After 20 years and 17 seasons, it’s tough to imagine a world where “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” isn’t on television, but there was a point where one member of its reliable ensemble — which consists of Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Rob McElhenney (aka Rob Mac), Kaitlin Olson, and Danny DeVito — almost bowed out. At the July 1 PaleyLive 20th anniversary panel (via People), Howerton revealed that prior to the start of Season 12, which broadcast on FXX in 2017, he told the creative team, “Look, I just don’t want to wear out our welcome.”
“I was worried that maybe we had sort of peaked or something, and I just was like, you know, we’ve been doing this for a long time. And I think I was also anxious,” Howerton said. “I had not figured out yet how to stretch myself and be able to do other things that I wanted to do with my career outside of the show… I just hadn’t figured out how to do that yet. I was aching to do other things, and so I was starting to feel a little boxed in, frankly.”
The cast was insistent, saying that they did not want the show to end. He simply said, “Oh, well I can’t stop you.” “And then Seasons 13 and 14, I came back as an actor but I wasn’t in the writers’ room.”
Howerton had made appearances in many other series, including “The Mindy Project” and “Fargo,” but after he “figured out how to do that” — meaning juggle additional projects — he would take on such hefty assignments as the sitcom “A.P. Bio” and films like “The Hunt” and “Blackberry.” Meanwhile, “It’s Always Sunny” kept going, and so did he.
“[They] just kept writing it and kept writing him in,” McElhenney said, the show’s official creator. “And we’re like, he’s just gonna eventually say he’s coming back. That’s what happened.”
“It’s Always Sunny” will drop its first two episodes of its 17th season, which will contain eight episodes, on July 9. Its season premiere will include the highly-anticipated second part of a crossover event with fellow Philadelphia-set sitcom “Abbott Elementary.” An episode of that series with guest appearances from the entire “Sunny” cast aired on ABC in January.
Watch the Season 17 trailer below: