Kurt Fuller is coming to Night Court tonight, but that’s far from the first beloved comedy franchise he has popped up in. The veteran character actor, who has appeared in Ghostbusters II and Psych among other things, played Russell Finley, a TV producer and right-hand man to Rob Lowe’s Benjamin Kane in Wayne’s World. The movie was a monster success with a huge pop-culture footprint that carries on to this day, but both Kane and Finley were absent in the sequel. During a chat with ComicBook.com ahead of tonight’s Night Court, Fuller told us that it wasn’t always going to be that way.
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According to Fuller, there were numerous Wayne’s World 2 scripts, some of which featured him pretty heavily, but ultimately he wasn’t in it because Benjamin Kane wasn’t in it. The classic risk of being someone’s right-hand man!
“They had a bunch of scripts,” Fuller said. “They were going back and forth and back and forth and then ultimately it was becuase, I don’t know why, whether it was a scheduling thing or a money thing, but Rob Lowe ended up not doing it. And when Rob Lowe ended up not doing it, where he went, I went, becuase I worked for him. So there was an iteration where I had a really big part and that was quite a disappointment actually at the time, although i did get paid!”
In another interview this week, Fuller addressed the status of a fourth Psych movie, currently in development at Peacock. Star and executive producer James Roday Rodriguez said in February that the script was finished, and that it was a matter of getting a budget and a schedule together. When the first Psych movie was announced, series creator Steve Franks joked about a five-movie plan, but in the years since, Franks and the cast have all said that as long as the scripts are good, they would be happy to do as many Psych stories as Universal and the fan base have interest in.
“It’s interesting because I was just texting with James Roday yesterday, and he is playing things close to the vest,” Fuller said. “I don’t know anything, but I honestly think there’s going to be another one. I really do. I know it’s moving in that direction. But it’s really up to NBC. I really think the public is clamoring for one more Psych movie. Believe me, nobody is getting in the way of it, including NBC. It’s just got to be right. Everybody’s got to be available, and [the list] goes on and on. But if I had to bet, I would put my money on there being another one.”
One minor scheduling wrinkle could be hooking back up with Corbin Bernsen, who plays Henry Spencer, Shawn’s (Rodriguez) father. Bernsen recently signed up to appear in J.J. Abrams’s new series, Duster.
You can next see Fuller in tonight’s episode of Night Court, titled “Da Club.” It airs on NBC at 8 p.m. ET/PT tonight.