How Étoile’s creators and cast brought the world of ballet to Prime Video audiences

All the world’s a stage—at least, that’s the case in Étoile, the new Prime Video original series focused on the captivating (and, at times, cutthroat) world of ballet. The show, which centers on two ballet companies who swap star dancers for a season, is the latest brainchild of Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, the executive producers behind Prime Video’s Emmy Award-winning series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

For Sherman-Palladino and Palladino, who charmingly recreated a retro New York for Maisel, Étoile provided the welcome opportunity to create a whole new world for audiences—this time, in the contemporary theaters and rehearsal studios of Paris and New York. The show follows Jack McMillan (Luke Kirby, who Maisel fans may recognize as the daring Lenny Bruce) and Geneviève Lavigne (Charlotte Gainsbourg), the respective directors of the Metropolitan Ballet and the National Ballet. The two dance scions, who have an intriguing history together, agree to exchange their top ballet dancers in a novel effort to drum up attendance and save their companies. And the intercultural connection in Étoile is what audiences are hungry for when it comes to engaging with media; according to the From Ads to Zeitgeist report from Amazon Ads, 7 in 10 consumers want to see stories in media that reflect different cultures.

Étoile creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino and the cast talk about what makes the world of ballet irresistible to audiences

For Sherman-Palladino, who drew on her own history with dance for the show (she began ballet at a young age, at the urging of her dancer mother), one of the boons of working with Prime Video again was tapping into the talent, including crew and cast, that was featured over the five seasons of making Maisel.

“Maisel was a wonderful experience and allowed us to gather together an amazing crew that stayed with us the whole time that we [then] dragged over into Étoile and some of the actors from Maisel that we dragged over into Étoile—there was a lot of dragging over into Étoile,” Sherman-Palladino says with a laugh.

For Kirby, one of the many familiar faces in the show (other actors from past Palladino projects include Maisel’s Gideon Glick and Gilmore Girls’ Yanick Truesdale and Kelly Bishop), reuniting with Sherman-Palladino and Palladino to work on Étoile after Maisel was another opportunity for an unforgettable collaboration.

“It was a great relief for me—I loved my first experience working with them so much and to get back to work so fast on the heels of the last experiment was rich,” says Kirby. “I love the way that they explore stories and characters…they write characters that are human.”

Meanwhile, Kirby’s on-screen counterpart, Gainsbourg, says that she was excited to work on Étoile, her first foray into American comedy, because of Sherman-Palladino and Palladino’s past work.

“I loved what they had done in the past, but I didn't know how they worked,” Gainsbourg says. “I really trusted them with everything they wanted to focus on and the precision that they both have was very surprising and wonderful to know. You can relate to every character. And everything was dramatic and so funny at the same time.”

Gainsbourg and Kirby’s deep appreciation of Sherman-Palladino and Palladino’s original creative output also reflects what resonates with audiences; according to the 2024 From Ads to Zeitgeist research from Amazon Ads, 62% of consumers are looking for the creation of more original content.

Creating premium content that engages and challenges audiences is a hallmark of Sherman-Palladino and Palladino’s beloved body of work, which includes not only Maisel, but Gilmore Girls and Bunheads, another television show about the world of ballet. The throughline of these shows and Étoile is clear: Sherman-Palladino and Palladino are fiercely committed to creating clever and thoroughly original work. And whether it’s in a comedy club, a small town, or a dance studio, they know how to connect with their audiences.

“One thing that I just don't think you can do is talk down to your audience. I think you have to assume your audience is as smart or much smarter than you are,” says Sherman-Palladino. “I think it's important to understand that your audience is smart and they want something sharp and they want to be entertained—you’ve got to at least attempt to give them that.”

Étoile is just one of many premium shows and movies that audiences love to stream and watch on Prime Video. Viewers can revisit old favorites, like Sherman-Palladino and Palladino’s other Prime Video original series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which made history in 2018 as the first streaming show to win an Emmy for Best Comedy Series (the first of 22 Emmys it would take home), or catch up on episodes of the wildly popular series Reacher, which just released its third season this February, netting 54.6 million viewers worldwide in the first 19 days of its release and setting a milestone as the most-watched returning season in Prime Video’s history.

They can also stream other new series, like The Bondsman, a genre-blending musical thriller of a show that stars Kevin Bacon as a singing demon slayer, or movies like the Nicole Kidman-fronted thriller Holland. And with an exciting lineup of forthcoming original shows and movies from Prime Video, there are endless opportunities for brands to reach millions of viewers through Streaming TV ads in Prime Video content. With the powerful ad tech solutions of Amazon Ads, it's easier than ever to help brands connect with audiences through premium original content.

For Sherman-Palladino, creating Étoile speaks to her lifelong love of ballet. She hopes it will inspire a wider audience to find an appreciation and love for ballet, an art form that she emphatically says is for all audiences.

“Ballet is for everybody,” says Sherman-Palladino. “If you love sports, these are athletes. It's storytelling, it's silent movies, it's emotion, it’s drama, it's comedy, it's goofiness, it's everything that people could want. And I think some people have a sense that it's people in tuxedos that go see ballet and it's not—it's meant for everybody and everybody can enjoy it.”