end with a fifth and final season on HBO

Christie D'Zurilla
Los Angeles Times

“Insecure,” the HBO series that made a star of Issa Rae, will end with its upcoming fifth season, the network announced Wednesday.

“Very excited to film our fifth and final season! We couldn’t have told a complete story without the tremendous support of our audience and the faith of @HBO,” Rae tweeted Wednesday. “See y’all soon!”

Issa Rae, playing Issa Dee, navigates the woes of dating apps in “Insecure.”

Season 5 of “Insecure” is expected to start production later this month and will premiere later this year, HBO said.

“Issa has turned insecurity into an iconic form of comedy,” said Amy Gravitt, executive vice president of HBO Programming, in a statement. “The show is as incisive as it is heartfelt, and it has resonated strongly with its audience because of the deeply personal work that Issa, Prentice, Melina, the cast and the writers have put into it.”

Gravitt was referring to Prentice Penny and Melina Matsoukas, who are both executive producers on the show and directed episodes as well.

“Insecure” won an Emmy in 2020 for single-camera picture editing for a comedy series and has been nominated for 10 other Emmys in the last three years – including twice for comedy series, in 2018 and 2020.

Also among those nominations: Rae was tapped twice for lead actress in a comedy series and Yvonne Orji was nominated for supporting actress in a comedy series.

(In a nine-Emmy sweep with 15 total nominations, “Schitt’s Creek” took home the trophy for comedy series and Catherine O’Hara and Annie Murphy won for lead actress and supporting actress in a comedy series, respectively.)

The cast and crew were so excited by their many nominations in 2020 that they took over SoFi Stadium in Inglewood for a viewing party when the ceremony aired in September.

“Issa is like an encyclopedia of Inglewood, she knows so many places already, so that is so useful,” producer Amy Aniobi told The Times in June for a story about how Los Angeles is one of the stars of the show. “To have somebody at the helm who really cares about showcasing South L.A. in such a positive light really matters.”