It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has been running 17 seasons strong when the new installment premieres very soon Wednesday, July 9, 2025 on FX! Since 2005, the raunchy and unruly gang has been making us laugh, and it seems like there's no stopping them even after all this time. However a few years back, one of the stars almost quit, believing the show had reached its peak.
I can't believe that on Aug. 4, Sunny will have reached its 20-year milestone. It's definitely no easy feat for any show. It's become the longest-running live-action American comedy of all time, which is amazing! Even so, 17 seasons and 20 years is a lot. During the series' two-decade celebrations at a panel, the cast, including Glenn Howerton were there. And that's when he expressed his worry about the series during seasons 12 and 13. Here's what he had to say, per Entertainment Weekly:
"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. 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 was aching to do other things and so I was starting to feel a little boxed in, frankly."
The actor noted that at the time, this had nothing to do with his appreciation for It's Always Sunny. That was still very much there. However, he did think about whether it was the right time to end the mature sitcom. His co-creators and co-stars, Charlie Day and Rob Mac didn't agree though, so they did indeed keep going.
If you remember at the end of season 12 in the finale, Howerton's character, Dennis, finds out that as a result of sleeping with a woman he'd met in North Dakota, the two have a child. When she comes to Philly looking for him, he eventually contemplates whether to be in his son's life or ignore being a father. Ultimately, Dennis decides to go to North Dakota. After a year, he comes back and decides he'll raise his son from a distance. Even so, this resulted in Howerton being in Sunny season 13 a bit less.
But he wasn't gone too much! Dennis was still in six out of the 10 episodes that season. Though Howerton did step away from writing duties to indeed focus on his exit and pursuing other acting opportunities. He did, ending up leading A.P. Bio for four seasons before the sitcom was cancelled.
However Howerton couldn't stay away from Sunny too long, especially after "having a lot of opinions" about the episodes his long-time friends and work partners were writing. He realized he needed to get back in. Thankfully he did, and it doesn't seem like the actor is going anywhere anytime soon. Him wanting to expand his acting roles and do something different is completely understandable. It's amazing to be on a long-running series, though sometimes you do need a change after doing the same thing for so long. So we definitely can't fault him for that.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia stars Howerton, Day, Mac, Kaitlin Olson, and Danny DeVito. Season 17 premieres with the next Abbott Elementary and It's Always Sunny crossover episode. Believe me as a member of the press who's got an early screening for it, it's a hoot!
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 premieres Wednesday, July 9, 2025 at 9 p.m. ET on FX.
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