‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Season 17 Is Officially Filming, and Mac’s Still Wearing the Same Jacket
Twenty years after Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day and Glenn Howerton shot the original pilot of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia on a $200 budget, McElhenney still hasn’t used any of the proceeds to pay for a new wardrobe.
The filming of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 17 is officially underway with McElhenney, Day and Howerton returning to the series that put them on the map, ending an extended hiatus that saw a 15-months-and-counting drought of any It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia content after Dennis tore Elon Musk’s beating heart out of his chest and ate it in the Season 16 finale “Dennis Takes a Mental Health Day.” During that time, the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia fandom received the unwelcome news that The Always Sunny Podcast just sort of ended, the Gang shot a crossover episode with Abbott Elementary and McElhenney continued to play real-life Football Manager with his new best friend Ryan Reynolds to mixed emotions from his fanbase.
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Now, on the second-to-last season under their current contract with FX, the Gang is back at it as if nothing had changed in the two decades since they shot a shoestring budget pilot on Howerton’s camcorder. McElhenney’s fashion choices certainly haven’t changed, as demonstrated by his celebratory Instagram post showing a side-by-side comparison of the downright newborn bodyguard first wearing the jacket on-screen 20 years ago and the entertainment mogul who dons it today:
Howerton posted the same “before” picture on his own Instagram page, writing of it, “20 years ago these three kids made a pilot for FX called ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.’ Today… 20 years later we start filming season 17. These kids didn’t know what they were doing, but they had a vision. Thank you to FX for trusting that vision. Thank you to our fans who preached the gospel from the start. We are eternally grateful.”
Kaitlin Olson, who was not pictured in the pilot throwback because the part of Sweet Dee wasn't funny enough for her to play it yet, posted her own announcement about the beginning of shooting on Season 17 as she filmed water marks on the pavement outside her trailer that looked suspiciously like dicks — or, at least, Mac would probably say so.
We still don’t have a premiere date for Always Sunny Season 17, nor have FX or McElhenney publicly confirmed that Always Sunny will live on past its current contract, but hopefully the show continues to be as reliable and long-lasting as that jacket. Though we have to wonder whether the duster is still around. Did Mac finally burn it?