Happy Endings cast to reunite in character for new special

It is time to get Happy again — at least for 30 minutes.

The cast of Happy Endings will reunite — in character — for a special Zoom special for charity that will stream next week. It's not a full-blown reboot of the beloved comedy, but it is a half-hour of brand-new jokes, and the "event," as it's being billed, will feature all six main stars (that would be Eliza Coupe, Elisa Cuthbert, Zachary Knighton, Adam Pally, Damon Wayans, Jr., and Casey Wilson), as well as a surprise guest. (Draaaamaaa?) Titled "And The Pandemmy Goes To...", the special installment will be followed by a live fan Q&A with the cast. (Questions can be submitted on Twitter by tagging @HappyEndings and using the hashtag #AskHappyEndings.) The event will stream live on Sony Picture Television's YouTube page on Monday at 7 p.m. ET.

"For years, the people (and multiple networks) have spoken: they do not want this show to continue," said creator David Caspe in a statement released by Sony, which produces Happy Endings. "Undeterred, we were finally able to convince them to at least let us do just one weird Zoom thing, as long as we did it ourselves and it was for charity. So if you wanna watch, please donate to Color of Change and World Central Kitchen, two incredible organizations fighting to make the world a safer, more equitable, just place for all.”

The savvy single-camera comedy about a six-pack of Chicago friends debuted in 2011 and ran for 57 episodes, grooming a cult following that has only grown since cancellation in 2013. The Happy cast reunited for a read-through of a new script as part of EW's PopFest in the fall of 2016. The episode, which was titled "Happy to Be Here" and was not considered canon, resumed the action a few years after the final scene of the series finale, in which the six characters — Penny (Casey Wilson), Max (Adam Pally), Brad (Damon Wayans, Jr.), Jane (Eliza Coupe), Alex (Elisha Cuthbert), and Dave (Zachary Knighton) — were dancing at a wedding. In the new script, the gang wound up getting in a huge fight seconds after the credits rolled, and the characters stopped speaking to each other, but in 2016, Max bails Penny out of a mall jail and lets her know that one of their friends has died. (To watch what happened next, head over here.)

Caspe, the stars, Sony TV (the show's studio) and ABC have expressed interest in revisiting Happy over the years. Back in January, Pally offered an update. "I don’t want to get anybody’s hopes up, but I know that everybody wants to do it,” he shared. “So right now, they’re trying to find a way to make that happen because there’s a lot of moving parts. And if we were to do it, I think David would want to do it his way.” In May, Wilson revealed that the show was working on a charity reunion. “We’re going to do a little reading of something at this time,” Wilson said. “We’re gonna get together and do a little new material. Eliza and I are not going to lift one finger but the writers, they’re tapping away.” (At the helm was Happy writer-producer Josh Bycel, while Caspe served as director of the special.)

There have been plenty of charitable Zoom reunions for beloved shows during the pandemic, but only a few of them featured the actors performing a full-length installment of new material in character. The most notable was Parks and Recreation, which reconvened Amy Poehler & Co. in May. The cast of My Boys reconnected last month for a virtual poker game.

The news was first reported by Variety.

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