‘Emily in Paris’ assistant director collapses, dies during filming of hit Netflix show

Diego Borella, an assistant director on the Netflix show “Emily in Paris,” has died.

The series was shooting in Venice at the Hotel Danieli when Borella, 47, reportedly collapsed in front of the crew.

Per La Repubblica, medics were unable to save him after showing up around 7 p.m. on Thursday. The outlet states Borella reportedly suffered a heart attack.

At the time, the show was shooting the final scene of Season 5.

Production on the last episode has allegedly been stopped. Originally, the shoot was set to wrap on Monday, Aug. 25.

Borella was reportedly on schedule to shoot the final scene before he collapsed.

The Post has reached out to Netflix for comment.

The Venice health service said, per The Independent, “Our ambulance arrived at 6:42 p.m. Medics made attempts to resuscitate him. But in the end all efforts proved fruitless. At around 7:30 p.m., he was pronounced deceased.”

Borella was born in Italy and worked in Rome, London and New York throughout his career.

Days before Borella’s death, Lily Collins, who stars as Emily Cooper, shared some behind-the-scenes shots from filming.

“Joy ride to and from work with the best…,” she captioned the pictures that included an image of her co-star Ashley Park.

All 10 episodes of Season 5 are set to debut on Netflix on December 18.

The fan-favorite series, created by Darren Star, follows Emily, an American marketing executive navigating her life in Paris.

However, new episodes will see the fashionista relocate from the French capital to Italy. The fifth season will be set in Rome and Venice.

The series first ventured into Rome during Season 4.

“It was so great to go from Paris to Rome because you’re still in Europe and you’re still feeling that romance and passion of Europe, but you’re getting to experience a different part of history which was really fun,” Collins, 36, told The Hollywood Reporter at last year’s premiere.

Netflix, meanwhile, shared a synopsis for the upcoming season earlier this week.

“Now the head of Agence Grateau Rome, Emily faces professional and romantic challenges as she adapts to life in a new city. But just as everything falls into place, a work idea backfires, and the fallout cascades into heartbreak and career setbacks.”

“Seeking stability, Emily leans into her French lifestyle, until a big secret threatens one of her closest relationships. Tackling conflict with honesty, Emily emerges with deeper connections, renewed clarity, and a readiness to embrace new possibilities,” the statement revealed.

The Netflix show also stars Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Lucas Bravo, Samuel Arnold, Bruno Gouery, William Abadie, Lucien Laviscount, Minnie Driver, Eugenio Franceschini, Thalia Besson, Arnaud Binard, Paul Forman, Bryan Greenberg and Michèle Laroque.

In October, Bravo, 37, hinted at being done with “Emily in Paris.”

According to the Times, the actor said in an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, that he was feeling finished with the show because “Life is short. It takes five months to shoot this series. Do I want to sacrifice them by telling something that does not stimulate me?”

Bravo added, “I do not want to be a part of a cog that does not tend to take the intelligence of viewers into consideration.”

However, the star did decide to reprise his role.

Bravo also told The Hollywood Reporter that he was hoping his character, Gabriel, would see some growth in season five.

“He made a few choices that made me kind of grow away from him,” admitted Bravo. “We were very much alike in season one, but now, I don’t really know. I think I feel like he needs to get his shit together.”

But the “Ticket to Paradise” alum isn’t the first person to criticize the storylines on the show.

In 2021, Brooklyn sports writer Greg Wyshynski told The Post, “Remember that scene in ‘Goodfellas’ where they slice the garlic with the razor so it just melts away in the pasta sauce? That’s how thin the characters, plots and stakes are for this television program.”

He continued, “No one learns. No one grows. Emily is less protagonist than a passenger in the back of a Parisian taxi … But it’s a good hate watch because it’s not aggressively bad or infuriating. It’s just pretty and it’s there.”

Jenny Marston, a London blogger, also told The Post, “It’s definitely quite problematic in parts, hugely stereotyped and highly unrealistic. Particularly in the way that Emily’s Internet fame took off almost literally overnight! All of these things are enough to make you inwardly cringe but because it was such a quirky, fun and light-hearted watch, that’s what kept people tuning in.”