After charming audiences as New York City comedian Lenny Bruce in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Luke Kirby returns this week as a new New York star: Jack McMillan, director of the (fictional) Metropolitan Ballet Theater.

Kirby’s protagonist leads Étoile, Prime Video’s ballet dramedy from Maisel co-creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino (the wife-husband team also made Gilmore Girls and Bunheads). In a last-ditch attempt to spark ticket sales, Jack agrees to trade his company’s biggest stars with France’s (also fictional) Le Ballet National, helmed by Charlotte Gainsbourg’s Genevieve Lavigne.

Étoile’s eight episodes are stuffed with whimsical characters, sharp humor and an impressive cast of real dancers and great ballet. Through it all, Jack and Genvieve’s fight to save their beloved art form becomes the show’s most central duet.

Below, Kirby talks to The Hollywood Reporter about returning to a Palladino set, stepping...