Though most TV comedies dependably put out new seasons around the same time each year, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia can't be held down to anyone else's ideals. The FXX comedy faced a bit of a setback a couple of years ago when star Glenn Howerton opted to take a lead role on NBC's A.P. Bio, but less than a week after NBC cancelled the high school comedy, it appears as if It's Always Sunny's Dennis Reynolds status quo is back in effect.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia fans can now rejoice while knowing that the show can once again boast its core development duo of Rob McElhenney and Glenn Howerton, along with Mr. Kitten MIttens himself, Charlie Day. Check out McElhenney's social media post below that clued everyone in on Howerton's recent whereabouts.
Though Rob McElhenney joked about the trio not being able to take a good pic, I think most would agree this is a great example of "quantity (of It's Always Sunny creatives) over quality (of how they actually look in the pic)." Season 14! Season 14!
Glenn Howerton shared his own pic along with the general implication that the new season will be able to go into production as soon as the writing process is completed.
It's worth noting here that Charlie Day shared the same pic as Howerton's, but with a different filter on it. Also worth noting is FXX's comment: "A bodyguard, a bird lawyer and a golden god walk into a writers’ room..."
Rob McElhenney, who blew my mind in the Season 13 finale, first shared a Season 14 update around six weeks ago, saying the writing process was underway. It's unknown how much of the writers room process is left to take on, so it's hard to gauge when It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia might make its way back to FXX for Season 14.
There were hopes that someone might swoop in to save A.P. Bio from being forever-cancelled However, that news hasn't come yet, and each day that passes seemingly makes it less likely to happen.
While I'm as overjoyed as ever that It's Always Sunny will be making a Dennis-infused return to viewers in the near-ish future, it obviously sucks that it comes at the expense of A.P. Bio. The latter show's viewership and demo rating weren't so wonderful, and even though many might argue that it was really finding its comedic groove in Season 2, NBC purged its schedule of several different half-hour comedies already this year that were doing better than A.P. Bio was.
CinemaBlend spoke with Glenn Howerton at an NBC press event earlier this year, where he was coasting along good-naturedly while clearly comfortable working on something other than It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Howerton talked about not feeling as much stress working on A.P. Bio, and the quote below is all the more saddening given its cancellation.
I've never felt any pressure at all, and I don't know why. I think, for one, I've never had anything but total support from everybody in my life who I care about, from my wife to my parents to Rob, Charlie, Kaitlin and Danny, who have supported every aspect of this.I needed to take a little bit of a step back from Sunny, because I needed to do other things creatively, and they were never – I mean, they were sad to see me go, as I wasn't as involved in the writing process last year on Sunny – but they've never been anything but totally supportive of that process. The entire process of doing Sunny was the three of us – me, Rob and Charlie – from the beginning, all the way through Season 13, always doing what we thought was funny. And after 13 years of doing that, and knowing that there's a certain segment of the population that agrees that what I think is funny is funny, I just kinda trust my instincts now.
For now, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's future is a lot brighter, with Season 14 likely coming in early 2020, unless miracles occur and we get it for Christmas. Might we also get a "Return of Fat Mac," complete with Mack Morrison?
