‘Only Murders In The Building’s Jane Lynch On Playing The “Guileless” Sazz: “It’s Opened Up A Part Of Me That Kind Of Was In A Little Cage”

<p>While Jane Lynch’s character may have met her gruesome end in the final episode of Only Murders in the Building Season 3, the actress says she never plans to let her character go. Ahead of the Season 4 finale, Lynch sat down with DECIDER and opened up about saying goodbye to Sazz Pataki, the outgoing stunt woman for Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin). Sadly, it was confirmed at the end of last season that Sazz would be the titular “murder in the building” for the upcoming season as viewers watched a sniper shoot her while going to retrieve something from Charles’ apartment. Much of Season 4 has revolved around the question of whether or not Charles was the intended target — Sazz is Charles’ body double and a killer looking into a dark apartment could be mistaken — but it was finally revealed in the final episode what really happened with Lynch’s character. At the end of the day, it was Sazz’s good nature — the antithesis of Charles’ surliness — that got her killed. We learn that she had taken Rex/Marshall (Jin Ha) under her wing and introduced him to the stunt world, making him her protege up until a devastating moment on set involving Ron Howard. Rex accidentally burned the director’s eyebrows off after not waiting the proper amount of time to extinguish himself following a fire stunt on set and quickly was blackballed from the industry. While we’re initially led to believe it was Sazz who was embarrassed to have brought him into the fold, we later learn that she never gave up on Rex, kept him as a friend, and even let the aspiring screenwriter read an early copy of her first ever screenplay. Suffice it to say, she put her trust in the wrong person. Jealous of Sazz’s incredible script — the basis for the Only Murders in the Building movie at the center of the season — Rex tells Sazz her work is terrible only to steal it for himself and sell it to Paramount. When Lynch’s character finds out, she confronts him and says that she plans to let the truth out, which leads him to follow her to New York and kill her from across the courtyard of the Arconia. While we were sad to see Sazz go, Lynch told Decider that she is overjoyed by not only the love from the fans for her character, but the fact that the writers kept her true to the end. It would have been easy to have her turn on Rex/Marshall, but she said it was never in Sazz’s wheelhouse. “The first thing I felt about Sazz was that she’s guileless,” the Glee alum shared with Decider. “It’s an innocence. You don’t think anybody’s coming from a bad place. Whereas I, as Jane, assume people are coming from their smallest selves a lot of the time, and I would say that Sazz is my better self.” Lynch added, “She sees the world as this place to have experience and fun and adventures, and kind of not like I do. I live kind of a small, timid, frightened life compared to Sazz. So that was the first thing that struck me about her.” It also helps that while Sazz is completely different from who Lynch is in real life, she’s also the opposite of her on-screen best friend, Charles. Lynch says crafting the character with that dichotomy in mind was something that added to her love of the character and the role. “And I’m sure I was inspired by the fact that Steve [Martin] is Charles-Haden Savage,” she said. “Charles is afraid of everything. He thinks the worst will happen with everything, and it kind of makes him melancholy and kind of a depressive. And so it’s wonderful to have that contrast of Sazz, who’s absolutely the opposite of that.” For the actress — who has played countless beloved characters over the years — the role is one that she will carry with her for the rest of her life, allowing her to embrace a new perspective and outlook. “I’ve learned lessons playing Sazz, I really have. It’s opened up a part of me that kind of was in a little cage,” she said. Since Lynch clearly has a fondness for playing the character and the show loves to have her around — she’s good friends with showrunner and co-creator John Hoffman — is there any chance she could come back as a ghost or in flashbacks in season 5 and beyond? “You ask John Hoffman. He knows that I’m here and ready to suit up,” Lynch joked. “I got my hat [ready to go].” Only Murders In the Building Season 4 is now streaming on Hulu. The first three seasons are also available to stream.</p>