TV Guide interviewed executive producer Mike Schur, who spoke about what’s coming up in Season 6. You can read the full interview on TV Guide here – we’re interested in the Lucy portion of the interview and what’s coming up for her character of Diane. Season 6 begins 26 September.
You can find out more about Lucy’s role as Diane Lewis on the AUSXIP Lucy Lawless Parks and Recreation subsite
Now that Diane is pregnant, will we be seeing much more of Lucy Lawless?
Schur: It's a little bit like Ben, only more so because she lives in New Zealand. It's not always up to us whether we can have her. She's definitely going to be on the show in some capacity because of that storyline. We kept that super top secret and we actually got all the way to her showing up on the set without her knowing what she was doing. She showed up like, "OK, what's the scene." "You're pregnant, here's the scene. You have two lines and you're pregnant." That's going to be definitely a huge part of the year for Ron.
How will Ron be dealing with being a father?
Schur: There is a classic TV storyline that people have seen before where it's like, "I'm so terrified of being a dad!" That's not Ron really. It's not going to suddenly be like, "I don't know what I'm doing!" He's a pretty self-confident guy and a pretty stalwart gentleman. It's not going to suddenly make him flail around and make him a big goofball. But it is something that's very important to him and means a lot to him. There are a lot of storylines that are related to it without being [something] direct [like] "I have to take a baby class." Ron is a guy who goes a lot on gut and intuition. He has a lot of ability and acumen in a lot of areas and he's not the type to suddenly get shaken up to his core by this life change. A lot of ideas we're talking about are about his life shifting. He's a guy who's been really solitary his whole life, except for brief flair-ups with various women named Tammy. Now, his life is much more going to be about his wife and stepchildren and his biological child. He's going to make a little adjustment about the way he spends his time.
How will Ann handle Diane being pregnant?
Schur: You sort of saw that reaction in the finale last year when she was like, "Someone else is pregnant? I'm trying to get pregnant!" I don't think she's a vindictive person, so there won't be any ill-will towards Ron. But it's definitely a focus of her's in the premiere and going forward. She still very much wants to get pregnant, so that's going to be a big story for her about whether or not that can happen, when and how soon, etc.
You surprised viewers by having Ben and Leslie get married before the finale. So will we be waiting all season for Diane to give birth?
Schur: Part of that depends on how much we'll get Lucy. We're always trying to figure out ways to subvert expectation a little bit.
But she won't give birth in the premiere, right?
Schur: No, certainly not. [Laughs]
Parks and Recreation returns for Season 6 on Thursday, Sept. 26.
For more about Lucy's role as Diane on Parks and Recreation Season 5 visit the AUSXIP Lucy Lawless Parks and Recreation subsite