You’ve no doubt noticed that one important face is missing from that group shot: Timothy Omundson, who plays Detective Lassiter. Omundson is absent from the from the reunion because he suffered a stroke shortly before production began on the movie, which meant Franks and Roday, who co-wrote the script, had to rework the story.
“[Omundson’s stroke] kind of forced us to rethink a lot. First and foremost, whether or not we should be making this movie — if it even made sense and if the timing was right or not. Then beyond that creatively, how do we make that work?” says Roday, who characterizes Omundson’s recovery as “remarkable.”
After talking with Omundson and his family, they decided to forge ahead and actually found a way for their friend to be part of the experience in some capacity. “There is most definitely a way that he appears in the movie,” says Franks. “We haven’t gotten to that point [in the editing process, yet]. I can’t say for 100 percent sure that he will, but I can say like 99.99 percent that we did everything we can to get Tim in the movie.”
Roday adds: “I think we found the best way possible to keep Lassiter very much a part of what we do, set him up to succeed in the future, and still give all of our Psych-Os an opportunity to see that ridiculously handsome mug of his.”