Hot on the heels of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's landmark 15th season, the latest episode of The Always Sunny Podcast revealed that David Hornsby, who plays the downtrodden and emaciated Rickety Cricket, nearly played Mac, who was originally going to be named Rob. This is of course the character that Rob McElhenney has made iconic for the program's entire run (probably where the name Rob would have come from). The news was elaborated upon by McElhenney and podcast co-hosts and Always Sunny co-stars Charlie Day and Glenn Howerton, with the podcast episode in question reflecting back on the season one episode, Charlie Has Cancer.
Hornsby was going to play the Mac character due to McElhenney's lack of ambition to act in the series. The Always Sunny team always found Hornsby hilarious, a telling testament given the various pitfalls and spirals that Cricket has gone down over the seasons. Hornsby, McElhenney, and Day have even taken their talents together to other programs, with each working on the AppleTV+ series Mythic Quest, recently renewed for two more seasons.
When asked to elaborate upon his early thoughts to serve the show strictly in a creative capacity, McElhenney claimed he never felt he had enough experience in being funny. The antics of Howerton and Day had always kept McElhenney laughing, and he didn't feel that he could do the material justice in the way that they could. It's interesting hearing these comments as it would appear that acting has never been a top priority for McElhenney, with only starring roles in Always Sunny and Mythic Quest, and minuscule guest spots on programs like Lost, Game of Thrones, and Fargo serving as the bulk of his acting resume.
However, Day is quick to note that McElhenney lacked solid experience in writing/directing, which made his choice to focus on that all the more intriguing. The trio quickly clarifies that the real way to do anything in Hollywood is just to go in with confidence and to believe. This would also be very sage advice from the Always Sunny team, as they made the early seasons on very small budgets and as if they were essentially home movies.
McElhenney had the following to say regarding his early hesitancy to act in Always Sunny:
"I never considered myself a super funny performer. I always thought that I could write really funny stuff. I didn't think I could pull this off, but I feel like maybe the two of you [Day and Howerton] could make this scene really funny, and then sure enough you did. So then my thought was why not just populate this show with really funny people that can make this dark material really funny."
Of course, McElhenney's hopes to populate Always Sunny with comedic characters has come true, with the likes of Kaitlin Olson, Danny DeVito, Mindy Kaling, Jason Sudeikis, and Keegan-Michael Key bringing the darkly comic material to light over the years. McElhenney himself has also brought to life the character of Mac, who has arguably had one of the most prominent arcs of any character on the show.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia returns for season 15 with two new episodes on Wednesday, December 1 on FXX. New episodes premiere the next day on FX on Hulu.