Tonight, the weird, wacky, and sometimes wise Wilfred comes to a close, as the finale caps off a season of jokes revolving around weed, feces, and sex with stuffed animals.
But there’s a beating heart lodged somewhere beneath Wilfred, one that attempts to transform the character of Ryan from a spineless young man on the verge of suicide to a man capable of tackling any life problem thrown his way.
On a recent conference call with reporters, Wilfred stars Elijah Wood and Jason Gann took some time to talk about tonight’s finale, and what could be in store for their characters come season two.
Here are the highlights:
On what we can expect from the Wilfred finale:
Jason Gann: Let's just say that there will be more questions than answers.
On whether the show’s focus will ever shift from Ryan’s point of view to Wilfred’s:
Jason: [Joking] Yes, it will be in black and white.
We may do that. Right now the formula seems to be working for us.
On whether the American version of Wilfred is better than the original Australian version (which also starred Gann):
Jason: It has surpassed my expectations. [Showrunner David Zuckerman] had a really good idea for the genesis of this version of the show … I also think that the [finale] is pretty tremendous. I’m really looking forward to seeing where we can take that in season 2.
On what about the Wilfred script attracted Elijah Wood to the FX series:
Elijah Wood: I’m always looking for something very different from anything I’ve done. I’m equally attracted to just simply a great script and not necessarily a great character.
On whether a sense of melancholy is needed for the show’s main characters, Ryan and Wilfred, to feel believable on screen:
Elijah: I think over the course of this season we’ve seen Ryan start to recover. I don’t know that the foundation will always be built on a sense of melancholy necessarily, but I think that that dynamic will continue to exist. I feel like it has to exist for that relationship to play out because ultimately it’s about Wilfred engaging Ryan in a way of life that he was unfamiliar with and ultimately trying to push Ryan to live a stronger, better life.
On what life would be like if Ryan was able to progress towards the point of no longer needing Wilfred:
Jason: I imagine that you'd probably see him sitting on a hill or something with a real dog and that would be kind of sad, but it'd be kind of good for the character. Whether I want to see that on the show, I don't know.
I think a really strong side of recovery is when the individual is not aware that they're recovering, that they're actually just living their life day-to-day without thinking about it. So, I guess I'd like to see him in the meantime sort of have some periods where he's actually doing okay and him and Wilfred are just kind of buddying around and getting into hi-jinks.
Catch the season finale of Wilfred tonight at 10 pm eastern on FX.
