In analyzing the multi-decade success of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, one can't undersell the unique and genius chemistry that exists between the five members of the main ensemble. The comedic dynamics shared between Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day, Danny DeVito, and Kaitlin Olson ultimately make the show what it is... which is why it's pretty wild to learn that Olson not only made a notable mistake during her first audition that could have cost her the part, but that she also turned down the role of Sweet Dee Reynolds before being convinced to sign on.
Now married with a teenage son in addition to being sitcom co-stars, Rob McElhenney and Kaitlin Olson are the subject of a new Variety profile, the the piece details how their first encounter during the development of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia didn't go ideally. Olson recalls that she read a scene with Charlie Day while McElhenney was directing, and when she was told to put down her sides and do a bit of riffing on the material, she accidentally left out a key line:
I let go of the already funny stuff and concentrated on leveling up the rest of the material. After, I called my manager and said, ‘The audition was great. I want this job. But I’m so pissed that I left out the funniest line that was already in there, because I was so focused on just making everything bounce better.’
It wasn't just Olson who noticed. McElhenney picked up on it too. In fact, he says that he questioned her fit for Sweet Dee because of the choice – though he admits that part of the hesitance may have come from a tough of ego. The actor recalls,
So she leaves the room, we’re no doubt 100% thinking she was awesome. But I don’t know if her instincts were 100% right, because she left out the funniest line. Now, is it a coincidence that I happened to write that line? I was 26 years old, and probably very precious with what I was writing.
But this story doesn't simply end with Rob McElhenney being convinced he was wrong. That did happen – with credit in the profile given to producer Nick Frenkel, FX boss John Landgraf among others – but then Kaitlin Olson said "No" to their "Yes."
When she got the offer, the High Potential star asked for a collection of episode scripts, and she was disappointed with what she read. Sweet Dee wasn't written to be a funny character and instead was more of a "nag" to foil the antics of her three male friends. McElhenney got in contact with her personally, and when he explained that what she read didn't fully reflect the vision for the part, she was convinced and signed on.
Twenty years after its premiere, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is now hailed as one of the greatest sitcoms of all time (despite being totally ignored by major award groups), and new episodes are coming very soon. Nearly two years after the end of Season 16, Season 17 will premiere on FXX on July 9 – and the season will kick off with the second half of the acclaimed Abbott Elementary crossover.