‘Parks and Recreation’: The Biggest Surprises the Cast Learned About Their Characters
Parks and Recreation holds a special place in our hearts. We just can’t seem to get enough of the Pawnee gang. We even find ourselves missing the obnoxious antics between Jean Ralphio and Mona Lisa! Luckily, P&R fans can travel back to the Parks Department or the Snakehole Lounge wherever they feel like it because the feel-good series can be streamed all over the internet. Netflix, Hulu, and Peacock? It’s a dream come true! What’s more, the cast members of Parks and Recreation have revealed the biggest surprises they’ve learned about their on-screen characters.
The ‘Parks and Recreation’ characters are loosely based on the actors that play them
The characters on this show seem a lot like exaggerated versions of the actors themselves. Aubrey Plaza is just as dark and deadpan as April Ludgate. Rob Lowe is *literally* as peppy as Chris Traeger. And Amy Poehler is just as likely to choose “waffles, friends, and work” as her top priorities, just like Leslie Knope. Even the actors admit that they’re quite similar to their Parks and Rec personas.
The biggest surprise the actors learned about their characters
What makes Parks and Recreation so great is that the characters on the show are constantly surprising us. Just when we think April is “Satan’s niece,” she reveals a mushy soft side that we never saw coming. And just when we think Andy has a brain the size of a goldfish, he says something profoundly brilliant. These little moments are some of the best on the show because we get to see the characters grow up and mature into fully fleshed-out human beings. The more dimensions these characters have, the more we end up appreciating them.
In an interview with the Parks and Recreation cast, the actors reveal the biggest surprises they’ve learned about their characters. For Poehler, she says it was the moment she found out Leslie Knope is a hoarder. This shocked audiences as well, considering her character is the most organized human on earth. (She has a color-coded binder for everything.)
For Plaza, it was all the little moments when April showed human compassion and kindness. (Makes sense.)
And for Adam Scott, it was learning that Ben Wyatt is a sucker for claymation. He adds, “when you read these things, you have no idea what’s coming down the pike until you get the script, and you read these hilarious things they write for you. It kind of opens up this whole other world for the character. It’s really funny.”
Where do the cast members see their characters in ten years from now?
In the interview, the cast members of Parks and Recreation share where they see their characters in a decade. Plaza says she believes Andy and April will still be married, with five kids. Pratt agrees, saying, “assuming we survive the zombie apocalypse.”
Scott thinks Leslie and Ben are definitely still together. He adds, “I would hope that they’re still very busy, whether living in Washington, D.C together, or in Pawnee.”
We hope so, too!
