Casey Wilson “Hoped Against Hope” for “Happy Endings to Come Back

As Happy Endings star Casey Wilson explained in a recent interview, the ABC comedy almost didn’t have such a satisfying conclusion. Unable to blow the network brass with its first season ratings, the show hung in the balance for much of its initial run, but was eventually picked up for a second season last May.

“I didn’t know if it would come back, but I hoped against hope and I was thrilled when it came back,” she told the Wall Street Journal about the series, in which she plays a perpetually-single thirty-something. “I know how it is in Hollywood. You always have to work as an actor and you just never know. But we always knew he gave first position to our show, so it makes sense that people would want him, but we were all praying our show would come back and it did.”

The future of Happy Endings didn’t look so bright when fellow star Damon Wayans, Jr. signed on to Zooey Deschanel’s New Girl project. Although the actor did film the pilot episode for that show, he was replaced when it was announced that Happy Endings would be receiving more than a trial run. “We all had a very exciting night, a lot of drinking,” said Wilson, a Saturday Night Live cast member in 2008 and 2009.  

How did her experiences on the famous sketch show prepare her for the sitcom world? “It’s such a high-pressure environment, and the table reads were so high stakes,” she said. “I’m sort of less nervous during our table reads, because nothing has that pressure attached as much as performing on skyscraper at 11:30 on a Saturday night.”