[Editor’s note: The following interview contains spoilers for the first four episodes of Barry Season 3.]From co-creatorsBill HaderandAlec Berg, the HBO dark comedy seriesBarryis currently in its eight-episode third season, as Barry (Hader) would prefer to focus entirely on acting but instead keeps getting drawn back into the violent world of contract killing. While trying to be a supportive boyfriend to Sally (Sarah Goldberg), who’s getting her own TV series off the ground, and give a helping hand to his acting teacher Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler), who he’s feeling some well-placed guilt about, Barry can’t seem to stop being drawn back into the orbit of NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan), which complicates everything.
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Winkler talked about how his work onBarryis the most intense work he’s done in his long acting career, the importance of the show’s no asshole policy, the insane journey his character is on this season, establishing the “I love you” scene, what it was like to be thrown into the trunk of a car, collaborating with Hader, and how the rest of the season is like being on a roller coaster that’s never been built before.
Collider: If the first four episodes of the season are any indication, Season 3 is going to be a wild one. What are you most excited about fans getting to see with this season?
HENRY WINKLER: I will tell you, hands down, the honest truth, my career started on July 21, 2025, with the Yale Repertory Theater, and from then until now, this is the most intense work I have ever done in my entire career, in any genre. There is a scene coming, and I can’t tell you what it was, but it was done all in one shot that I cannot believe my acting partner and I accomplished.
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If you tried to explain the show to someone, it sounds kind of insane. And yet, watching everybody together, the scenes and the work everyone is doing, it’s such great work.
WINKLER: Yeah, and you know what? Alec [Berg] and Bill [Hader] and Aida [Rodgers] have a policy. Anybody who works on that soundstage cannot be an asshole.
That’s always a good policy to have.
WINKLER: Yeah, it’s true. And they kept their word. Everybody is supportive. There’s this wonderful dolly grip, Mary [Faucette], and she has a little screen behind the dolly, so she can see where to move. And you know you’ve done a good job when Mary watches it and then taps the screen because she’s saying, “That’s it. That’s the one they’re gonna go with.” They say, “We’re moving on,” and Mary was right. I’m telling you, it’s like getting a gold star, every time.
You’re someone who’s been in this business, and you’ve worked as a working actor for a long time. Are you surprised that, this far into your career, you still come across a project this special and meaningful for you?
WINKLER: Yes. I am surprised. I am grateful. I define the word. If you look it up in the dictionary, it will say, “How Henry feels about his family and Barry.”
This is quite an interesting season for your character, especially knowing what Barry did. What was your reaction to learning about how that would play out this season, and how does that change the way he views Barry?
WINKLER: I am bereft that I finally figured out how to love somebody, and that person is gone. I am angry that I finally figured out how to love somebody, and now I know who made her be gone. I have wild revenge and I have no idea how to carry it out. Sometimes I am so scared that I have to change my shorts, and sometimes I am, “Fuck you. Here I am. So what?” And it’s all in the same moment. It’s an insane journey. I just put on my safety belt and throw caution to the wind.
I have to say that your line reading when Cousineau says, “I love you, Barry,” is one of the best metaphorical deliveries of, “Fuck you,” that I’ve seen on TV in a long time. You can really sense every emotion that your character is going through, in that moment. What was that like to do and figure out?
WINKLER: I’ll tell you how that scene was built for me. When I walk in, and I turn around, not only is he in my house, not only is my son offering him tea, but he’s got his arm around my grandson, and I was instantly terrified. They way they shot it, they cut it kind of close. I slide down the back arm of the sofa to be as far away from this man because I’m thinking he could be like a Marvel character and put his finger up, and I would disintegrate. And then, he says, “I love you, Mr. Cousineau. Do you love me? Say it again. I feel it now.” This is a man that I love. This is Bill, my friend, my leader, my acting partner, and he looked me in the eye, and he said, “Say it again.”
I’ve never been so terrified by somebody just tapping the cushion on the couch to get someone to sit down.
WINKLER: I’m telling you, I don’t know that I could have done that, just a few years ago. It took everything that I have done, since the beginning, and it brought me here. I was able to absorb the terror and keep it, take after take, angle after angle, size after size of the lens. We didn’t do it just once. And especially with Bill, because he’s so specific, you do it a few times.
Could you ever have imagined, at this point in your career, that you would play a character that has to be kidnapped and thrown in a trunk?
WINKLER: No, I could never imagine it. I only hoped it. I dreamt, when I was seven, that I would have a career that would not end, until I couldn’t do it anymore. And now I’m in the trunk and I needed Dramamine. I got carsick. I remember when they closed it. You do the scene, and then they open the trunk, but you’re in there for a millennium.
I love that we get to see a moment of Cousineau when he’s on set and acting in a scene, and his own feelings and his own life come out in the moment of the scene that aren’t planned. Have you ever had a moment like this guy, in your own career, where you did something off script and in the moment, and they loved it and wanted you back for more?
WINKLER: I’ve never had that. I have had where I’m able to contain my feeling and keep it professional while inside my brain is rolling its eyes. I’ve never had it where I did something like that, and I got to come back. I am very fortunate. I went in for two episodes onArrested Development, and I spent five years there.Parks and Rec, I was hired for one episode, and I came back for a few years. In that way, I feel blessed.
We also get to see a bit of your character’s home life, and we get to see him with his son and his grandson. What did you enjoy about that relationship? How does that affect things for you, this season?
WINKLER: You know what? It was lovely, but it was also colored by the fact that, in those scenes, I’m filled with terror, trying to figure out how to take care of these two and not wanting that responsibility, but needing to be responsible. I had all of that, so it was not fun family dinners.
How has it been to work and collaborate with Bill Hader on this show? You’ve worked and collaborated with a lot of people, over the years. What’s it like to work alongside someone who’s not just your scene partner and your co-star, but he’s so creatively involved and he’s directing episodes?
WINKLER: I’ve enjoyed that before, and I’ll tell you what they all have in common. They have incredible vision, incredible talent to create that vision, and respect. Everybody that I’ve worked with was loving, whether it was Garry Marshall, Jerry Paris and the actors ofHappy Days, who are still my family, orArrested Developmentand Mitch Horowitz, orParks and Rec, the cast and Michael Schur. All of them were incredibly thoughtful and respectful, and not just to me. It was just who they are.
There’s that moment where Barry tells Cousineau that his family is safe, but nobody ever really totally feels safe on this show. What can you say to tease what’s to come for the second half of the season?
WINKLER: It’s like a roller coaster that’s never been built before. I’m not joking. It was mind-blowing to me, and you never see it coming. I did not see it coming, as I read each script, and then each revision. I’m a very fortunate fellow.
How many times did you ask whether you’d make it to Season 4?
WINKLER: I ask that question at the beginning of every season. I say to Bill, “Okay, before we talk about anything, am I still alive? Will I make it through all eight episodes?” He goes, “Yeah, okay.” I said, “Oh, fine. Then, I’ll do anything you want. What are we talking about?”
Barryairs on Sunday nights on HBO and is available to stream at HBO Max.
