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Published Jan 29, 2026, 9:30 PM EST
Tania Hussain is an Executive Editor at Collider responsible for creative, editorial, and managerial duties. In addition to leading content ideation and development, she works to generate innovative and compelling ideas for feature articles and reviews with her editorial team across Features, Resources, Lists, and News. She has helped cover and ideate content for major events for Collider, including the Toronto International Film Festival. Tania has also conducted more than 100 interviews since her start in the business almost 16 years ago. Some favorites include Joel McHale, Charlie Cox, John Krasinski, Jennifer Garner, Tina Fey, Bob Odenkirk, Sophia Bush, Andy Richter, Jordan Schlansky, Jamie Dornan, Yeardley Smith, Arielle Vandenberg, and a reasonable toss-up between Cookie Monster and Kermit the Frog.
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Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Animal Control, Season 4
Summary
- In an interview with Collider, Animal Control star Vella Lovell says Emily Price is getting “messier this season,” as her secret relationship with Shred immediately starts affecting her work.
- Lovell explains that Emily’s people-pleasing instincts are colliding head-on with workplace ethics and vulnerability.
- Looking ahead, Lovell teases Season 4 builds toward an explosive cliffhanger, while also teasing another Community reunion, and a real-time parody of one of the greatest spy thriller series of the 21st century.
Four episodes into Animal Control Season 4, and the FOX sitcom is taking a slightly bolder swing than it has in the past. While Vella Lovell’s people-pleaser, Emily Price, is finally in a relationship with her coworker (and subordinate), Shred (Michael Rowland), she’s also paying for that secrecy almost immediately. Between showing up late to work, being emotionally frazzled, and absolutely distracted, the good-natured A.C. Northwest precinct director might say she’s fine on the surface, but Lovell tells Collider in an exclusive interview that she’s definitely getting “messier this season.”
As it goes, that secret Emily and Shred relationship is no longer cute and contained after the pair admitted their feelings to each other in Season 3. Instead, it’s all very visible yet shrouded, with that immediate hangover starting to leak into the precinct. Being the boss of everyone and managing their shenanigans is hard enough, so add a relationship into the mix? Lovell says Emily is absolutely “out of her depth” right now.
“She’s breaking rules because she’s a boss, and she wants to be the best boss, and she is already kind of circumventing her boss because she didn’t want to disappoint him, and she didn’t want to disappoint with the merger and everything,” she says. “I think she just wants the relationship to go so well, so she’s basically trying to control all these different aspects of it… [but] she's really out of control, probably for the first time that we’ve seen.”
In our conversation about Episode 4’s, “Lost Dogs and Bar Flies,” Lovell also digs into what those slip-ups mean, not just for her immediate relationship with Shred, but her friendship with Victoria (Grace Palmer). By the time Season 4 hits the back half, Lovell says those simmering conflicts stemming from workplace ethics start “coming to a head,” building toward what she promises is an explosive finale that 100 percent ends on a bigger cliffhanger compared to previous seasons. But not before another Community reunion gets logged in the books (not Ken Jeong!) and a real-time episodic parody of one of the greatest spy thrillers of the 21st century!
Lovell Explains How Emily Is Trying To Control the One Thing She Can't
Lovell says Emily’s people-pleasing turns controlling as she breaks rules for Shred, gets messy, and grows into a better boss.
COLLIDER: In Episode 3, Emily and Shred try to keep the relationship contained, but they run into Daisy at that diner, and it turns into an instant stress test between the two of them. It's very early on that they have their first quarrel in their relationship. What did that scene unlock for you about Emily's fear of being seen?
VELLA LOVELL: It was a really fun scene to shoot. Just in general, this whole season with Emily and Shred is really fun for us as actors, because we've been having all this tension, and I think Michael [Rowland] and I got really used to that dance, and so this was like new territory to play in, which was really fun. But it's also really fun to just see what their tension is. This is kind of their first fight, so that was really fun.
The fun thing about Emily is — I know what I love about her, but it's fun to find her flaws and the reasons why she can be difficult. Because she's a people pleaser, because she wants everyone to like her, because she wants everything to go well, the flip side of that is she can be passive-aggressive, controlling, and she can be micromanaging. So, in a lot of ways, she and Shred are very similar. They're both really positive. I feel like they're like puppies, kind of. But it was fun to see how they clash a little.
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Also, when that scene happened, for Emily, her brain started running into different things, like, “Why did you stay?” and the second-guessing, of course. What's the thing she's actually scared she’ll lose with that relationship, which is starting with such baby steps?
