Dan Levy Does Right By Everyone With Schitts Creek Series Finale
Ew, don’t go! The Roses have come a long way since moving into the now renovated Rosebud Motel — with Moira’s (Catherine O’Hara) dozens of wigs in tow. Now, after six seasons, the patriarch, along with David (Dan Levy), Alexis (Annie Murphy) and Johnny (Eugene Levy), are ready to say their goodbyes as Schitt’s Creek comes to an end.
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The family’s story first began when they lost their fortune and had to move into a motel that Johnny once purchased as a joke. But instead of groveling (OK, maybe some groveling) the foursome found that their conjoining rooms were just what they needed. They finally celebrated Christmas together, learned to (somewhat) share the family car and supported each other’s milestones such as Alexis’ high school graduation, David’s Rose Apothecary store and the rebirth of Moira’s acting career.
They also found friends in the sarcastic receptionist Stevie (Emily Hampshire), town mayor Roland Schitt (Chris Elliot) and his wife, Jocelyn Schitt (Jennifer Robertson) and the local diner waitress (Sarah Levy). Even more, Alexis found she could thrive being single and David fell in love with Patrick (Noah Reid).
In June 2019, Dan, who cocreated the Canadian comedy with his dad Eugene, announced that he was ending the series after season 6.
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“I highly respect Dan’s decision to end the show even though I think all of us wanted to keep going,” Hampshire, 38, exclusively tells Us Weekly. “Now that I know how it ends, it’s the right thing because he respects the characters and fans by the way he ends his show. Most shows you don’t know when you’re going to end, you just get canceled. And so to get the opportunity to end a show the way you want to do it and the way it’s supposed to is a real privilege. I can say that he does right by everyone. I can’t believe how amazing the ending is.”
After a brief hookup, Hampshire’s Stevie became David’s real first friend. “I have so loved that friend-lationship because I feel like it’s exactly that. I hadn’t seen that before in a show that represented this kind of deep friendship relationship that I have with my gay male friends,” she says. “I think the wine moment is so iconic when he describes that he’s into the wine, not the label,” she adds, referring to David opening up about his sexual fluidity to Stevie.
“I think my favorite thing is that for me personally, Emily, I have found in Stevie, somebody I actually admire and look up to as like she’s such a good friend and I feel like he’s taught me how to be a real friend.”
Stevie has also had her own evolution in Schitt’s Creek. Initially feeling stuck at the motel, the plaid-wearing receptionist became the motel manager, became more vulnerable and had a triumphant moment while playing Sally Bowles in the town’s production of Cabaret in the season 5 finale.
“That’s a huge moment for me that I don’t think a lot of people know. The truth is, had you asked me 10 years ago what my dream role would have been — it was Sally Bowles in Cabaret. And I had no idea that we were ever going to do. I asked Dan in season 1, I’m like, ‘Oh, can we do a musical?’ But I just, I never thought Stevie would be part of it,” Hampshire explains to Us. “And for Stevie in that moment, it’s maybe this time I’ll win. Maybe this time I’ll be as great as everybody see in me and the potential I have. And it’s really such a different song for her. And one that I think is just so much more powerful. It felt kind of like an example of the universe giving me something that I didn’t even know I wanted. Giving me something better. I thought I wanted to buy Sally Bowles, but I really wanted Stevie to have her moment. That Stevie got to be the most honest and vulnerable she’s ever been.”
The breakthrough and compelling arc also included a sweet shot of David cheering Stevie on and gushing about her to another audience member. “My favorite moment in that whole thing is when David goes, ‘That’s my best friend.’ That just kills me. I feel like Dan’s given all of us these opportunities to do stuff that we got to really stretch and he’s given us gifts for both our characters and ourselves. I still can’t believe I got to do that.”
In that same episode, David and Patrick got engaged — with Stevie ultimately being asked to be the maid of honor. After multiple heartbreaks — including being left once for a stuffed animal — David finally got his happily ever after with his business partner.
“I think the biggest legacy for the show is Dan’s decision from the get-go that there would be no homophobia on Schitt’s Creek,” Hampshire tells Us. “I thought that was such a Maverick move because I would’ve thought if you wanted to make a statement about something like homophobia you will have somebody be treated badly and then deal with the issue. But no, this is so much smarter. He showed a world where it doesn’t exist and you know what? It’s been great. It works really well. No one misses it. He also made it that he never wanted Schitt’s Creek to be the butt of the joke, like a small town. I think that kind of inclusive love and acceptance the show puts out is something. I think that’s [our show’s] legacy and I think it’s done its job. And I think that’s why people keep watching it over and over again too.”
For more, read Hampshire’s Q&A:
US WEEKLY: What were the last days on set like?
EMILY HAMPSHIRE: It was like a month of torture a bit because every week we would wrap a new set. And then Dan started to say, ‘This is our last time shooting in the office. Then this is the last time shooting in the cafe.’ And then he stopped doing that because people started to cry and not be able to shoot the scene. When it was the motel the last day we — I didn’t realize that we shot the scene — and then we were moving on to something else and he’s like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s the last time we’re shooting in the office.’ I was devastated.
US: Did you take home any props?
EH: Behind the desk there’s this giant painting of a stag. So that is in my 500-square-foot Toronto condo — it’s in the office of the 500-square-foot. So basically my entire office is that deer painting. I took that with me. I will always have the motel in my home now. I did take my dead Tamagotchi too. My Tamagotchi is on my key chain. I took that, I killed that Tamagotchi. It was alive when we started the show. It is now dead.
US: Do you have a favorite quote from the series?
EH: The first one that comes to mind was in season 1. Just, like, ‘I do what I want.’ Mainly because there’s a great GIF with it. She’s fixing her boobs and she was like, ‘I do what I want.’ I love that. One of my favorite ones recently though is the ‘Whisper of desire.’ I can’t get through that. I can’t get through that with Eugene. It just kills me.
US: How many books do you think Stevie has read while working at the motel?
EH: I would say half of a dozen books. She never read the whole book because actually every time I go to set there’s like some different book in there. But she also has played Sudoku.
US: How did the cast celebrate after the series wrapped?
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EH: For a wrap gift Dan got a Villa in Tuscany for us to say goodbye to each other. … It’s so nice to be on a show where you actually like do love the people you work with. It’s rare. We’re so lucky.
The Schitt’s Creek series finale airs on Pop TV Tuesday, April 7, at 8 p.m. ET, followed by a one-hour special.
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