What Happened To The Cast Of Chuck?

NBC spy show "Chuck" was about a regular guy named Chuck (Zachary Levi) who works at a big-box electronics store called Buy More. After he inadvertently has a CIA supercomputer downloaded to his brain, Chuck becomes a super-spy, finding himself embroiled in all sorts of espionage antics ... all while trying to hold down his day job.

"Chuck" picked up a loyal fan base thanks to its trademark blend of quirky humor and thrilling action. Though the show was repeatedly in danger of cancellation, fans rallied around the series, somehow convincing NBC to pick it up any time it seemed on the bubble. "The fans of 'Chuck' have been incredibly passionate and supportive of the show," NBC entertainment marketing president Adam Stotsky told TheWrap in 2009, when the network leaned into all the online chatter with an online game that encouraged fans to spread the word about the show on social media.

Ultimately, the show lasted five seasons, from 2007 to 2012. The fans are still devoted, as Levi told SiriusXM in 2023. "'Chuck' fans are some of my favorite people in the world," he said. "They have buoyed my career so long, and they continue to grow." Fans have indeed followed Levi as he's gone on to superhero stardom, but Chuck wasn't the only character people cared about. There were plenty of lovable characters in Chuck's orbit, and those actors won fans along the way, too. Here's what the cast of "Chuck" has been up to since the finale.

Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) is your average Buy More employee; he runs the Nerd Herd, a Geek Squad-style IT desk. Then Chuck accidentally absorbs all of the knowledge contained by a supercomputer called The Intersect, and his spy career is off and running. Levi played Chuck as a hapless guy who gradually learns to be the suave spy we're used to seeing in media, winning the girl and beating bad guys. Levi still loves "Chuck," telling "The Kelly Clarkson Show" in 2023 that he's been working on putting together a "Chuck" reunion movie. "All the cast is all ready to go!" he said. "We just need a script and we need the money and the green light."

In the years since "Chuck" went off the air, Levi has gone from superspy to superhero. He's the titular character in the "Shazam!" movies, playing a teenage boy in the body of an adult hero. Though "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" was one of the biggest box office bombs in superhero movie history, Levi still hoped the character would be folded into James Gunn's reimagining of DC's film franchise. "Wherever they collide me into them, I will be stoked," he told ScreenRant.

These days, Levi is also well-known for his outspoken right-wing politics. He regularly goes viral online for speaking out in support of President Donald Trump, against vaccines, and so on. "My cry to all of you out there, you closeted Trump voters," he said on Instagram, "it's now or never."

Once the CIA realizes that The Intersect has been implanted in the mind of a total everyman, they send an agent named Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) to keep watch. She acts as his handler, guiding him through a series of trials and tests as they put The Intersect to work battling villains. Of course, she's gorgeous and he's more charismatic than he initially seems; it's not so much a will-they-won't-they as it is a "why won't they just get together already." 

By the time the final season rolled around, Chuck and Sarah were married, and Strahovski told The Hollywood Reporter that she was glad they knew the show was coming to an end. "It's very bittersweet in a way," she said. "It's nice to know that we have an ending that we can ride towards that the fans will be happy with and not sort of a weird open ending."

After "Chuck," Strahovski starred in films like "The Guilt Trip," "I, Frankenstein," and "The Predator." She played Hannah on the seventh and eighth seasons of "Dexter," and she led the cast of the short-lived series "The Astronaut Wives Club."

In 2017, she joined the cast of "The Handmaid's Tale" as Serena Joy Waterford, one of the women in Gilead who help the regime oppress the titular handmaids. She played that part across all six seasons of the Hulu hit, telling IndieWire, "Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine how meaningful it would become to so many people."

In the early seasons of "Chuck," Joshua Gomez played Morgan Grimes as the even-nerdier best friend of Zachary Levi's Chuck. Morgan is a fellow employee at the Buy More, and it's not long before Chuck confides in his friend about the supercomputer in his brain. He becomes Chuck's sidekick, accompanying him on the occasional mission and often getting himself in trouble. 

By the end of the series, Chuck's had The Intersect removed, and it's instead been planted in Morgan's brain, giving the spunky companion a chance to be a hero too. "They both have matured, they both have become different people from where we started," Gomez reflected in an interview with Collider. "I mean, you look back at that and you go wow, you know, I was eating garbage out of a refrigerator in the break room and now, you know, now I still do that, but less." It's important for characters to have arcs!

