USA’s “Psych” first aired in 2006, and it has only picked up momentum over the years. It’s an incredibly funny and witty show that has grabbed people’s hearts and never let go. “Psych” follows Shawn (James Roday) and best friend Gus (Dule Hill) as they assist the Santa Barbara Police Department with solving crimes.
Shawn possesses photographic memory (also known as eidetic memory, kids!) allowing him to notice and recall tiny details of what he’s seen, an ability he uses to help solve crimes under the guise of being psychic. He’s kept up the lie for the last seven years, but the foundation is starting to crumble.
“Psych” wrapped its seventh season with a tumultuous finale- everything got turned upside-freaking-down, leaving fans itching to see how it’ll all turn out. Thankfully, the series has been picked up for an eighth season consisting of ten episodes, with the contents of one episode being chosen through an online poll. This short season, plus the fact that Maggie Lawson (Juliet) has scored a gig on another show, has everyone speculating that this might be the final season of “Psych”, although nothing official has been announced yet. Well, we were at San Diego Comic Con 2013 to find out the scoop on the newest season and if indeed it will be the last, and here’s what we learned.
NOTE: Season 7 Spoilers Below
We’ll See Different Sides of Detective Lassiter and Juliet
Detective Lassiter (Timothy Omundson) and Juliet (Maggie Lawson) will both be going through some serious stuff in season eight. Omundson explained, “You get to see sides of Lassiter that you didn’t even know existed, let alone thought he had.” Thinking back on what we’ve seen of Lassiter already and his tough love motto, this seems a little scary- of course, he could mean we’ll see a softer, more loving side of Lassie, which may be equally scary.
Lawson had this to say about Juliet’s journey: “We go into season eight with a heaviness, the reality that there’s stuff we [Shawn and Juliet] have to work through. So it’s very relationship-y in that we get into that a lot. We have to be adults in a relationship which is definitely new, especially for Shawn. There there’s some stuff with us [Lassie and Juliet] too. Season eight is definitely crazier.”
We Won’t Be Seeing Chief Vick as Much
Season seven left Chief Vick (Kirsten Nelson) on a six month suspension, so we had to ask will that affect her involvement in the new season, to which she gave a straightforward, “It will.” She explained, “I got a heads up. I am there, we have to get some things rolling and I’m kind of pivotal to making things happen. It’s a little sad.” Corbin Bernsen was there, however, to remind her of the good to come out of it saying, “It paved the way for her to get to direct an episode.” Even though we might not see Chief Vick as much, Nelson will still have a big impact on the show through directing.
Despereaux Will Return!
Cary Elwes joined the press room to talk about how Despereaux’s relationship with Shawn will develop: “I think he [Despereaux] almost considers him [Shawn] as equal, but not quite. What’s frustrating about Shawn is that he likes to taunt Despereaux. And we get to see some real wonderful taunting going on. And this episode raises the level of taunts to a new high. We get to see Despereaux’s exasperation, but there’s some real love there. There’s a bromance going on which is really nice.” He also teased that Interpol and Vinnie Jones are involved in season eight, and that it’s all “really, really funny.”
The Producers Call a Do Over on One of Their Own Episodes
Executive producers Steve Franks (creator), Kelly Kulchak, Chris Henze talked about some of the themes of season eight episodes revealing that they decided to remake one of their own episodes! Franks said, “We’re really checked off a lot of the boxes. I think I’ve done a version of every Spielberg movie at that point. It’s time for us to say ‘What can we do that we’ve never done before?’ Chris had the best idea- why don’t we remake the remake. Let’s remake one of our own episodes. We dug through the ones we thought were a little disappointing, maybe not as good as it could have possibly been for many reasons…it was us not fully understanding the potential of it.” Kulchak was excited about getting a do over saying they cast it with people who’ve been on ‘Psych’ before but “in new roles.”
Henze expanded on that thought, “We looked at the whole cast list with the exception of the lead guest star, who’s going through this problem. Everyone else has been in “Psych” once or twice, and they’re playing different roles in this one. So it’s really fun.
Harry Potter Meets Guy Ritchie!
Franks went into more details about what else fans can expect saying there would be a homage to Guy Ritchie: “When I wrote that episode I had this whole idea we’re going to go to London, we’re going to do a British gangster thing, it’s going to be really cool. I got half way through it, and said, ‘Hmmm doesn’t this feel a bit straightforward for ‘Psych?’ And I said, ‘What do I add to the mix to make it uniquely us?’ I realized what that needed was Harry Potter. Putting those elements together was utterly stupid and ridiculous and perfect!” Kulchak added, “And when I felt the most useful on the show!”
Season 8 May or May Not Be the Last
If the producers know anything official about whether or not season eight will be the last, they aren’t letting on. Franks noted, “There was a lot of speculation that season 3 would be the last.” To which Henze chimed in, “and season 4 and 5 and 6.” Just because everyone thinks it might be so doesn’t make it true. Franks went on to explain, “There’s nothing truly official. If we continue doing it, great! If we continue doing it through something else, great! Whether that’s a musical or feature films. We’re excited to do it because this is a great group of people and we’re not at any loss for ideas. We love doing it and we’re excited for new challenges. It’ll be hard to say goodbye but we’ll do it with a smile on our face.”
Sounds like fans have a lot to look forward to next year. You can watch “Psych” Wednesdays at 10PM ET/PT, 9PM CST on USA.