LOVELL: I think she's just terrified. She's doing something wrong. She's breaking rules because she's a boss, and she wants to be the best boss, and she already is kind of circumventing her boss because she didn't want to disappoint him, and she didn't want to disappoint with the merger and everything. So she's already kind of breaking all these rules. I think she just wants the relationship to go so well, so she's basically trying to control all these different aspects of it, with trying to make everything clean and trying to clean Shred’s car, and trying to control these situations because she's really out of control probably for the first time that we’ve seen, and she's out of her depth.
She is used to being the most competent person in the room and even the entire show. I think that makes her choices more complex to her identity, too, because she's coming from a place where we don't know so much about her past and how that informs who she is today. Do you think she's slowly realizing now that she can't control this relationship the way she controls everything else?
LOVELL: Yes. You grow to love these characters, and I really love that she's messier this season and that she's kind of unraveling a little bit, and she's doing something not correct, but also, it is correct. She's following her instincts, and she's starting a relationship that she really wants to be in. So, she's both getting messier, and I also think you're watching her become kind of my goal for Emily at the very beginning of Season 1, when I didn't even know if we were going to get a Season 2. In my mind, she's going from imposter syndrome to stepping into being a boss and is becoming a real leader. She's becoming a better leader than she's ever been.
It’s fun that we have Season 1 on Netflix now, so you can rewatch, which is fun. She's so insecure and doesn't want to step on any toes, and now, in Season 4, she's breaking rules, she's being messy, but she's also kind of a better leader. She's more confident being a leader. There's lots of room to grow, but I think you're seeing her be a better boss.
'Animal Control's Lovell on the "Trickle Effect" of Emily and Shred's Secret Getting Out
Lovell says the secret “spills out” fast, with Victoria as the first crack, forcing Emily to face vulnerability without breaking their friendship.
Image via Bettina Strauss / ©Fox / Courtesy Everett CollectionEpisode 4 shows the immediate hangover for Emily. She's late, she's more distracted, she's messy, she's over at Shred's house a lot more often. Was it important to you that the relationship now has a visible cost right away, like we're starting to see what's happening?
LOVELL: Yeah. Which I love that it's kind of a trickle effect of people finding out about it and the different levels of it. You're seeing how she's trying to protect it at the same time, because also, the audience has been going on this journey with Shred and Emily from Episode 1, where it's just so obvious they like each other, but this is the first time that they're admitting it to each other. So, that was really important to me, Michael, and the writers that we were really tracking their relationship and all the "first times." Also, it’s this little microcosm — their relationship — then it's spilling out into the office in this fun way. So, it was just fun that Grace [Palmer], Victoria, gets to be the first crack in that.
Speaking of that whole confrontation, when she confronted her, it looked like a gut punch. Obviously, the two of them reconcile, but do you think that made Emily feel a little bit more defensive or even ashamed that she couldn't trust Victoria? She knows she's doing something wrong, she didn't tell her best friend, and then she's like, “I can't tell anyone else, but Victoria knows, and that's it.”
LOVELL: Well, again, it's kind of her losing her grip. To Victoria, it's like, “Why didn't you tell me?” I think it's part of the fact that she's so out of her element. It feels like she's both doing something really right and really wrong. It's kind of hard when you show your friends that you're not perfect, especially if you're someone who's a perfectionist, and you're so worried about this image.
I just love Grace to death anyway, but I love that Victoria and Emily are kind of like Betty and Veronicas. They're such opposites. They're just total opposites, but they love each other. So, for Victoria, she's almost on the opposite journey, where she's becoming more wholesome. She's so used to breaking rules and being bad, and Emily is just not, and so it's like they're kind of switching. I think it's a real moment of vulnerability. It's hard to reveal to your friends that you've been messy, but you're not perfect, or whatever it is.
Obviously, Victoria, at the end of the day, is such a good friend and so open. There's that scene at the bar with them, which we just love filming the scenes with the girls. It's such a nice scene. They come to this great place of acceptance with each other.
That's what I love about this show. A lot of shows, and you've seen it — will pit the women against each other when something happens, and then the entire season they stretch it out until they don't like each other anymore. But that's not the thing. That's why I was hoping this wasn’t going to become a thing where there's residue. It’s important to have a show where the women have a healthy friendship where you can talk about these things.
LOVELL: Yeah, and there's conflict, too, which I like. I like that they don't also just say there's never conflict or that they're two peas in a pod because they're not. They’re very different people. They’re total opposites. But I think they ultimately just love each other and want to get past these things, and they need each other. They need that other reflection in their lives.
Lovell Says Templeton Is Now a "Total Threat" to Emily on 'Animal Control'
Templeton becomes an everyday presence as Emily gets more vulnerable and sloppier.
Image via FOXSpeaking of this season, Templeton, Gerry Dee, is back, and he is a regular now, and he's been hovering over Emily's job while she's dealing with all this stuff. Looking ahead, does this become a little bit of a dangerous situation because she's so vulnerable and not really watching out for herself because of that? Does it ever get to a moment where she stops playing nice with him because she needs to get herself back to who she is?