Since "Chuck" ended, Gomez has appeared on shows like "Castle," "Scorpion," "Lucifer," "Dave," and "Minx." He also works as a composer, providing music for several short films and a television show called "An Uncandid Portrait."

During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cast of "Chuck" reunited for an online table read of an episode over Zoom. Sharing the link on his Instagram, Gomez wrote, "Hope this brings you as much joy as it did for us!"

Sarah wasn't the only CIA agent assigned to handle Chuck Bartowski. Along for the ride is her partner John Casey (Adam Baldwin), a gruff, tough-talking, hyper-masculine agent who has little patience for the geeky antics of Chuck and his friends. Over the course of the series, Casey softens up, but only a little bit; his job at the CIA is frequently in peril, and he sometimes has to go undercover as a Buy More employee, with regular retail customers testing his patience even further. "I've streamlined the ability to be cranky and funny at the same time," Baldwin told Daily Actor as the series drew to a close. "They gave me a lot of fun s*** to do."

Baldwin, who played one of the main characters on "Firefly," jumped from "Chuck" to several intense shows. He had arcs on "Leverage" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," and then beginning in 2014, he played Mike Slattery on "The Last Ship." Baldwin was a lead on the post-apocalyptic military series, which ran for five seasons. Looking back at yet another five-season run, Baldwin spoke with TellTaleTV about why this one was important to him. "You don't get a lot of special shows like this where you actually get to work with the Navy, and wear these costume uniforms, and ride on Navy ships, as it were, and be a part of something bigger," he said. "I think it's something bigger than just a television show."

"Chuck" is about Chuck's life as a spy, but it's also about his life as a retail employee. Sure, he has to contend with evildoers plotting to take over the world, but he also needs to explain his frequent absences to his boss, Big Mike (Mark Christopher Lawrence). Big Mike's mostly a hands-off guy — the kind of manager who prefers when he doesn't have to think about his employees — but because this show is also a comedy, he often finds himself embroiled in the schemes happening at the Buy More. 

Lawrence told Assignment X that he enjoyed the challenge of playing such a grumpy character, explaining, "In real life, I'm so nice all the time that to play the sort of surliness of Big Mike is probably the most fun for me, because it's a big stretch for me. In a way, the farther away from me it is, the more fun it is to do."

Lawrence has been busy since "Chuck." He's acted on shows like "Franklin & Bash," "Kirby Buckets," "Pitch," and "Malibu Dan the Family Man." Movie roles include "Cooties," "2nd Chance for Christmas," "Family Camp," "Bringing Back Christmas," and many more. He also played a character named Gene Marks on the first season of the BET+ series "All the Queen's Men," returning for season 4.

He also has a thriving comedy career on stage, touring the country performing for churches. He told Paltrocast, "I'll go wherever anybody will bring me."

In addition to Morgan and Big Mike, there are a few other Buy More employees who wind up becoming important to Chuck — and "Chuck." That group includes Jeff (Scott Krinsky), a middle-aged tech guy who helps customers with their Apple products despite severely lacking common sense in most other areas of his life. Later on, he reveals that he's been sleeping each night in a running van; the carbon monoxide poisoning stops once he gets a better sleeping arrangement, and suddenly, Jeff is revealed to be a pretty smart guy. That was a fun arc for Krinsky, who said in a behind-the-scenes video for the show (via YouTube), "It's been amazing, and he's been a really fun character to play. You know, he's had his sort of substance abuse problems, and his carbon monoxide ... Just a lot of great physical comedy."

Since the show ended, you may have spotted Krinsky in the Steve Jobs biopic "Jobs," or on television on "Togetherness," "Maron," or "Smothered," among many other roles. He also played Parsimonious John in Sean Baker's "Tangerine," which was shot entirely on iPhone.

Krinsky doesn't just act on screen; he's also a standup comedian. He told Joel Marshall's Lunch Therapy that he explored comedy because he was tired of collaborating with other people. "I was at a point where I just, you know, I just want to do something where I can be alone and focus on me. I don't have to rehearse with anyone," he said.

You can't have Jeff without his buddy Lester (Vik Sahay). After all, Chuck's not the only Nerd Herd employee with a big, life-altering secret; Jeff and Lester have one too. Together they form the band Jeffster, a group that transforms the bumbling fools into bona fide rock stars when they're off the clock. In a behind-the-scenes video for the show (via YouTube), Sahay reflected, "I think the first time that I picked up the microphone and we became Jeffster was ... something I'll never forget. It was a beautiful episode." He added, "Jeff and Lester create this little bubble of their own, this world that only really affects them."

