‘Parks and Recreation’: The Moment Aubrey Plaza Knew April and Andy Would Become a Couple
Parks and Recreation is overflowing with incredible characters. Michael Schur’s TV show has one of the most lovable ensembles, due to all these exaggerated and opposing personalities being placed together in one room.
It can easily be argued that Andy Dwyer and April Ludgate are the best characters in the series. This is in part due to how hilarious the characters are every time they’re on-screen. When these two aren’t making us burst with laughter, they’re melting our hearts with their adorable relationship. According to Aubrey Plaza, she could pinpoint the exact moment when she knew Andy and April had a potential future together. Think you can guess the moment?
Why Andy Dwyer and April Ludgate work as a couple
It’s common for sitcoms to rely on the “will they won’t they” trope between leading romantic interests. This helps keep the tension alive and often makes things more exciting for viewers. We see it happen with Ross and Rachel on Friends. We see it with Nick and Jess on New Girl. It even happens with Jim and Pam on The Office. In these scenarios, the relationship between these characters is always more interesting and thrilling when they’re separated rather than happily together.
Yet it’s rare when a TV couple can simply be, without extra layers of drama added to the mix. Andy and April have one of the few relationships on television with no obstacles involved. Their dynamic is much more exciting to watch when they are a couple as opposed to when they’re not. This is because the characters work so well together. Burt Macklin and Janet Snakehole are so unconditionally in love that there’s no need for drama to keep it interesting.
Aubrey Plaza knew April and Andy would be a ‘thing’ in this scene
If you blink, you’ll miss it, but Plaza thinks the moment April and Andy had their first real spark was in the final episode of season 1. In the scene, Pratt’s character explains what kind of music his band Mouse Rat plays. He says it’s a bit of a combination between “The Fray and Matchbox 20.” Although everyone else passes this off as “typical dumb Andy,” April surprisingly supports his vision. April, who is notoriously cynical on the sitcom, finally shows some human compassion! As Plaza puts it, it’s a bit of a “revelation.”
Plaza reveals, “In that moment I was like, ‘I feel like April would think Andy is really cute. Maybe that’ll be something.’”
Chris Pratt thinks Andy and April had romantic potential in a different episode
Pratt says he didn’t think anything was going on between Andy and April until later. He believes that their dynamic shifted in “the hunting episode.” The Guardians of The Galaxy actor says,
“I think they liked our characters, but I have a feeling that they didn’t really know what to do with either one of us. So they put us in a room together, and it was the first time we ever had a story together. Because, at the time, Andy was very much in love with Anne. He was sort of blind to what was happening with April.”
Plaza then recalls, “I remember Greg (Daniels) was like, ‘You know, we’re just gonna see if Andy and April have chemistry. And if so, what kind?’ So it was kinda a moment for us to play with each other, and I think after that long day, everyone was like ‘Oh… this is totally gonna happen.’”
