For Lily Collins and Ashley Park, it was love at first sight. 

The Emily in Paris co-stars (and now best friends) had some mutual acquaintances, but the two hadn’t actually met until their first table read for Darren Star’s Netflix comedy back in 2019. “We were facing away from each other, and we both turned and looked and were like, ‘Oh my God, you!’ ” says Collins, now sitting next to Park in Paris, of course, at the Hôtel Plaza Athénée, for the Tudum shoot.

The two talk like lifelong friends now, tripping over themselves to sing the other’s praises and  recalling shared moments with laughter. Even after that very first table read wrapped, other members of the cast and crew approached the duo to inquire how long they’d known one another. The answer, Park laughs, was “like, ‘literally, 45 minutes.’” She’d started following Collins on Instagram after the Met Gala earlier that year, she says, but admits she was nervous to be introduced to her back then. “But,” she says, “it was very easy. She was so grounded, wonderful and warm, too.” Indeed, their instant attraction was so apparent that one onlooker even described the moment as “two magnets going zoom,” says Park, extending her hands and rushing them together to demonstrate their gravitation. The greatest blessing of this show — and it has afforded us so, so much — has been this friendship.”

The initial zoom of their off-screen relationship mirrored their characters’ bonding in many ways — though at times in reverse. In Emily in Paris, Collins plays the titular character, a fish-out-of-water marketing whiz whose Chicago-based firm sends her to their French acquisition to provide an American point of view. Soon after arriving, an overwhelmed Emily bumps into Mindy (Park), also an expat and a nanny who’s lived in Paris for some time. Mindy takes the newcomer under her wing, helping her sidestep a French faux pas or two. Off screen, however, Collins and Park found themselves in opposite roles. “It was my first time in Paris,” explains Park. “I was alone here; I knew nobody and the table read was our first day of work. I was like, ‘What’s even happening? I have no idea what’s going on.’ And Lily was like, swoop — exactly what Mindy does for Emily in the first season.”

33 Unforgettable Outfits From 'Emily in Paris' Season 3Ooh lala! Feast your eyes on these chic looks.

Collins also had more experience in the industry, so she was able to guide Park in certain aspects of work. But for Collins, it was Park’s fresh take on, well, everything that was enlightening. “[Her] excitement for the newness of things helps show me different sides to things,” says Collins. “[She] also shows me a realism that I need to see sometimes. There’s this constant conversation where we equal each other out, and then that adds to the friendship and helps illuminate things in a different way.”

When Emily premiered in October 2020, months after the onset of the pandemic, the show became an instant hit, as stuck-at-home viewers drank in its escapism and charm as eagerly as a glass of crisp Sancerre on a summer day. For the cast, that meant being catapulted into a whirlwind of online hype and scrutiny, while still unable to go out into the world and experience its success in person — a potentially isolating experience, Park says, throughout which Collins has been a “great guide and big sister” to her. “This is such a snow globe,” agrees Collins. “It’s this beautiful experience that just constantly gets shaken up. To have someone so grounding be with you to experience it all — the good, the frustrating, the trying — is such an unexpected gift.”

Heading into Season 3, Emily and Mindy are as tight as ever, but with new challenges (read: men) entering the scene, they find their friendship tested in new ways. “It’s relatable to anyone who’s experienced that feeling of being caught in the middle or being pulled away from someone that you love, and the idea that you don’t have to second-guess somebody when you love and trust them that much,” says Collins of one of their shared Season 3 arcs. When Collins and Park first read the storyline, they wanted to make sure the moment of tension between the two friends came from a “grounded, genuine, real place,” and didn’t just feel like a manufactured storyline. But as the besties got into the material, one scene in particular left them feeling “icky.” In fact, when Park watched it back for the first time, she got goose bumps. “We’ve never spoken to each other like that before,” she says of a passive-aggressive moment between Emily and Mindy. “We’re very warm and honest; it was so weird.” But then, the on-screen friendship not always being en rose is what makes it authentic. “At a certain point people are like, ‘Oh, this friendship is untouchable,’” Park continues. “But actually challenging each other — calling each other out and then being there for each other and getting past those little humps — is what really strengthens it.”

While it appears the twosome haven’t had to get past any boyfriend-bestie humps in real life, their friendship has seen some relationship updates — including Collins’ marriage to film director Charlie McDowell in September 2021. “We’ve changed immensely,” says Park, who sang at the couple’s nuptials and is currently sipping out of a travel mug she got at the venue (Dunton Hot Springs in Colorado). But there were no third wheel concerns — despite all three “essentially living together” during the four months they were filming Season 3. “We lived in the same apartment building,” explains Collins, adding she and Park would drive or scooter home together after work. “Ashley would come over. We’d play Mario Kart in our PJs and vent and laugh about things, have dinner, go over lines and then be like, ‘OK, see you tomorrow!’”

On the show, their characters share an apartment — and seemingly a bed, ever since Mindy moved into Emily’s one-bed, no pull-out couch chambre de bonne at the end of Season 1. “I really never thought about it until this season when we were both at one point using the bed, and I was like, ‘Oh, where would I go?’ ” says Collins, laughing. “We avoid the storyline.” Since both girls have boyfriends, there’s also the question of clean sheets, especially since, as Park points out, “laundry’s hard to do in France!” 

Whether they’re sharing sheets or a bottle of rosé after a tough day at work, Emily and Mindy’s friendship works because they show up for each other — whether that’s a callout for cutting trauma bangs (look out for Emily’s new do in Season 3’s premiere) or help navigating a love triangle (every season so far). And the same is true off-camera. “We empower one another to stand up for ourselves in ways that I don’t think we necessarily knew we could,” says Collins. Agrees Park, “Something I really value in our friendship is we support each other’s individual journey of figuring out the woman, the person, the adult and the artist that we are. I’m really proud of the heart that [Lily] infuses in leading this show.”

And now, for a local delicacy: “This is going to sound cheesy,” says Collins, putting a hand on Park’s arm affectionately, “but you can meet soulmates that are a romance or you can meet friends that are soulmates.” 

They don’t call it the City of Love for nothing.