'Psych' Movie Sequel on Hold

While NBC Universal is still interested in developing more Psych movies, one planned to go into production later this year has been delayed, TVLine reports.

In December, USA Network debuted Psych: The Movie, a holiday movie that picked up more or less where the long-running series left off and featured Shazam! star Zachary Levi as the villain. At the time, showrunner Steve Franks was quoted as saying he had plans for numerous sequels of the movie was a success.

So what's the hold up? As hardcore Psych-Os have expected, it's the unforgiving schedules of leading men James Roday and Dule Hill, both of whom are series regulars on other TV series.

Hill currently appears on Suits, the long-running USA Network procedural which has seen a good deal of cast turnover this year, with Katherine Heigl coming in and Meghan Markle stepping out.

Roday is the lead on the new ABC drama A Million Little Pieces, which also stars Valor's Christina Ochoa and Office Space's Ron Livingston.

TVLine suggests that "USA/UCP remain interested in making the unofficially-titled Psych: The Sequel, provided a production window opens up that works for the franchise's main players."

As early as 2014, when the series cancellation was announced, USA executives teased the prospect of more Shawn and Gus.

"Psych has made an indelible imprint on the television landscape, with a unique brand of comedy," network president Chris McCumber said at the time. "The final season celebrates the iconic characters that have made this show so beloved, and will be an exclamation point on the series' incredible run. And while the series will wrap in March somehow I don't believe we've heard the last of Shawn and Gus."

It took almost four years to get the first movie, but everyone -- including Roday and Hill -- expressed interest in more.

"I think when you only have to tell one story for two hours and you have a break between, the challenge is always going to be there to make that good, but we should be able to make that good," Roday told PopCulture.com during Comic Con last year. "It's one script, it's one story; we should be able to knock that out a couple of more times, at least."

Psych, which ran from 2006 until 2014 on USA, centered on Shawn Spencer (Roday), a slacker whose photographic memory and keen sense of deductive reasoning made him a perfect detective — except for his utter contempt for the local police, borne out of a bad relationship with his cop dad (who is also the one who groomed his detective skills; it's all very complicated). He found a way to have his cake and eat it too (along with lots of pineapples over 8 seasons) by convincing local law enforcement that he was a psychic and contracting out his services as a consultant.

A prospective sequel would likely bring back John Cena as the brother of Juliet O'Hara (Spencer's new wife, played by Maggie Lawson), and possibly recurring antagonist Pierre Despereaux (Cary Elwes, who originally sounded like he was going to appear in Psych: The Movie).