Glen Howerton has effectively answered any rumors about Dennis being on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia by stating that of course he will be there. During the last part of season twelve people were flipping out about Dennis leaving since he’d announced that he was moving way in order to with his estranged son. This relocation would take him all the way to North Dakota, more than just a quick trip around the block and obviously a big, life-changing event. For fans of the show this would have been a catastrophe in the making, though really it isn’t something that Howerton feels is really worth the concern.
He’s been reportedly working on a new NBC show, A.P. Bio, but has still managed to stick with Sunny while attempting to figure out just what’s going to happen to his character. Howerton has admitted that they’ve been wanting to mix things up a bit rather than let the show grow stale, but this seems like it might send some fans into a meltdown if they tried it on a permanent basis. It would almost be like breaking up the cast of The Office or NCIS in a way, people have gotten used to these characters and want to keep them around for as long as possible. But the trick there is that the longer those characters are kept the less real development they become capable of as the seasons progress. Coming into its thirteenth season Sunny has managed to keep peoples’ interest throughout the years by doing anything and everything it can to remain interesting. The problem unfortunately is that no matter what kind of story arc or character development gets used, it’s still the same show. People eventually want variety and they want to see something different.
What that might mean is that Dennis moving away could be a new chapter in the show that simply need to happen. Think of Two and Half Men when Charlie Sheen left and Ashton Kutcher came in, it wasn’t as big of a hit but it still limped along for a while as people started to get used to it. That show isn’t the archetype for such a dilemma but it is a decent example of what can happen when one character that everyone loves up and leaves. Sometimes it’s just necessary to shake up a well-established group so that they can all grow in different directions rather than allowing them to stagnate and do nothing. Some people would obviously disagree with this as they would likely state that a group grows together or fails together. But if the show can lose one character and keep going it would be able to introduce a new arc for just about everyone that would make it that much better if it were handled correctly.
Using NCIS as an example, Sasha Alexander was a favorite for a while, but her character was killed off during an episode and had to be replaced. Cote de Pablo came in as Zeeva and people resisted her at first but came to love her eventually. Then Zeeva was killed and Bishop came in, and eventually even the great Tony DiNozzo left, and then Abby Sciuto, a favorite of just about everyone, up and left. The show still went on.
I think that Sunny can survive the loss of Howerton if it ever happens.
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