Sahay has been on numerous shows since "Chuck" ended, popping in for episodes of "Lucifer," "Scorpion," "The Catch," "Grimm," "Preacher," "NCIS," "The X-Files," and more. He's also starred in films like "Bar Fight!" and "The Infiltrators." 

In 2023, he starred in "It Lives Inside," an Indian demon movie that proves scary is scary in any culture. He played Inesh, the main character's father, and he reflected on Instagram that the character was unusual. "It's not often, maybe not ever, that I get cast in the non-flashy role; the role that doesn't have flair madness aggression glamour in some way, doesn't have the set-pieces of action," he wrote. "But such was the case here. INESH. Inesh is remarkable to me in that he is the least flashy character I've played. He is just doing his best."

"Chuck" is about Chuck balancing his spy life with his retail life, but there's also a third aspect of the show. He's also got a robust home life, thanks to his close relationship with his sister Ellie (Sarah Lancaster). Throughout the early episodes of the series, Chuck desperately tries to keep his CIA life separate from his family; later, Ellie and her husband Devon (Ryan McPartlin) get drawn into the chaos of being related to a spy with a computer in his brain. "It's just been a whirlwind," Lancaster reflected in a behind-the-scenes video as the show reached its end (via YouTube). "I was 27 years old when we started. I was single, living in an apartment. Like, I have a house [now], I have a husband, I have a baby. I've gone a complete 180, and it's all during the duration of the show."

Lancaster is now a TV movie regular. She's starred in films like "Oh Christmas Tree!," "Love Finds You In Sugarcreek," "Looking for Mr. Right," "Christmas in the Smokies," and "Christmas on Holly Lane." She also led the cast of "Blue Ridge," an INSP Original film that produced a spin-off called "Blue Ridge: The Series" on The Cowboy Way Channel. Lancaster is particularly proud of the family-friendly nature of the show, telling The Brett Allan Show that it's doing more than just murder mysteries. "My storyline sort of encompasses the small-town family, and trying to make it work with a teenage daughter," she said.

Ryan McPartlin played Devon Woodcomb across all five seasons of "Chuck," though fans would know the character better as "Captain Awesome." Ellie's beloved is a frequently-shirtless dude who's typically just happy to be there, an excitable human puppy-dog type whose ever-present positivity is alternately inspiring and annoying. McPartlin told Maniac Magazine that he tried to act that way off camera too, reflecting, "It's funny because everyone kind of expects me, when I step on the set, to have that kind of Awesome energy. I'm on all the time, and it's go-go-go. And I usually am, to be honest. I'm happy to be working when I get there."

These days, in addition to roles on shows like "Why Women Kill" and "L.A.'s Finest," McPartlin is a certified Hallmark hunk. He's the guy acting out those things that happen in your typical Hallmark Christmas movie, offering warm-hearted hometown support to any number of city-dwelling professional women staying back in their childhood homes over the holidays. He's been in "Twinkle All The Way," "Once Upon a Main Street," "The Holiday Fix-Up," "The Flight Before Christmas," "A Very Vermont Christmas," and you get the idea. "I think the cliché answer is [that I started acting for] fame and money," McPartlin joked to The Hallmarkies Podcast. "Since neither of those worked out, I stuck around for the storytelling."

Bonita Friedericy played General Beckman across most of "Chuck," usually appearing via satellite video. She's Sarah and Casey's boss, the stern CIA official who gives the group their missions. Only occasionally did she join in on the action, but she helped set the tone for just about every episode of the show. Beckman told Assignment X that she enjoyed the challenge of appearing isolated from the cast, explaining, "I work with the other actors, and generally speaking, what happens is, we shoot all of their stuff and then I go run over and I sit at my desk and they shoot my stuff." Her "floating" set meant they fit her desk in wherever they could find space. "I actually have gotten very fond of the camera crew," she joked. "I'm usually crammed behind them, under their armpits or in weird locations, trying not to get run over."

Since "Chuck" ended, Friedericy has had arcs on many television shows. She was Sandra on two episodes of "How to Get Away with Murder," Patti Goldman on "American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson," Terri Loach on six episodes of "Preacher," and Nana across five seasons of "Dwight in Shining Armor." She told HoboTrashCan that she liked making a career out of shorter appearances like those, explaining, "Your job really is to know your lines, not bother anyone and be fun to work with. I do like the variety, I have to say. I'm a character actor."