In Ryan Reynolds’ newest movie, the time travel adventure The Adam Project coming to Netflix on March 11, the actor makes a daring escape to the past.
In real life, Reynolds is hoping to do the same.
At the New York City premiere of The Adam Project, Reynolds briefly spoke about the return of two of his projects. On the status of Deadpool 3: “I’m gonna have a few updates sooner than later,” he tells Inverse. Fair enough.
But when pressed on a theoretical reunion of his mostly-forgotten sitcom, Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place, Reynolds’ eyes light up.
“I would do that in a heart beat,” he says. “That was one of the best jobs I’ve ever had in my life. Truly. I mean it. I loved every second of it.”
Reynolds adds that he “loved that cast desperately” and that he’s still in touch with some of his co-stars. “Even yesterday I spoke with Nathan Fillion and Traylor Howard. But yeah, hopefully, we’ll see.”
This isn’t the first time Inverse has spoken to the cast of Two Guys and a Girl. Last summer, during the promotional tour for The Suicide Squad, Nathan Fillion also said he was in contact with an unnamed co-star and verbally discussed the possibility of a reunion.
“A couple of years ago, I ran into one of my former cast members,” Fillion told Inverse. “We were laughing about old times, and he mentioned, ‘Wouldn’t a reunion be great?’ Wouldn’t that be cool? Just do a one-off and see what happens. So yeah, it’s been mentioned. Nothing’s planned. Nothing’s in the works. But the idea has been tossed around.”
From 1998 to 2001, Reynolds starred as medical student Berg in the ABC sitcom Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place. Like most single-camera sitcoms of the time, the show revolved around a group of twentysomethings as they navigated their adult lives in Boston.
The “two guys” in the title worked part-time at Beacon Street Pizza. Like Cheers, the restaurant served as the primary setting where most of the show’s shenanigans took place. After two seasons, the title was shortened to Two Guys and a Girl after the characters quit their jobs serving slices.
Reynolds co-starred in the series with Richard Ruccolo (Rita Rocks) and Traylor Howard, who later starred in Monk. The show also had Suzanne Cryer (Silicon Valley) and Nathan Fillion — of Firefly and Castle fame — in the role of major love interests, which promoted them to series regulars.
While the series was a ratings smash in its early run — its premiere episode was watched by 17.94 million viewers on ABC — viewership dipped after the show was moved to Friday nights for its fourth season and was eventually canceled. In a novel twist that spoke to the meteoric rise of the internet, the series’ final episode allowed audiences to vote online on four different endings that decided which of the show’s female leads was pregnant.
While the last few years have seen a surge of nostalgia-driven reunion specials, from Parks and Recreation’s sequel set over Zoom to both Friends and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air hosting reunion talk shows on HBO Max, not all shows are popular enough to get the same treatment.
Two Guys and a Girl has fans who fondly remember it in YouTube’s comment section, but the show has practically vanished due to its lack of syndication on cable television and availability on any streaming service. Legally, the only way to watch the show in any format is to buy the DVD set (yes, DVD) released by Shout! Factory in 2016.
Still, with Ryan Reynolds’ continued status as a major movie star and Nathan Fillion’s own cult success in fandom circles, there could be enough dough left in the kitchen for the Beacon Street Pizza crew to serve one more large pie.
The Adam Project releases March 11 on Netflix.