LOVELL: Definitely. And we're so lucky to have Gerry Dee. He's such a gem. Just on an actor note, he's a complete delight to act with. But yes, I think you are seeing, because of the merger, he is now just an everyday presence, and he's a total threat. And because Emily is sloppier than she's ever been in this relationship, she's totally at risk and totally vulnerable.
But you also get to see there are these flashes of Templeton being a human being, but then he is also a total villain, which is just a fun trope to play with. But yeah, it's definitely a precarious situation. Everyone's looking at Emily, and Emily's looking at Shred, and Templeton's looking at the job. So, you’ll start to see that, especially later in the season.
He also stalked Victoria. But Daisy defends him even when Victoria says otherwise. [Laughs]
LOVELL: It’s just so funny. Kyla [Pratt] is such an amazing addition to the cast. It’s so funny that she rides so hard for Templeton.
I know, she rides at dawn — she's one of those characters. You know, when the ensemble gets bigger, obviously, there are more comedic elements that you can play around with and push and pull. What's that like, having her there, especially after the moment she shares with Shred at the restaurant? Is there going to be a thing where Emily is not really into her? What's that dynamic going to be like?
LOVELL: It's so amazing, what you're saying. We do have this additional character to get to, like you said, pair off and do different dynamics. Kyla is just such a pro. It's very hard as a guest star to come in with that level of just, like, ready to go, knowing her character. But I don't think Emily and Daisy have a ton of one-on-one scenes. She has a really great episode with Joel [McHale] coming up and some fun stuff with Grace, and with Michael and Ravi [Patel] in an upcoming episode. But Emily and her are, I think, okay, for the most part.
She's such a fun energy to add to the group. It's an interesting dynamic because she's in Templeton's corner so much. It's a fun dynamic that he has a backup which he never really had before. It's been kind of him versus everyone. So, the allegiances are a little stronger because we kind of have these rival factions.
Lovell Says Season 4 Has "Two Pots Simmering" Before 'Animal Control's Explosive Finale
Emily’s romance and the merger collide, “coming to a head” in a finale “explosion” that ends on a cliffhanger.
Image via FoxAs the season moves forward, what can you tease becomes the bigger challenge for Emily? Is it keeping the relationship private or figuring out what that relationship even looks like inside that workplace hierarchy?
LOVELL: I think it's both. You kind of have two pots simmering at the same time, which is their relationship, and wanting to protect it and keep it secret. Then you also have this growing dynamic of the merger and Templeton gunning for Emily's job, and you have those things coming to a head. Then the last episode is kind of like an explosion of all of those things. I really love that we always have these season-long little arcs. So, this one is definitely Emily and Shred and their relationship, and then the merger.
By the end of the season, has she regained control, or are things going to end on a cliffhanger when we get to the inevitable end?
LOVELL: There's definitely a cliffhanger.
That's interesting. The last couple of seasons haven't had that. The last season we had a cliffhanger. It was when they kissed outside with the penguins watching them. [Laughs]
LOVELL: Right, which was like, “Where are we going to go with this?” But yeah, it definitely ends on a cliffhanger. I will say that.
Image via FOXWhat can you then tease about the remainder of Season 4, especially if we get to see Roman Park again? I feel like having him in two episodes was really fun. Is he in more episodes this season?
LOVELL: I can't remember if he's in more. That might be it. We have Ken, we have Thomas Lennon coming up, which is great. Josh Segarra comes back. Really, really fun episodes. Josh is so great, and we love when we all get to play as a big group. So, there are some group scenes coming up. Our guest star roster is just really so great. We’re so lucky. There are some really fun episodes coming up. There’s like a 24 — the show 24. We kind of have a 24 spoof episode coming up, which was maybe one of the most fun to shoot. Definitely, also, the finale is fun and exciting. So, there are some really fun little journeys.
Everyone's got something going on. Do you get to share more scenes this season with Joel? I feel like we haven't seen too much at the start.
LOVELL: Yes. Actually, in the 24 episode, we’ve got some more scenes. We also have Jim Rash from Community. He’s doing a guest star, so that's really fun. There's some really fun Emily/Frank things coming up because that is such a fun dynamic. Similarly to me and Joel, we have such opposite senses of humor. I'm so gullible, and he's so sarcastic, and that's kind of our characters, as well. It's a stupid, fun dynamic to play with. All the little pairings, like you're saying, are so fun.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Animal Control airs Thursday nights on FOX and is now streaming on Hulu.
Release Date February 16, 2023
Network FOX
Writers Dan Sterling, Tad Quill
English (US) ·