Mike Schur on how the Parks & Recreation COVID-19 reunion special came to be

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

It was announced last week that the entire cast of Parks and Recreation, including Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Adam Scott, Rob Lowe, Jim O’Heir, and Retta, would be reuniting for a one-time special which will benefit Feeding America's COVID-19 Response Fund, but how did the special come about?

Parks and Recreation co-creator Mike Schur recently spoke with THR about the origins of the reunion, which is never something he envisioned for the series. "I didn't think Parks and Recreation would ever reunite; the show had a point to make and we made it and it ended and there was no compelling reason to do it — but this is as compelling a reason as there is," Schur said. The Parks and Recreation 30-minute special was written and filmed over the past month and has to do with the determination of Leslie Knope (Poehler), Pawnee's most dedicated civil servant, to stay connected to her friends in a time of social distancing. The idea first came to be when NBC executives reached out to Schur to see if he and the cast could reunite for a table read of an existing episode, but the idea quickly grew into an entirely new episode which, although it's certainly influenced by the COVID-19 crisis, is not about the disease itself

The whole special is not about the disease. It's about people coping with it and navigating their daily lives. The most important theme of the show is: Leslie Knope believes in friendship. She was loyal and friendly and put all her eggs in the power of friendship. It's about her connecting with people and holding that group of characters together at a time when they're unable to leave their homes. That's the running theme.

Obviously, none of these actors appear together as the episode was filmed remotely, with the actors being sent disinfected rigs with a tripod and iPhone, as well as lights and microphones. While Schur said writing was a speedy process, shooting on the special was "slow and laborious" owing to the remote production, so Schur doesn't think it's a viable method for future episodes. "This isn't the way TV is supposed to be made," Schur said. "TV is a team sport from the beginning to the end, with groups of people functioning in a holistic ways and collaborating and being in the same room at the same time. I don't think there's any way this is a sustainable method for making TV. It was fun to get the crew and everyone back together. I took screengrabs of the virtual table, which was a lot of fun and hard work but it's not any kind of model for going forward."

The Parks and Recreation special will air on April 30th on NBC at 8:30 pm ET/PT. Will you be watching?