Glenn Howerton clarifies character's future on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Glenn Howerton wanted to “dispel any rumors” that he “left It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia to do A.P. Bio,” as he told EW in a recent interview. But, while this may seem like a good thing for the future of his character, Dennis, the actor clarified what he meant on Twitter.

“I don’t know why people are putting out articles saying that I confirmed that Dennis is coming back,” he began a thread that was posted Saturday. “I never said that. What I said is that it is POSSIBLE that he’ll come back. … What I also said is that whether Dennis comes back or not has nothing to do with AP Bio. They are 2 separate projects. It is a creative decision that Rob, Charlie and I have to make once the writing process starts, which it hasn’t yet.”

Spoilers from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia follow.

The season 12 finale saw Dennis traveling to North Dakota to be a father. Coupled with Howerton’s new gig on A.P. Bio, fans started speculating about what all this might mean for the future of the FXX comedy.

“Telling you whether or not Dennis is coming back would be giving away the plot of the next season,” the actor wrote. “So… to clarify once and for all. I don’t know if Dennis is coming back. He left the bar. We take that plot choice seriously. … I don’t know why the narrative continues to be centered around whether ‘I’m’ coming back. I’m here. It’s whether or not ‘Dennis’ is coming back. Dennis could be gone forever.”

As the co-creator of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Howerton has been an executive producer on the series since the beginning. “Please don’t think that AP Bio is taking me away from Sunny. It isn’t,” he further stated. “That’s like saying that Jumanji is taking The Rock away from Fast and Furious. They are different projects. Thanks guys. I can’t wait for you all to see AP Bio.”

In Howerton’s interview with EW, he said, “We’re currently discussing what we want to do next season, but we haven’t started the writers’ room yet. So I haven’t left It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The conversation really should be about what’s going to happen with Dennis, not what’s going to happen with me, and that’s something we don’t have an answer to yet.”

The events with Dennis were a deliberate decision to “mix things up,” he said.

“We’re trying to find new and interesting ways to challenge ourselves and challenge our writing,” Howerton added. “Obviously, there was something we’d never really done before — we put the characters through things that will actually affect the rest of their lives, by Mac [McElhenney] finally coming out of the closet and by having Dennis leave at the end of season 12. So it was a creative decision, we thought it was an interesting choice to make, an interesting direction to take the show in, and it also potentially afforded me the opportunity to free myself up to do some other work.”

A.P. Bio, meanwhile, premieres Feb. 1 on NBC at 9:30 p.m. ET.