Is Dennis In the Season 13 Premiere of ‘It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’?

Getty Glenn Howerton during a press conference.

After a lengthy hiatus and uncertainty as to who would return and who wouldn’t, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia is back. The beloved FXX sitcom is airing its season thirteen premiere tonight at 10 p.m. EST, and many fans are wondering whether Dennis Reynolds (Glenn Howerton), the de facto leader of “The Gang” and the brother of Dee (Kaitlin Olson), will remain in the mix.

Will Dennis Be In the Season 13 Premiere?

Fortunately, he will. Howerton is listed as a cast member on the premiere episode, “The Gang Makes Paddy’s Great Again,” in addition to episodes titled “The Gang Escapes” and “Time’s Up for the Gang.” In a recent interview with Collider, fellow cast members Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day revealed that Dennis will actually be in a bulk of the season, and whatever reduced screen time occurs will be handled skillfully by the writing team so as not to hinder the series as a whole.

“He’s in pretty much every episode,” said McElhenney, who plays Mac and who created the series back in 2005. “He’s in the majority of them,” added Day, who plays Charlie and serves as a co-writer. “We talked about all sorts of different ideas before we knew that Glenn was actually coming back.”

In June, FXX released a synopsis for season thirteen that hinted at the limited role that Dennis will be playing. “The Gang Returns (mostly) in the 13th season of the FXX original comedy series It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia,” the synopsis reads. “Mac, Charlie, Dee and Frank (Danny DeVito) return to their duplicitous, scheming ways at Paddy’s Pub, while Dennis takes on the new role of father in North Dakota.”

“Even without Dennis Reynolds,” the synopsis adds, “the Gang has its hands full as Charlie hopes to have a child with The Waitress, Mac sets out to understand his newfound sexuality, Dee takes feminism to new heights, and Frank goes to great lengths for the Gang to experience the greatest moment in Philadelphia sports history – an Eagles Super Bowl victory.”

Much of the uncertainty regarding Howerton’s return had to do with his new NBC series AP Bio, which was just recently renewed for a second season. In January, he discussed the challenge of making room for both AP Bio and It’s Always Sunny, as well as the future of It’s Always Sunny. “I don’t know if this is going to turn into a Curb Your Enthusiasm thing where we make them when we can or if it’s gonna pick up where it left off and it’s gonna be every year again. I don’t really know,” he told Collider.

“We’ve talked about a gap between season[s],” Howerton added. “We love the show and we love each other and we want to keep doing it and if we can get away with just doing it whenever we want, why not? Creatively speaking, we just want the show to be good, so if any of us is feeling burned out and we feel like it’s gonna compromise the quality of the show, we just won’t do it.”