Happy Endings was a sitcom with a stellar cast, creative plot, and a willingness to delve into the truly absurd for laughs. All in all, the show could have had a long and funny future ahead of it. Unfortunately, Happy Endings got a premature ending when it was cancelled in 2013 after only three seasons. The season finale didn’t really have the closure of a series finale, and we had no idea what would have come next for the crazy characters. Now, show creator David Caspe has an answer for what could be ahead if Happy Endings were to get new episodes. Here's what he had to say:
Jamie Tarses, one of our executive producers, said, ‘You know [Dave and Alex] are going to have to get married at the end of Season 5?’ So Season 4 might have been exploring Dave and Penny, because that was something that we were playing around with.
David Caspe's reveal at Vulture Festival (via Vulture) paints an intriguing picture of what could be to come for Dave, Alex, and Penny. The on-again/off-again relationship of Dave and Alex was a major plot point from the very first scene of the very first episode, and the show never went too long without reminding us that Alex left Dave at the altar. Still, for a while, it really seemed like the show was permanently moving Alex and Dave back into the friend zone all while setting the stage for a romance between Dave and Penny.
The romantic beats between Dave and Penny weren’t present in every single episode, but they were directly paralleled with a cheesy couple in a romantic comedy in a way that wasn’t exactly subtle. The reunion of Dave/Alex and Penny’s engagement put any possible relationship on hold, but Season 3 did leave the characters in a place where love could be in the air.
It’s fun to wonder just how Happy Endings might have pulled off getting Dave/Penny together and then breaking them up in time to bring the show full circle with a Dave/Alex wedding. Dave and Penny did develop a sibling dynamic that came to the forefront whenever their parents showed up to flirt in front of them, so it’s not inconceivable that they could recover from a failed romance without taking too much of a toll on the group as a whole.
The heartbreaking cancellation of Happy Endings proved permanent when other networks declined to pick up the show after its cancellation, but there has been chatter about a possible revival over the years since. David Caspe has said that a continuation would be possible for fans if the team could get the right budget and the whole cast back together. The fanbase for the show may have even increased in recent months thanks to Hulu bringing the entire series to its streaming platform for binge-watchers everywhere.
The fact that creator David Caspe has given away some plot details for a potential Season 4 and 5 doesn’t necessarily mean that we should count on more Happy Endings anytime soon, so we’ll have to use our imaginations in the meantime to decide for ourselves how the relationship between Dave and Penny could unfold. To see which shows you will be able to watch in the near future, check out our summer TV premiere schedule.
