Don't expect Carmy and Sydney to cook up a romance on season two of The Bear

With one glimpse of a tattooed forearm, Jeremy Allen White’s tortured chef Carmy Berzatto became a sex symbol of the summer when The Bear dropped on Hulu last June. Naturally, many viewers were thinking that he might strike up a relationship with the ambitious Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), who hopes to make her own impression on the Berzatto family’s sandwich shop. However, in a new conversation with Variety, the team behind the acclaimed series says that romance isn’t anything The Bear plans to serve up.

“We wanted to make something that was about friendship and a partnership,” describes creator and co-showrunner Chris Storer. “It really is so funny that that is one of the things that people took away—of all the heavy shit that’s going on in the show! It was interesting because Ayo and Jeremy, since they are our friends and are such wonderful people, I think there is this charisma that comes off both of them… From the beginning, it was like, we should just show people being really good at their jobs and pushing each other. Selfishly, I hadn’t seen a show without a romantic plot and was like, that could be kind of cool and interesting.”

While The Bear is ostensibly a workplace comedy—albeit one that’s inspired by the frenetic energy of the Safdie brothers and largely about grief—Carmy and Sydney aren’t about to become the new Jim and Pam.

“I know there are people who are very invested in that, and I understand and I appreciate it, but it was not that for me,” Edebiri says.

The series has already been renewed for a second season, and Storer and co-showrunner Joanna Calo tell Variety that the story’s full arc has already been planned out. Whether or not that eventually puts romance on the table remains to be seen, but it’s clear that the characters’ personal growth comes first, particularly as Carmy continues to adjust to taking over his late brother’s business.

“I think, in this first season, he was far too fracted and had a lot of selfish thinking going on,” White says. “I think he wanted to be there for Sydney, but I don’t think he was capable.”

Season one of The Bear is streaming now on Hulu.