The premiere of Psych: The Movie on Dec. 7 was a little bittersweet because one familiar face was not in it nearly as much as fans would have liked. Tim Omundson's Carlton Lassiter had one Psych movie scene, and it left viewers wanting more. It's totally understandable that Omundson wasn't able to be in the movie for longer, as he suffered a stroke in May that led to a massive re-write of the movie. But the cast, crew, and fans alike want more. Fortunately, Lassiter would definitely be in the Psych movie sequel if it were to happen and he were feeling well enough.
Creator Steve Franks told Entertainment Weekly that he has a six-movie plan for Psych, and if the second one gets picked up, it's going to heavily feature Lassiter. It would also have some scenes originally written for the first movie that had to be taken out after Omundson's stroke.
“There’s some great, great stuff that took place in Santa Barbara, and movie two is certainly going to utilize some of those bits. The entire scenes, word-for-word, will be in the second movie,” Franks told EW. “The idea is that the second one would be the one that we would do to fully have everybody back together in the same room at the same time.”
The cast echoes the desire to have Omundson back for movie number two during my interviews with them at New York Comic Con. Kirsten Nelson, who plays Karen Vick, says, "I think the second movie is going to be about Lassiter. I think it has to be. It's this really, super crummy situation that we will use to our advantage. You have to see him. ... I think the fans, I think the cast needs to see him be a part of that onscreen family again. ... We need to do a second one if only to have Lassiter's story be told in a really big way."
One person who especially missed Omundson during the movie was Maggie Lawson, whose character, Juliet O'Hara, was detective partners with Lassiter for much of the show.
"His absence was so felt," Lawson says of her close friend. "That was hard for me. Organically in the script in the show, I went with the chief [to San Francisco], so story wise it worked out. But I missed him so much."
Still, the fact that Omundson was able to participate in the movie at all is something James Roday, who plays Shawn Spencer, calls "nothing short of a miracle." In the short scene, Juliet calls her former partner for some advice, and Omundson's face appears on her phone screen to offer her some of his classic Lassiter wisdom.
It was sadly apparent during the scene that Omundson had a lot of recovery ahead of him — at least at the time it was filmed. But producer Chris Henze is hopeful that Omundson will recover in time to rejoin the cast for a possible second movie.
"We're fortunate enough that he's OK, because a lot of times, people aren't. He's doing really well and it's just a matter of rehabbing," Henze says. "It could've been so much worse and we're so happy that he's with us and healthy and on the mend. ... We want more of him."
It appears that Omundson wants that, too. Although he hasn't yet talked about any movie sequel plans, he is still very close to his cast mates and was promoting the movie on Twitter ahead of the premiere. During the movie's airing on Thursday night, he took to Twitter to share some public love for his co-stars.
So, it seems that as long as Omundson is feeling up to it, and USA greenlights a sequel, the part is his for the taking. And after so long, it will be really good to have the full Psych family back together again on our screens. Hopefully it happens sooner rather than later.
