Why It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia Almost Didn't Cast Kaitlin Olson

It's borderline impossible to imagine "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" without Kaitlin Olson. As "Sweet" Dee Reynolds, an aspiring actress and comedian who takes nonstop abuse from her cohorts — brother Dennis Reynolds (Glenn Howerton), father Frank Reynolds (Danny DeVito), and "friends" Ronald "Mac" McDonald (Rob McElhenney) and Charlie Kelly (Charlie Day) — and dishes it back in return, Olson is a vital part of the series. But as it turns out, she almost didn't get the role ... because her future husband, McElhenney, had a problem with her audition.

In a Variety profile focused on Olson and McElhenney, who are now a major industry power couple, McElhenney admitted that, between him, Day, and Howerton — who all developed the series together — he was the least interested in casting Olson. Part of this is due to the fact that, during her audition, Olson skipped one line written specifically by McElhenney while reading with Day. When she was asked to improvise without the sides, Olson went for it. "I let go of the already funny stuff and concentrated on leveling up the rest of the material," the actress remembered. "After, I called my manager and said, 'The audition was great. I want this job. But I'm so pissed that I left out the funniest line that was already in there, because I was so focused on just making everything bounce better.'"

"So she leaves the room, we're no doubt 100% thinking she was awesome," McElhenney added. "But I don't know if her instincts were 100% right, because she left out the funniest line. Now, is it a coincidence that I happened to write that line? I was 26 years old, and probably very precious with what I was writing."

McElhenney ultimately gave in ... but this casting journey still wasn't finished "He caved and settled," Olson said. "And then I passed on the project." When Olson finally agreed to play Dee, another roadblock presented itself, which was that Dee was a sitcom stereotype, a "nagging" woman who just scolded the boys for their bad behavior. In the tradition of female characters permitted to be as messy as "the guys," like Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Elaine Benes on "Seinfeld," Olson wanted more from the role. "When they offered me the part, I asked for four scripts," she said. "And I was shocked, because they didn't have anything funny for Sweet Dee." McElhenney did some rewrites, Olson finally agreed to play Dee, and the two were off to the races. Little did they know that a showmance turned lifelong partnership would arise before long.

It's particularly amazing that Rob McElhenney was the lone holdout when it came to casting Kaitlin Olson on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," considering that the two met and fell in love on the delightfully offensive comedy series. They got married in 2008 and have two children together. How did that happen after Olson flubbed one of McElhenney's precious audition lines?

Echoing sentiments expressed by FX head honcho John Landgraf elsewhere in the profile, Olson said, "I was very impressed with this guy who wrote this thing, who was a waiter, just how well he ran our television show." She continued: 

"He looked like he was about 14 years old, and he just was like this little boy who just knew what he was doing. He was so smart; he was so funny; he was great at collaborating. I remember calling my friend and being like, 'I think I'm attracted to this person, but when I hug him, I can wrap my arms all the way around his body and back into myself. He's very thin and young.' He was not my type at all, and I was falling in love with him. And, um, he didn't feel the same way."

"I was professional!" McElhenney insisted, cutting in. Apparently, the two managed to keep their attraction under wraps until they both attended the wedding of their co-star Charlie Day and Mary Elizabeth Ellis, who plays the recurring role of the Waitress on "Always Sunny." That's when things got serious quickly. "I was finding myself on set, being in love with someone secretly, and thinking, 'This is bad,'" Olson recalled. "I wasn't just attracted to him anymore. I quickly fell very hard in love with him."

McElhenney and some of his co-stars revealed that there was a lot of very understandable trepidation about the two dating — Glenn Howerton says he yelled "'You idiot! You've got to be f**king kidding me. You know this is the stupidest possible thing you could be doing, right?'" after McElhenney revealed the two were in love — but they made sure the set remained professional. "I've always tried desperately, even in the beginning and even after we started dating, to compartmentalize and to make sure that when we were having a personal conversation, we were having a personal conversation," McElhenney told the outlet. "When we're having a professional one — and obviously those lines do get blurred — you try as best you can to make sure that what happens at work stays at work and vice versa."

Despite Glenn Howerton's strenous objections, Kaitlin Olson and Rob McElhenney are still going strong. This has, in many ways, all worked out for the best ... especially for Olson, who's able to balance her home and work lives thanks to McElhenney's help. "Being able to have kids while on a show where my husband's the showrunner, I just feel so fortunate to be able to have kids when I wanted to have them," Olson mused, "and still be able to work. And to have a husband who's working the rest of the year when we were shooting 'Sunny,' but I had a brand new baby, and so it was a couple months out of the year. I basically felt like a stay-at-home mom for years, and then would just work two months out of the year on 'Sunny.'"

Outside of "Always Sunny," McElhenney launched the sadly now-canceled Apple TV+ series "Mythic Quest" and won an Emmy for "Welcome to Wrexham," his ongoing docuseries about the football team he now owns with actor Ryan Reynolds. Olson stars in her own series, ABC's hit procedural "High Potential," and also plays a recurring role on the Emmy-winning HBO Max series "Hacks" as Deborah "D.J." Vance Jr., daughter to Jean Smart's lead Deborah Vance. 

Elsewhere in the profile, co-stars, friends, and collaborators were pretty effusive about the couple. "It would be very impressive if just one of them was going on a run, but the fact is that both of them are stringing together a series of real successes," Charlie Day said of his longtime friends and colleagues. "They're on a tear."

It's a good thing that McElhenney gave Olson the green light to play Dee Reynolds, at the end of the day ... because if he hadn't, the show may never have worked, and we might not get to enjoy all of this talented couple's projects. 

#"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is available to stream on Hulu now.