What’s going on with Season 18?

I know it feels like barely any time at all has passed since Season 17 aired its finale (especially given the amount of time we’ve had to wait between seasons for the past few), but Season 18 really is right around the corner! 

The writers room was set to come together in October, and although there have been no official/public confirmations of it existing (normally Rob, Charlie, and/or Glenn share at least a photo), I was able to get confirmation back in November from Mary Elizabeth Ellis that the writers room has indeed been under way. And at this point we should certainly hope so, since they allegedly start filming next week! 

We received that information a few months ago, when an auction to visit the set revealed that they would be filming by January 26 (which is a Monday, and presumably the day they begin), but it was initially revealed to us by Danny Devito right after Season 17’s finale aired. And other than those two (admittedly small) scraps of info, there has been no noise on production for Season 18 beginning...

In fact, I can’t find any public evidence of the show being ready for and entering production at all. It’s not listed on any production websites, and the WGA, weirdly enough, hasn’t updated their producer credits for the upcoming season. They normally do this within a few weeks (ahead or behind) of the writing process beginning, so it’s weird that, 3 months in and 1 week out from filming, Rob is still the only person listed for Season 18 (as Executive Producer, a credit that’s been present since Season 17 entered pre-production).

However, it does seem to at least exist (in a ghost form). Taking a look at the site a little closer, the absence of credited creatives for Season 18 seems to be more of a glitch (or hidden) than it is a fact. I noticed that if you click on a certain writer’s individual page (take, Charlie Day, for example), they will be listed as involved in Sunny through 2026, with a comma (,) in place of some sort of credit: 

So I took the liberty of clicking through each of our Season 17 producers (as well as a few from the past) and was able to compile a list of people who seem to be attached to the upcoming Season, deep in the recesses of the WGA website. They are as follows:

Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day, David Hornsby, Rob Rosell, Scott Marder, David Chernin, John Chernin, Ross Maloney, and Keyonna Taylor

This list seems pretty solid to me, however it's possible people will be added once script credits are submitted, so this isn't necessarily a final, all-encompassing list (and honestly I would take Scott Marder with a grain of salt, as he was also originally attached to Season 17 on the WGA before being removed prior to filming). 

But knowing Season 18 exists somewhere in the backrooms of the credit-side of the production world, we can at least assume things are happening behind the scenes, it’s just a wonder why we haven’t seen anything at all. Are things purposefully being kept under wraps? (Perhaps Rob feels guilty he accidentally spoiled the ending to Dog Track and has put everyone on lockdown, himself included, for this Season?) Or is everyone just sick of the internet in this day and age? (I’m less convinced of that being the reason, given the fact that RCG have all continued to post other interests to their Instagram accounts in the meantime, and most other productions are still being updated online). 

Perhaps, more importantly, could this silence be an indication of Sunny's run coming to and end with Season 18? (Do they want to keep everything fully private to avoid revealing they'll be ending with the end of this batch of Seasons? (In 2020 it was announced Sunny would run for 4 more seasons (15-18), and there has been no word since then on the show's continuation)). Or, is it the opposite? Could the delay in public credit posting actually be an indication that the show is working out a renewal deal? Wouldn't we expect RCG to share at least a photo from the final writers room if it really is the final writers room?

At this point, there's truly no way to know; everything falls in the grey zone of "unknown", but at least what we do know is that pre-production is well underway, and they're most certainly cooking up something good in there to pick up from where Season 17 left off.  And, despite the silence, we can only continue to operate under the assumption that those original dates we were given hold true, and filming begins next week. 

Which means we now have a real reason to keep our eyes peeled! On-location filming leaks, potential casting notices, crew members on the scene, maybe, hopefully, something from RCG, whatever the case may be, the series actively filming brings a much greater chance that we get a sneak peek at what's happening with Season 18. I’ll be sure to report right here if I see anything (be sure to check the Season 18 updates tab for everything we know!), and if you see anything, please make sure to share! (It might be the only thing we get, if this RCG lockdown continues!)