Both Louis C.K. and FX have been honest about the fact that Louie’s return will be up to the comedian himself in time, a prospect overshadowed by C.K.’s recent work on the independently-produced Horace and Pete. That series has finally “wrapped” its season, but C.K. isn’t feeling particularly awash in new Louie ideas just yet.

Speaking with HitFix, C.K. offered a less-than-optimistic assessment of his current Louie mentality, last said to be on hold while the comedian recharged himself creatively. The Emmy-winner famously enjoyed a tremendous amount of creative freedom with Louie, but even then, the completely self-produced Horace and Pete may have dampened his interest in returning to FX:

[Horace and Pete] turned out to be, for me, the best thing I ever made. It may be because Louie feels very far in the past. I can’t feel that show anymore. But I am drenched in the feelings that this show and making this show gave me and revealed for me. And the feelings I have for the characters and the fine people who played them and the crew that executed the show for me with such care. I am terribly sad that it’s over and bracing for whatever wild feelings will follow in it’s absence from my daily efforts.

Back in January, the comedian offered of Louie’s return:

I don’t know. I just don’t know. I don’t know. I think about it sometimes and I just don’t know … Louie was going by really fast, it felt like. It did occur to me to let people go back and watch it and let it soak in for a while. I did seven standup specials in seven years and five seasons of TV. That’s a lot of me. It did feel like good farming to let the soil have a couple of winters to freeze and thaw. It will be better for me creatively. I also don’t want people to get sick of me. […]

I just leave it open in my head. I want it to begin with I really want to do it. When you start with the premise that ‘I have another season to write,’ that’s not a great source. To me, now that there is no show essentially, if I have an idea that’s burning and feels right for that, then it will start from the idea. I don’t know when that will happen. It may not. It was such a great job, I’m likely to try it again at some point.

C.K. previously took between 2012 and 2014 to deliver the super-sized Louie Season 4, while a reduced order for Louie Season 5 helped deliver the most recent run.

There’s always the chance the C.K.’s experience making Horace and Pete could itself provide fodder for a new Louie season, but should fans be worried the FX dramedy will stay “very far in the past?”

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