In that time, America got comfortable, and Fox renewed “The Moodys” for a second season in July 2020, seven months after the “first season” averaged more live viewers than comedy staples like “Family Guy” and “Bob’s Burgers.” (Season 1 snagged nearly 2 million live viewers over three nights.) With Season 2 set to premiere April 1, Fox released a new trailer for “The Moodys” (which you can watch below), while the cast and creators took part in Fox’s TCA panel Wednesday afternoon to tease what’s in store for their first non-holiday adventures.

“What Rob [Greenberg], Bob [Fisher], and Tad [Quill] have created has so many elements of other people’s lives, so I was able to talk to them about their personal experiences,” Leary said about expanding the show beyond Christmas. “But anybody who has adult children […] you do have a lot of love and anger and stories and experiences to build on, especially after dealing with them as adults.” Related ‘Monarch’ Canceled at Fox After 1 Season No One Understands Why Fox and News Corp Would Recombine Related Growing Number of Contenders Makes 2023 Best International Feature Race Less Predictable 51 Directors’ Favorite Horror Movies: Bong Joon Ho, Quentin Tarantino, Guillermo del Toro, and More
Leary plays Sean Sr., who at the start of Season 2 is contemplating retirement. He hops in an RV with his wife, Ann (Elizabeth Perkins), to tour the country and leaves the family HVAC business in the hands of his eldest son, Sean Jr. (Jay Baruchel). But leaving the house behind for good isn’t so simple. Ann wants to keep working (as a psychologist), and Sean Jr. isn’t fully committed to a life fixing hearts and air conditioners. Meanwhile, the couple’s other two kids, Dan (Francois Arnaud) and Bridget (Chelsea Frei), end up needing a place to crash while working out their life plans, and suddenly, all the Moodys are under the same roof once more. Shenanigans ensue. Leary spoke to how the series incorporates outlandish comedy and more earnest pathos, while noting that he can see both sides of most disagreements. “As crazy as this family might be, I have to admit that some of my regrets in life are what I put my parents through,” he said. “My mother remembers everything. She remembers what happened, who’s at fault, and her emotions at the time.” Still, Leery enjoys being an irascible patriarch, too. “I like to play the bad guys,” he said. “Everyone has their acting DNA, and the guy who’s sort of the straight arrow is not my thing.” One bad guy he won’t be reviving, however, is Tommy Gavin. Leery’s Emmy-nominated performance on “Rescue Me” helped make him a bankable TV star, but he has no interest in bringing the FX drama back for a new chapter. “They’ve asked a million times about doing a ‘Rescue Me’ movie or a reboot, and I don’t think [co-creator] Peter [Tolan] or I want to go back there,” Leery said. “I wouldn’t say [the finale] is the be all, end all for every television series, but we ended in the place we wanted to be.”

“But Peter and I are talking, we talk maybe once a week, and we’re talking about maybe doing something together again,” he said. “But it wouldn’t be ‘Rescue Me.’ It would be something new.” Leery knows better than to open that door again, especially when he’s got a full house already. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8pQWa_5auM “The Moodys” premieres Thursday, April 1 at 9 p.m. ET on Fox. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.