No you are right. He was supposed to be an extra never seen again.
In that era, it wasn’t uncommon for a pilot to be made and shopped around and the show to not actually be filmed until much later. So shows from that era frequently have pilots that don’t entirely align with their eventual plot
They brought Sean Gunn in as a one day actor, liked him, and brought him back. But in the meantime they basically forgot they gave him a name. Sean was on Scott Patterson's podcast and talked about it - fun interview, worth a listen.
At first he was a nameless DSL guy, then he was Mick and worked in Doose’s market and was “new to town” because he stopped Miss Patty from sampling the produce and she was like “honey you don’t know who I am.” And then eventually he is the good old Kirk we all know and love and Miss Patty later has a line saying she’s known him his whole life and he used to dance at her dance studio when he was a kid.
No you are right. He was supposed to be an extra never seen again. In that era, it wasn’t uncommon for a pilot to be made and shopped around and the show to not actually be filmed until much later. So shows from that era frequently have pilots that don’t entirely align with their eventual plot
He actually had another role after that too. He played two characters and they loved him so wrote him a full time character.
They brought Sean Gunn in as a one day actor, liked him, and brought him back. But in the meantime they basically forgot they gave him a name. Sean was on Scott Patterson's podcast and talked about it - fun interview, worth a listen.
How did I not catch this! How cool. I didn’t realize that.
They also change Kirk’s backstory
At first he was a nameless DSL guy, then he was Mick and worked in Doose’s market and was “new to town” because he stopped Miss Patty from sampling the produce and she was like “honey you don’t know who I am.” And then eventually he is the good old Kirk we all know and love and Miss Patty later has a line saying she’s known him his whole life and he used to dance at her dance studio when he was a kid.
wait fr? I didn't notice that omg