It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia came under surprising scrutiny for a series renewed for two more seasons, once series star Glenn Howerton confirmed a potential departure. Now, NBC comedy A.P. Bio has been picked up to series, likely guaranteeing Dennis will be absent from Paddy’s Pub.

NBC issued an official pickup order for the Seth Meyers-produced comedy pilot with Patton Oswalt, which sees Howerton as a philosophy scholar who loses out on his dream job and goes to work as a high school biology teacher to take advantage of a room full of honor students. Also starring are Lyric Lewis, Mary Sohn, Aparna Brielle, Jacob McCarthy, Nick Peine and Vanessa Bayer (in the pilot), while Mike O’Brien will also write and executive produce.

The pilot pickup officially calls into question Howerton’s future on Always Sunny, as his character Dennis left the series in Season 12’s finale to raise an offscreen son in North Dakota. Co-star Kaitlin Olson recently suggested Season the FXX series would take a year off before Season 13, as she herself completes work on Season 2 of FOX’s The Mick, while Danny DeVito goes to work on a new Amazon series with Jeff Goldblum.

We’ll see if FXX or Howerton come forth with any clarifications in the next few weeks, but is Always Sunny Season 13 about to look very different?

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