Season 17 Captures “Some Sort of Weird Magic”

New York City. On a Thursday. 

Glenn’s in New York again (this time for the premiere of his new Netflix show, Sirens) and, as he is wont to do, ended up bartending in Manhattan during his free time to promote his whiskey, Four Walls — so of course we were on the scene. 

The bars were packed and loud (keep this in mind.. it was hard to hear each other), but I did manage to get a few Sunny 17-related questions to Glenn, and while he was all for letting me ask, whether or not he would answer was another story…

To set some level of understanding, I first asked if he was aware all of the episode titles for Season 17 had leaked, and he confirmed he was.. and so begins the questioning:

My first question, which I was all but sure he would answer, was “What was your favorite episode to shoot this season?” Which was met with a resounding “Pass” from Glenn…Explaining “I don’t want to bias you.” (Boldly assuming whichever was his favorite would sway my opinion…really no such possibility of that happening (though it certainly would have had me reading more into a particular episode right here, so touché, Glenn).)

So to counter his lack of a response on that question, I pitched: “What do you think the fan-favorite episode is going to be?” Glenn didn’t hit me with another pass, in fact, he thought about it for a few seconds, and told us, “I’m not kidding, every episode is a banger.” (Which could seem like a cop out answer, however I would confidently make that claim about Seasons 5, 8, 10, and arguably 12, and I’m sure you could find a Sunny fan who would point to any of the other seasons in the same fashion.) 

And because Glenn said every episode is a banger and I like to talk without a lot of thought ahead of myself, I told him with that information and from what we know of Season 17 so far, it seems reminiscent of Season 8. Glenn was understandably a little confused by what I was leading toward there and responded, “Maybe. We captured some sort of weird magic, though, this year, for sure.” And, to me, that’s an even better claim than the former. 

Switching to some character questions, the first thing in my head was the one thing that’s been haunting us since filming wrapped — why did Charlie shave his beard a week before they wrapped? A friend of mine had asked this question to Glenn a few months ago and reported that he said he “wasn’t aware that Charlie had shaved.” Of course, this claim makes no sense because there is a photo the day before they wrapped of Glenn and beardless Charlie together, so I had to ask him again: “Is that related to an episode?” His response? “Maybe.” With a very cheeky grin… (So again not giving away anything, but there’s hints of confirmation that beardless Charlie Kelly will be a thing, I do believe.)

And because my first two questions asking Glenn about favorites of the season went so well, I thought I would ask a third: What was his favorite team-up for Dennis this season? And, as you may have predicted, he did not give me a straight answer. Though, he did offer a nice explanation for not having one: “It’s like what do you like better, steak or french fries? They’re just two totally different foods, you know?” he offered as a metaphor for how all of his co-stars are fun to work with in different ways. (I was trying to ask about Dennis, but I get why he would default to thinking I was asking him as an actor working with the other cast members here.) I threw out “both of them together, right?” in response to his question and followed up to ask if there was a Charlie, Mac, and Dennis plot with the three of them this year. He confirmed there was, and it’s not The Gang Goes to a Dog Track. (We actually do already have proof that Frank is in a Coma is a CharMacDen episode.. that’s a bad fumble on me, but I’ll blame the whiskey.) 

My two final questions of this interview were specific episode-related:

The first was something I haven’t been about to place to an episode on my spreadsheet: What episode did they shoot in the Malibu Canyons for? Unfortunately, Glenn genuinely didn’t seem to know the answer to that one, “I don’t remember even shooting in the Malibu Canyons.” Which, may be true. I am 99.9% confident that it was for Sunny (I mean, we have filming signs and multiple crew member posts), but it might not have been a Dennis-related plot or anything majorly significant to the episode it’s in…only time will tell!

The second was about The Golden Bachelor Live! Clearly not a unique IP based on its title, Glenn confirmed that the episode is indeed “an episode of the Golden Bachelor.” And is the second of the “out of pattern” episodes Charlie mentioned in a prior interview (the first being Abbott). I almost got something out of him there, but he stopped himself before he gave anything away…

Okay, so did I get any new information out of this conversation? No, not really, but I think the vibes are certainly promising. Glenn wasn’t in the writers room for the majority of the Season, but with his confident claim about every episode and the knowledge that Charlie Day was on all but one script (the exclusion being a Chernin Brothers script), his praise of the Season has certainly affirmed my expectations (they were already confidently high, I admit), he’s clearly just reluctant to hand over any spoilers (which is more than fair).

..But that’s not quite all, because we did get to talk to him a little later in the night and, while the conversation was a little more open-ended and a lot drunker, there were a few Sunny-related things that came up: 

Following some big cameos from last year (Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul) we asked Glenn about any other potential cameos in the show. He said they tend to shy away from having big names on the show, because it “takes you out of it” and he thinks it’s more fun to cast actors who are not well known (which is a truly great answer, imo). 

And I’ll end this by tapering expectations for some, because there’s certain speculation that’s been floating around since 2023’s Dublin live show for The Always Sunny Podcast that Hugh Honey and Vic Vinegar, Dennis and Mac’s realtor aliases, might make a return… With a confirmed “Mac and Dennis” team-up episode on the horizon, I couldn’t help but throw out this speculation to Glenn. I reminded him of what they said in Dublin and asked, “Are we going to see them back?” Unfortunately, Glenn reported that they don’t have anything planned, ruling out the fan-theory that the aliases might be used in Mac and Dennis Become EMTs. But, for some small sense of hope, he did follow up with “That would be fun, we should.” So, you never know what Season 18 could bring!

As always, a Glenn bartending night did not disappoint. There were very many shots of his whiskey that is way too easy to get drunk on (I say that with a full endorsement), and he made sure to give everyone who wanted to meet him (or even carry on a 3 minute long conversation about bird law with him) the time of day. Even the evasive, somewhat non-answers to our questions are incredibly appreciated, because it’s clear this season is going to be one for the history books (and not just because of the longevity). 

Until next time (which could be soon…)

- Seth

Hey! Did you know the blog has business cards now? Glenn does!