The end of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s 12th season left Paddy’s Pub in a dark, unsure place. Glenn Howerton’s Dennis decided to man up and move to Nebraska to be a true father to his son, Brian Jr, knocking the Gang’s numbers down to four. Ever since, speculation has abounded about whether or not Howerton would actually return to the FXX show for season 13. Charlie Day said he expected Dennis back, but now we have confirmation straight from the horse’s mouth.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Howerton put it bluntly: “I would like to dispel any rumors that I left It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia to do A.P. Bio. They are two completely different projects,” he said, referring to his new show at NBC.
He continued, “We’re currently discussing what we want to do next season, but we haven’t started the writers’ room yet. So I haven’t left It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The conversation really should be about what’s going to happen with Dennis, not what’s going to happen with me, and that’s something we don’t have an answer to yet.”
(Read: The Downward Spiral of It’s Always Sunny’s Dennis Reynolds)
Spectators thought A.P. Bio, which debuts on NBC February 1st, would keep Howerton from being a full-time cast member on It’s Always Sunny. But Day is able to have a fulfilling film career and Kaitlin Olson headlines The Mick on Fox, so why can’t Howerton hold down two jobs, too?
Still, the decision to move Dennis out of Philly was in part to free Howerton up for more work. According to him, though, it was also a creative choice. “After 12 years, we’re trying to mix things up,” he said. “We put the characters through things that will actually affect the rest of their lives, by Mac finally coming out of the closet and by having Dennis leave at the end of season 12. So it was a creative decision.. and it also potentially afforded me the opportunity to free myself up to do some other work.”
Just as A.P. Bio premieres, the Sunny crew will be re-entering the writer’s room. The goal is to have season 13 of the FXX series back on air this fall.
