Shalhoub told Variety how Kamel's life and death affected the onyesha and staff:


The loss of Stanley Kamel was so sudden and shocking, it caught all of us really off guard, and happened just at the time we were about to begin the season. Stanley made such an enormous contribution to the whole thing; he was there right from the pilot and helped ... to define my character. So the loss of Stanley is hard, but I have to say he left ... me with this amazing gift, really, a lesson: ... He's one of those rare actors today that didn't have an ounce of cynicism about the business. He's not so jaded like...