Michael Schur Finally Addresses Fan Demands to Revive Parks and Rec
Michael Schur tackles the revival drumbeat for a beloved sitcom, sizing up the odds, the obstacles, and whether fans should brace for a comeback.
If you were holding out hope for a brand-new trip back to Pawnee, Michael Schur just quietly closed that door. Not rudely. Just... firmly.
So, is a Parks and Rec revival happening?
Short answer: no. In a chat with The Hollywood Reporter, the Parks and Recreation creator was asked if he had any ideas about revisiting the series. His response was as blunt as it was amused: he laughed and said, 'No, I did not.'
Schur explained why: he sees Parks and Rec as a snapshot of a very specific political moment, and he believes the show already said everything it needed to say about government and optimism.
'That show had a very specific argument to make about government at a very specific in time, the Obama era... We left nothing unsaid.'
Why this came up now
The question is in the air partly because Schur's mentor Greg Daniels just found fresh success with The Paper, a new Peacock comedy set in the same universe as The Office. It is not The Office 2.0, but it is definitely Office-adjacent in spirit. So naturally, people wondered if Schur might try something similar with Parks and Rec.
What about a reunion?
Schur did not explicitly rule out one-off reunions, but he definitely put a pin in the idea of a full-on revival. We did get a reunion back in 2020: the cast returned for a 30-minute special to benefit Feeding America's COVID-19 Response Fund, with Amy Poehler's Leslie Knope trying to keep everyone connected during lockdown. That brought back the familiar faces you would hope for, including Poehler, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, and Aziz Ansari.
Since then, the gang has continued to cross paths in lower-key ways. A bunch of Parks and Rec folks have popped up on Poehler's podcast 'Good Hang' recently, and Offerman has teased that he's dropping by soon too.
Where Schur is now
If you somehow missed his byline on the last 15 years of comedy, Schur has been a main creative force behind The Office, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place, and, of course, Parks and Recreation. He also has a new Netflix series led by Ted Danson called 'A Man on the Inside' on the way.
Bottom line: Parks and Rec ran seven seasons and stuck the landing. Schur thinks the show already made its case, and he is not looking to reopen it. Nostalgia is great; new episodes are not happening.