It’s really hard to surprise fans these days. Heading into Parks and Recreation’s final season, we already knew that stars like Jon Hamm, Paul Rudd, Rob Lowe and Rashida Jones would be back. But somehow, the show’s producers pulled off the biggest TV surprise in recent memory.
During last night’s second episode, “Two Funerals,” following the inansity that was “The Johnny Karate Super Awesome Musical Explosion Show,” word broke that Pawnee’s longtime mayor had died. Mayor Walter Gunderson had never been seen before, so just who did Mike Schur and his team get to play him?
Bill Murray.
Yes, unbelievably, NBC never announced that Murray would make an appearance in the show. Not only did he lay in a casket, but he also recorded a speech to be played at Gunderson’s funeral.
Schur explained how they got Murray in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. He said that they had been trying to get Murray to play Gunderson for years, although they weren’t really serious about it. Last year, Aubrey Plaza and Amy Poehler met him again and suggested that he come on.
“Aubrey and Amy were like, ‘This is your last chance. The mayor’s dying. Do you want to come lie in a coffin? It would be really funny,’” Schur said. “And they [told me], ‘I think it might work.’”
Schur later got a voicemail from Murray, who, in typical Murray fashion, just said, “Hey, this is Bill Murray. I hear you might have some dead work for me.”
Still, even on the day in November that Murray was supposed to show up at the set, everyone wasn’t sure he would show. So, they filmed the funeral as if Murray woudln’t be there. Then, when he showed up, they re-did the whole thing.
Initially, they didn’t have a speech for him, but they figured that if Murray was on the set, they better get more work out of him. The writers whipped up 30 speeches and he read all of them. He even did two unscripted speeches. Hopefully, those are released on DVD!
image via Twitter from Parks And Recreation
Parks and Recreation’s series finale airs on NBC on Feb. 24.
image courtesy of INFphoto.com