Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini.Photo: Leon Bennett/Getty Images
Linda Cardellinicelebrated the premiere ofDead to Meseason 3 Tuesday night without co-leadChristina Applegate.
Though costarsJames Marsden,Diana Maria Riva,Natalie Moralesand Brandon Scott were on hand, Applegate, 50, didn’t make it out amid her publicstruggle with multiple sclerosis— but her colleagues' support shined through.
While on thered carpetahead of the premiere at the Tudum Theater in Los Angeles, Cardellini, 47, discussed Applegate’s perseverance and decision to continue filming after her MS diagnosis — but said she “had every right” not to.
“All of us were okay if she didn’t want to come back [but] she chose to come back, and I think that’s who she is: She wanted to finish it,” theBloodlinestar tells PEOPLE. “So I just wanted to be there with her to finish it and for us to both be able to lean on each other in anything that we needed.”
Although the hitNetflixoriginal show will unfortunately be coming to an end after three seasons, Cardellini says it concludes on a high note.
“There’s a line in the last season where I look at Christina and I say, ‘I’ve had the best time,’ and then I say, “No, I’ve had the best time with you.' And I think that really does sum up my feeling about this show,” she explains. “I have had the best time and I have had the best time with Christina, and it’s very emotional because we love each other so much.”
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Linda Cardellini.Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock
TheEmmywinner plays Judy Hale onDead to Me, which kicked off in 2019 with the storyline of two grieving widows befriending and leaning on each other after meeting in therapy. Applegate’s Jen Harding loses her husband in a hit-and-run, and grieves the loss of her mother who died from breast cancer.
Applegate, a real-lifebreast-cancersurvivor, beat the disease in 2008. Then last year, she announced her MS condition, which is adegenerative autoimmune disease.
“As one of my friends that has MS said ‘we wake up and take the indicated action’. And that’s what I do,” the Emmy winner wrote inanother tweet.
During her first appearance since her announcement, theMarried with Childrenalum delivered anemotional speech on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, where the cast received a star on Monday. Cardellini was on hand to support her friend during the teary milestone.
Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini.Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Netflix
Grateful to have been at the “center of the show” with Applegate, Cardellini commends the rest of the cast “who have given their hearts and souls” for four years.
Dead to Meseason 3 begins streaming Thursday on Netflix.
source: people.com
