Warning: Spoilers ahead! If you aren’t up to date with Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist!
Despite soon being put on temporary hiatus, Season 2 of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist has been a huge success so far, which may be due to the NBC series switching up a lot of elements in the new season. The cast of the sing-song dramedy seems to be playing musical chairs, with a lot of characters coming and going during the early eps. The beginning of Season 2 saw Lauren Graham’s Joan take her leave while introducing a new character in Zoey’s workplace too. Harvey Guillen’s character George may have just joined the cast at the beginning of this season, but he has now officially exited the workplace. And with a show-stopping Brittney Spears musical number.
Although the character’s exit was a surprising one, it was also pretty inspirational. Harvey Guillen has spoken out about his Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist character taking leave from the show, saying that it was a great thing for his character and others in the real world who may have a mindset similar to George. Here's how Guillen explained it to Entertainment Weekly:
Sometimes you need that push because we set our minds on what's perfect for us, the perfect life or the perfect wife or husband, kids, job, and all that. But sometimes the universe is like, 'No, I'll take it from here. Let me show you what the possibilities are.' This is a great point for George to go out in the world and find out what that is and let the universe just take control for a little bit.
George exited the show after being fired not only once, but twice. Zoey had to let George go due to his lackluster performance at work, but after drunkenly feeling awful about canning her friend, she hired him back, only to have to turn around and fire him again after she sobered up. This, of course, would lead to a roller coaster of emotions for most people, but for George it seemed to be a wakeup call to pick himself up and explore new beginnings.
George’s exiting number was to the Brittney Spears track “Stronger,” and it was a pretty epic farewell performance. In the same interview, Harvey Guillen confirms that we won’t see him anymore this season, due to scheduling reasons, but that he was indeed invited back. In his own words:
I was supposed to actually come back; [creator] Austin [Winsberg] and I talked about this. He really wanted me to come back for Episode 8 which they're shooting right now. But unfortunately, schedule-wise, I have to be in Toronto to shoot my show.
The show he's talking about is FX's What We Do In the Shadows, which is one of the best comedies on TV right now. So even though we won’t see George for the rest of the season, at least we know he's still going to make audiences laugh. And this kind of allows fans to hold out hope for any future seasons to bring the character back in some capacity.
Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist will go on hiatus soon, but will return in the Spring. If you want more musical content during the break, check out similar streaming options, probably with Britney Spears blaring in the background.
