How Nick Offerman Wrote Ron Swanson's Final Parks And Rec Line

NBC’s Parks and Recreation is preparing to air its final run of episodes. Production on the show wrapped up just a few days ago with plenty of fanfare, and now the cast is making the rounds to promote the new season. Recently, Nick Offerman, who plays popular character Ron Swanson on the show, spoke out to explain how he and Aziz Anzari were able to write their very last lines on the show.

“On the last day, we finished with a few scenes with everybody in them. And we were on the last couple of scenes and Aziz and I were kinda looking, getting ready, and we’re in the crowd of the scene, and we said, ‘Oh my god, we don’t have anymore lines! We’ve already said our last dialogue.’”

A dire predicament, indeed. However, when you put two comedic minds together, brilliant things often happen. Anzari and Offerman decided it totally sucked that they had missed the moment when they spoke their last dialogue on the show and decided to do something about it right then.

“We’re standing there, listening to Amy [Poehler] talk. And so Aziz suggested that at the end of the scene Amy and Aubrey would leave. So we began to say “Bye guys” so that we could have a solid last contribution.”

It’s a pretty funny story, but it’s a far cry from the “death by grizzly bear” Nick Offerman envisioned for his character just a few short weeks ago. Still, his story's a fun one, and I can't wait to look out for the scene when the finale inevitably airs.

Offerman was on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Thursday to talk about the last few days shooting Parks and Recreation, and he gave us a few more stories from the set, including one about vomiting. You can check out the full video, below.

Luckily, Nick Offerman already has a few things lined up in his career. Netflix recently premiered his hysterical comedy special, American Ham. Additionally, Offerman was recently linked to the new season of Fargo and if that show doesn’t snap him up, I’m sure another will.

In the meantime, you can catch Parks and Rec’s sixth and final season when it hits the schedule on Tuesday, January 13 at 8:00 p.m. ET. Not that day is different than the Thursday night slot fans are used to.

Jessica Rawden
Managing Editor

Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie. Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.