Posted in: FX, Hulu, Preview, streaming, TV, YouTube | Tagged: always sunny, bleeding cool, cable, Charlie, Charlie Day, danny devito, dee, dennis, frank, fx, fx on hulu, FXX, Glenn Howerton, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Kaitlin Olson, mac, Paddy's, rob mcelhenney, Season 15, streaming, television, tv

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Rob McElhenney's Return to Paddy's

When it comes to FXX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, we will readily admit that we have a soft spot in our hearts for Paddy's fivesome of Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson, Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, and Danny DeVito. That doesn't mean we won't call the show out when it needs to be called out, but with 14 seasons under its belt and a record-setting 15h on the way (and even more after that), it hits far, far more than it misses. Plus, we've been with the show since the first episode and rode along while it steadily became the best (and most under-appreciated) sitcom going. So we're pretty patient when it comes to The Gang getting back together for a new season and it doesn't take too much to make us happy. Case-in-point, McElhenney's Instagram Stories video got us fiending for an Always Sunny marathon when he showed us what he "found" not too far from where he was doing a photoshoot in downtown Los Angeles. Yup, the exterior to Paddy's pub. And if seeing McElhenney sanding basically in front of Paddy's wasn't good enough, it was what he said that actually reminded us that we do have the capacity to feel every now and then: "See you soon. Daddy's coming home. Soon."

While promoting the third season of A.P. Bio in the UK, Howerton explained to The Guardian how the series works to show the characters' flaws in a manner that shows them as they truly are, allowing the characters to be a target for satire because of them. "Certainly we've become a little bit more careful to make it clear that, while the characters can be misogynistic and racist and horrible, we the writers are not racist, misogynistic, and horrible people. If we were to do some of those episodes for the first time now, people would be like: 'Well, wait a minute, who are these people?' But people now know who we are, and they know that our intentions are actually to skewer this sort of behavior, not to celebrate it."

Bleeding Cool had the opportunity to ask Howerton about the upcoming 15th season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia during our one-on-one interview ahead of A.P. Bio Season 3 here stateside late last year. In the clip below, Howerton explains that the combination of pandemic-related delays and other projects that the cast is committed to (for example, the second season of McElhenney's Mythic Quest, Olson's upcoming Jean Smart-starring comedy, and the fourth season of A.P. Bio) has made it difficult to finalize a production ("at this point, it's more of a timing thing"). Though they may still be in the process of "trying to figure it out," Howerton expressed how excited and committed they are to a strong 15th run (saying "maybe even a sixteenth" at the time).

Heading into last summer, McElhenney revealed that writing was underway, though production timelines were in flux due to production shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. McElhenney was hopeful that they'll be able to "jump right into something new with 'Sunny'" soon. And he also made one thing clear: as long as the fans want it (and FX Networks wants to keep paying for it, which we now know they clearly do) then Paddy's will be keeping its doors open for some time to come. "How many years do I have on this planet? I'll do it forever. If people keep watching it and we keep having fun, why would we ever stop? It's my dream job. I never understand why people leave shows. I don't. I never understand that," McElhenney explained. "The show is what I dreamed of doing my entire life. I don't take it for granted. And if they keep paying me and the audience keeps watching it and I still love it… why would I ever stop?"

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