Jason Lee Talks "Devastating" Cancellation of My Name is Earl

Jason Lee will reprise the role of Brodie Bruce for the fourth time in Kevin Smith's upcoming The Twilight of the Mallrats, continuing the story of the character Lee has played the longest (beginning in 1995 with Mallrats). The character Lee is most associated with, though, is probably Earl Hickey, the title lead on the hit sitcom My Name is Earl. The series ran for four seasons and 96 episodes between 2005 and 2009, then ended on a cliffhanger ending. Given the nature of Earl, the stakes of the cliffhanger weren't exactly life and death. Still, fans were disappointed when it became clear there wasn't going to be any kind of real resolution.

In a new interview with The Nine Club, Lee reveals that it hit the cast much the same way. Characterizing the cancellation as abrupt and out of the blue, Lee had nothing but kind words for series creator Greg Garcia, but was somewhat less charitable toward NBC.

"It was really devastating," Lee said, adding that fans are clearly still not over it. 

"There's probably not 4 days that goes by without somebody messaging me on Instagram, like, 'Dude, what happened to Earl?'" Lee said. "Or some people thinking it's my fault, like 'Dude, you left us stranded, what the hell?' Like, I'm not NBC, man. I didn't cancel the show. It was out of my hands."

"Greg Garcia the creator of the show...what he did with that show is incredible. He showed up on set one day and said, 'Hey, I have bad news, guys, looks like we're getting cancelled.' So like, 'Clean out your lockers' kind of vibe, and we're out of here."

You can see the clip below.

My Name is Earl starred Lee and his Mallrats co-star Ethan Suplee as a pair of brothers and small-time crooks. When Earl gets a scratch-off lottery ticket and wins a small fortune, only to immediately be struck by a car, he has some time to reflect on his choices in the hospital. After seeing Carson Daly on TV talking aobut the concept of karma, Earl decides that he needs to make a list of everything he has ever done wrong to another person, and make amends.

While the series ended with Earl's list incomplete, Garcia gave the character an offscreen happy ending in Raising Hope, his next series. In a brief clip on the local news, it's revealed that Earl finally completed his list, although when the anchor teases "...and you'll never guess how it ended," the TV was turned off, likely goofing on the real-world cliffhanger of the series finale. A planned comic book series set in the world of the show failed to materialize.