The Bear Just Dropped a Secret Richie and Mikey Episode: What You Need to Know

Hulu just pulled a fast one: a surprise one-hour flashback episode tied to The Bear dropped ahead of season 5, and it is very much a Richie-and-Mikey hang. It is called 'Gary' — yes, that Gary — and it digs into the two cousins long before everything fell apart.

'COUSINS! PRIMOS! CUGINI!!! Get ready for GARY!!!! We are so excited to finally share this little adventure with Richie and Mikey,' Ebon Moss-Bachrach wrote on Instagram on Tuesday, May 5. 'Written by me and @jonnybernthal. Directed by the one Christopher Storer. Making this was a dream come true. Thanks to the beautiful people of Gary, Indiana and as always Chicago, Illinois.'

What 'Gary' actually is

Set when Jon Bernthal 's Mikey is still alive, 'Gary' is a proper flashback centered on his messy, ride-or-die bond with Ebon Moss-Bachrach's Richie. The point here is context: it peels back where Mikey’s head was at before his death and, in the process, explains a lot about why Richie is the way he is when we meet him in season 1. The episode plays like an emotional reframing of their story from the jump.

The title is also a wink at where they shot it: Gary, Indiana.

Quick facts

• Format: A standalone, one-hour special listed on Hulu as 'Gary' (not tucked inside The Bear season feed).
• Creative: Written by Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Jon Bernthal; directed by series creator Christopher Storer.
• Who is in it: Moss-Bachrach (Richie), Bernthal (Mikey), with guest turns from Gillian Jacobs and Marin Ireland, among others.
• Where this fits: Prequel timeline for most of the runtime, with a tag that jumps to the present.

How it connects to season 5

Without over-explaining: while Richie is lost in memories of Mikey — including a road trip they took before Mikey died — we cut to present-day Richie driving in the rain. Someone behind him leans on the horn, he pulls off, and then there is a jolt of a moment that looks like a potentially dangerous car crash. It is a sharp pivot from nostalgia to real-time stakes, and it clearly tees up where season 5 plans to start pushing on Richie.

Refresher: where The Bear left off

The series started in 2022 with Jeremy Allen White as Carmy, a fine-dining prodigy who came home to Chicago after his brother Mikey’s death to run the family sandwich shop, The Beef. He and the crew eventually shut it down and rebuilt the whole thing as The Bear. 'Gary' folds back into that history by showing what Carmy’s absence and Mikey’s mindset looked like from Richie’s passenger seat.

So... is season 5 the end?

Season 5 is widely expected to be the finale. A cast member has said publicly that the show wraps after this one, and Jamie Lee Curtis — who plays Donna — didn’t exactly tamp down the chatter when she posted from set in February: 'FINISHED STRONG!... completing the story of this extraordinary family that we have all fallen in love with.' She also mentioned she got to finish it out with her onscreen daughter, Abby Elliott, which only fueled the last-season talk.

When does it return?

FX has not stamped an official date yet, but the show is expected back in June.

Bottom line: 'Gary' is a stealth prelude with real narrative weight — a character study that also sneaks in a present-day gut punch. If you care about Richie and Mikey (and who doesn’t at this point), it is essential viewing before the final plate is served.