Big screen dream for hit show
Co-creator Dan Levy says he would consider a “Schitt’s Creek” movie
PASADENA, CALIF.—For “Schitt’s Creek” fans already dreading the end of the series, which began its sixth and final season on Jan. 7 on CBC, there is a glimmer of hope.
Series co-creator Daniel Levy says he would consider doing a “Schitt’s Creek” movie.
Levy told members of the Television Critics Association at a panel for U.S. network Pop TV that the time was right to end the series because “you have to respect the viewer who has tuned in for 80 episodes of your show.”
But he also hopes “there comes a point where it feels necessary to continue to tell that story.”
“I just think it has to be the right time and it has to mean something. We have to have a reason for it.”
He, his co-creator and father Eugene Levy, and co-stars Catherine O’Hara and Annie Murphy were teary-eyed after watching a trailer that showed the actors getting emotional at a read-through of the scripts for the last and second-last episodes.
Levy, who had never worked with his dad before they developed “Schitt’s Creek” together, said it had been “a master class in comedy, in decency, in working with people who are at the top of their game.”
Two of those people, Eugene and O’Hara, renowned for writing and starring in the “SCTV” sketch comedy series and other projects, said they had never experienced the type of fame that “Schitt’s” brought them.
“We were kind of always under the radar with ‘SCTV,’ ” O’Hara said.
“It did have a cult show status,” added the senior Levy.
“Schitt’s Creek” also “had a cult show status when we were starting, but the experience of now going beyond cult show status is kind of a new experience.
“It’s nice to be able to bookend a career with something that gives you as much joy, and the quality of work to me is really outstanding on the show.” The Hamilton-native was quick to add that doesn’t mean he’s retiring. In fact, the experience of playing a straight man on “Schitt’s Creek” has encouraged him to possibly seek out other such roles, he told a small group of reporters later.
As for Daniel Levy, he signed a three-year deal last year with ABC Studios.
Asked what he might do next, he quipped, “You might want to talk to my therapist.”
But he said he was open to developing any type of show,
“from comedy to drama and everything in between.”
The main qualification is that any new project would have to have an emotional impact on viewers and “scenes where people can feel loved and appreciated and safe.”
He also would like to “continue to tell stories of underdogs,” he said.
“That to me is the most compelling type of storytelling.”