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Timothy Omundson: Psych 3s Lassie Mirrors My Own Existential Journey | TVLine

Why wasn’t lassiter in the psych movie

art imitating life, in the case of psychological crime solver carlton lassiter, has deeply moved the timothy omundson vet series.

Omundson suffered a major stroke in April 2017, just as production on the original Psychology: The Movie was underway; As such, Lassiter only shows up through a brief FaceTime call with Juliet. In 2020, Psych 2: Lassie Come Home, as its title suggested, brought Omundson back to a greater extent, placing the central mystery in the shooting of Lassiter, who later also suffered a stroke from which he began to recover over the course of 2020. the television movie. .

in psych 3: this is gus, which will be released this Thursday, Nov. 18 on the Peacock Streaming Service: Omundson is as outgoing as he has been since his stroke, and to a much greater degree than in his guest spots. the premise for the threequel: in preparation for a forced wedding before baby gustar’s birth, shawn (played james roday rodriguez, who co-wrote the film with psych creator steve franks) and “groomzilla” gus (dulé hill) turn Rebels in an attempt to track down future Selene’s (Jazmyn Simon) estranged husband. Meanwhile, Lassiter grapples with the future of his career.

tvline spoke with omundson about lassie’s rather introspective journey, if more this is us, appearances will follow this is gus, and more.

television line | I looked it up and it was almost six years ago that you and I last spoke, for the galavant season 2 finale. That ending, man, that was good. I was going through my photo album today, on my phone, and yes, we were shooting some of the scenes for that about six years ago today.

television line | You told me back then that your wife didn’t approve of the bum beard you’d grown for your role as King Richard. six years and nothing has changed, and it has gotten even worse, I would say. due to my stroke, I can’t shape him like I used to, so those duties now fall to her. she likes to shear me like a sheep.

Psych 3TVLINE | Well, Lassiter is looking downright dapper in that scene from the Psych 3 trailer, standing at the top of the police station steps with a cane. What do you want to tease about what’s going on there? Well, I really don’t want to use the word “beg,” but it’s appropriate to say that I begged Steve [Franks] and James [Roday Rodriguez] to write the beard into this movie, because when I saw what I looked like without the beard in the second movie — which had been a long time since Season 8, where I was super-svelte and in shape…. Let’s just say I was appalled at how much weight I’d put on since then, and how jowl-y I had gotten. So I was like, “Guys, please, please, please, can we let Lassiter have a beard?” James, with his prolific beard, was always for it, and then Steve very kindly said, “Of course.”

every season, i had said that lassiter goes crazy, grows this huge beard and comes back as a serpico, but in psychology, the problem was that the season opener always started right where the last season ended. so it never fits. I couldn’t sell that one. The good news is that I finally got my beard, so I was more than happy.

Psych 3TVLINE | I screened Psych 3 last night, and Lassiter has a very interesting journey this time. It’s almost a bit serious. This is the amazing thing about what Steve and James did, it really does mirror my personal journey. It’s amazing how each of these movies has really mapped my recovery. It’s a pretty incredible thing to have that benchmark, to really mark where I’m at and where I’m going. So yes, this is definitely a more serious side for Lassie. He’s at a point in his life, in his recovery, where he’s trying to figure out — much like for me, it’s an existential crisis — what he wants to be, what he can be, and what he’s going to be. Like, I certainly had a question of how much I could work as an actor after my injury, and it’s been a slow, steady climb back. I mean, I’m certainly not back chasing bad guys in the street with a gun or riding a horse, but everybody in my Psych family created such an amazingly warm atmosphere for me to try and get back in the saddle, that I knew if I fell that they would be right there to catch me. Again, I am so blessed to have these people in my lives, still making opportunities for me within the new framework of what I can do.

television line | I don’t think it’s spoiling anything to say that you have a really wonderful scene with corbin bernsen (as henry). yeah, it really was a great day for me and emotionally for lassiter. It’s also the first time we see Lassiter interact with [her daughter] Lily, aside from a scene early in the series when she was holding her as a baby. so, we get to see an 11 year old girl, lily, and she’s a terrific little actress that they brought in (sophia reid-gantzert from the babysitters club), which really helped ground me and bring everything into focus for lassiter as a parent looking forward with his life.

Psych 3And yes, that scene with Corbin on the porch was so sweet. I’ve gotten to work with Corbin pretty rarely. I mean, we’ve had a few scenes [over the years], but I think the beginning of a really beautiful friendship for these two is starting to develop.

television line | What’s interesting is that when I see these latest girl scenes, I try to “overlay” what the character used to be, her more pompous self, on top of them, and it’s amazing to see the evolution she’s gone through. yeah, and that’s like the rubbing of his pompous self and my personal pompous self. It gives you great humility when you have a health crisis like this, and you try to reconcile who I was and who I was, and who I am now and where we are both going…. gosh, they wrote the cutest present, and steven’s direction was kind of like, “guys, just talk.”

Corbin and I are pretty close, he did a lot for me, he once directed me in a movie, and he’s a deep and moving guy. In fact, my [real-life] daughter Lily has had some really amazing conversations with him, and she called him “Yoda Corbin.” so having corbin with me in those scenes was really an incredible pleasure. he’s such a good actor, and we didn’t get to see a lot of his range on the show over the years, there’s a lot of “grumpy henry”, so this was really a beautiful, moving, calm, quiet scene between the two of us .

television line | Lassiter also, for reasons I won’t reveal, participates in a snowball fight. he wasn’t sure how he would deal with it. I’m not doing too many physical things like that. but I think that in the first rehearsal I nailed dulé right in the jewels. [laughs] by accident. I wish I could aim that well. But [executive producer] Chris Henze was apparently quite impressed with my ability to pitch, and his son is a great baseball player, so I take that as a huge compliment that I can physically do something like that.

This Is Us OmundsonTVLINE | Turning to your other projects: Can we expect to see Gregory in the final season of This Is Us? I’ve not yet actually heard if I’m going to be in the season yet. I was texting with Mr. [Dan] Fogelman, and he said that, mostly, they’re always looking for a place for the grumpy neighbor. But at this point, I don’t know if I’m going to be in it. I certainly hope to be, but I don’t want to be too greedy.

i am so grateful for what dan has given me, for our relationship at galavant [created by fogelman]. Dan, in a sense, gave me my career back [with this is us], because that was one of the first times I was in a more direct role, minus a comedy thing like psych. and that dan takes a risk with me, when he was not yet in good physical shape…. even learning lines now is still pretty hard for me, but I feel like every time I was able to be in this is us, my work got a little better, I felt a little more grounded and a little more back to my old self. , slightly. and then with [psych 3:] this is gus, I felt a bigger jump physically, where I felt like it was the first time I wasn’t walking in armor.

television line | absolutely. I was very impressed with the progress you’ve made. Very kind of you, matt. I certainly hope I can go back to being a lassiter and running down the street chasing a bad guy or driving a car. what i would really like to do is ride a horse again, like in the days of galavant.

Galavant ABCTVLINE | Speaking of which…. Do you ever pick Dan’s brain about what the plan was for Galavant Season 3? I have with John Hoberg and Kat Likkel, our showrunners for Season 2, and there were plans, there were ideas — let’s just say that. There were sort of big ideas of what they would like it to be, and all I can say is that it would’ve been epic.

want an inside scoop on psychology 3 or any tv show? email insideline@tvline.com and your question may be answered through matt’s insideline.

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