'It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia' Sets Season 17 Premiere With Ghosts From 'Abbott'

The Gang Completes A Crossover with seven other episodes this summer

The gang is finally back, egging on in these trying times. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the long-running comedy series that stands as FXX’s last original will return with its 17th season on July 9, with the first two episodes beginning at 9 PM ET/PT, and next-day Hulu postings as it celebrates the 20th anniversary of Mac, Charlie, Dennis, Dee and Frank‘s shenanigans.

The new season has been coined “The Gang Embraces the Corporate Era” and it tells the story of “how greed and the New American Dream have consumed Paddy’s Pub”. As it goes “They’ll exploit cross-network promotion to increase market share; they’ll scapegoat one of their own to avoid a PR backlash; they’ll risk everything for a handshake with the Saudis; they’ll bend the laws with side hustles to pad their pockets; and they’ll change everything about themselves to appeal to a broader audience,” reads the logline. “And sure, like any corporate goon, the Gang craves money and parasitic social privileges. That’s been plain since 2005. But they’re also human beings. They crave love.. respect… conditional freedom… constant adulation… histrionic amounts of attention… non-stop gratification… and unfiltered, slaphappy eroticism.”

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The eight-episode season kicks off with part two of the crossover with Abbott Elementary, which began with “Volunteers” in January. Whatever the Sunny episode is called, it’s looking more like it’s the gang’s perspective of the events rather than an aftermath. Their volunteer work here sees them stealing kids’ brownies and auditioning them for a potential boy band. The season doesn’t seem to be ready for a full trailer as it’s just touting the crossover premiere. Of course, the gang will continue to be played by Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson and Danny DeVito.

Created by McElhenney, the episode already seems to have more Dennis, who ducked out of being filmed by the documentary crew, withholding consent. “Glenn (Howerton) had a show that he is a series regular on called Sirens,” Abbott executive producer Patrick Schumacker explained. “It’s the Netflix show, and it was shooting in New York. He flew in specifically to work on this and had to fly back. We had him for half a day, so we had to build that in.” McElhenney and Howerton executive produce with Day, Michael Rotenberg, Nick Frenkel, Dave Chernin, John Chernin, Rob Rosell, David Hornsby, Nina Pedrad and Victor Hsu. The series is produced by FX Productions.

Eight episode seasons have become the post-COVID norm for the series, having run 10-episode seasons from the eighth to the fourteenth. The July 9 return date coincides with the return of South Park on Comedy Central, who also did not air a new linear episode for all of 2024.

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Source: Variety