Peyton Manning says he was 'crushed' when his 'Emily in Paris' cameo crashed

Peyton Manning's love affair with "Emily in Paris" has not dimmed, even if a planned cameo on the Netflix comedy collapsed like a bad soufflé.

The five-time MVP quarterback, who extolled "Emily in Paris" in an  instant-classic "Weekend Update" skit on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" last January, was secretly slated to make an appearance for the upcoming third season of "Emily."

Star Lily Collins announced on Instagram in June that the third season filming had begun in the City of Light. Manning was camera-ready in Paris, but the gig fell through.

"I was crushed about that," Manning tells USA TODAY, saying he was "very disappointed that the cameo role they were planning for me never came together."

Peyton Manning gushes on 'SNL':About 'Emily in Paris'

Manning was visiting Paris for the first time in June with his wife, Ashley Thompson.

"I'd never been before and was set to do (a season 3 cameo)," says Manning, who found that the show's filming location  had changed to the lavender field-filled Provence region of France.  "All of a sudden we found out that the location was going to be in Provence as opposed to Paris." 

Manning couldn't stomach the travel: Provence is more than 400 miles to the southeast.

"I had this Paris vacation planned with my wife. I didn't really want to travel somewhere else to do this show that I wasn't already in," he says.

Au revoir, cameo!

A Netflix representative confirmed Manning's account of the scuttled cameo without further elaboration. 

Manning would have made a welcome addition after the January "SNL" skit, when he donned a red beret and insisted he had been watching "Emily in Paris" instead of that weekend's thrilling NFL playoff games.

Despite his expert football-themed analysis of Emily's love life, Manning says he had never watched the show before "SNL." 

"In fact, that was a prerequisite." The writers asked, "'What have you never seen before? Because that's why this is going to work. Speak about it like how you would talk about football'"

He gives props to "SNL" writers for the "extremely well-written" skit. Even "Weekend Update" host Colin Jost joined in with "a bunch of recommendations about Paris, because he spends time there."

"It was a fun bit, and it's been a fun connection ever since," says Manning, who was also "very disappointed" that "Emily in Paris" was shut out of the Emmy nominations.

"And I still hold out hope of being on the show," says Manning, who hosts NBC's "Capital One College Bowl," returning Sept. 9. "I've just got to find a way to Provence, I guess."

Manning also plans to bring Collins onto his Monday Night Football "ManningCast" with brother Eli Manning. "We'd love to have Emily as a guest on the show to reciprocate," he says. 

Collins clearly has the right stuff for the football broadcast, officially announcing Season 2 of the "ManningCast" with a hilarious video with Eli posted on her Instagram account Thursday.