Rob McElhenney: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's stunning and very serious season finale was in the works for 14 years

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"Very rarely do we have any kind of a real emotional resonance," says McElhenney of the Season 13 finale. "We’ve been working on this show for 14 years and we want to just try different things, see what works and what doesn’t work. We like to stretch and do things that are a little bit scary." Asked about the epic moment at the end of the Season 13 finale, McElhenney responded: "Well, the impetus was twofold. I wanted to do something with my character in regards to his sexuality, something that wasn’t just played for jokes but that would resonate emotionally, and I wasn’t 100 percent sure what that would be. We didn’t want it to seem pandering or off-tone or off-brand or just un-Sunny. So, how do we find a way in which it feels like you’re still watching the same show and yet we’re addressing something that is so important to our culture right now?"

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• "The viewer recognizes that we're making satire," says McElhenney. "The joke is never Mac is gay. The joke is that Mac is despicable."