Andrew is such a major topic on Paramount+’s Crutch — but who should play the mysterious character?
Crutch, which premiered on Monday, November 3, introduced Tracy Morgan as a widower whose empty-nest plans get disrupted when his son (Jermaine Fowler) and daughter (Adrianna Mitchell) move back in and force him to adjust to his new normal.
Jamilah’s (Mitchell) move back home came amid a separation from her husband, Andrew, who went to rehab for a gambling addiction. At the end of season 1, Jamilah was making plans to remain in New York when she received divorce papers from Andrew — after he remained off screen the entire time.
“For some reason I thought Bill Skarsgård would be hilarious as your ex-husband,” Fowler, 37, told Mitchell, 35, during a joint interview with their costar Kecia Lewis for Us Weekly. “I looked at their kids and I go, ‘These are the sweetest kids.’ So their dad — I know we portray him as a bit of a jackass but the kids are great so we all got our issues, right?”
Fowler put a lot of thought into the actor potentially playing Andrew.
“I always wondered who could play both sides. He’s a pretty good dad but also someone who has got demons and who’s got issues that they’re trying to overcome,” he explained. “I don’t know who that person will be but whoever we cast — fingers crossed we get a season 2.”
According to Fowler and Mitchell, they envisioned a guy “a little bit older.”
“Maybe he is, like, 10 years older and we had kids super quick. I was young having [my onscreen] children so I had this thought that he was older,” Mitchell noted. “Then once we met my mother-in-law, I said, ‘Maybe he’s a redhead?’”
Lewis, 60, also pitched a potential contender: Will Swenson.
“I’m thinking about him because he is fine and Adrianna is gorgeous. The kids are gorgeous,” she shared. “He’s a wonderful actor and can do comedy well. It’s just the face I keep seeing. That would be Andrew.”
While discussing their theories, the trio opened up about what makes Crutch different.
“Now it’s one of the few Black shows — so that makes it stand out. I would say the chemistry is just very prevalent in the show. We all truly care about each other and love being around each other. So it started there,” Fowler explained. “One of the other things was we shot it in New York. It didn’t feel very procedural.”
He continued: “When we shot it in New York, it felt like the audience was very appreciative. The energy was special. It was one of those things where they were very excited to have a multi-cam film there after such a long time. They were really into it.”
Mitchell, meanwhile, praised the sitcom for pushing her as an actress.
“I just did a lot of backstory work because she has a 9-year-old and a 12-year-old and she’s only 30-something. Did they get married super young and then she left Harlem? So there was a lot of backstory that I feel like my character comes in with — and then there’s a lot of activity around what has just happened,” she shared. “I spent a lot of time just thinking through that and then also piecing it together because the script would change and give me new information about what had happened. So then I’d have to adjust what I was thinking. That was where I spent the most of my time.”
Crutch is currently streaming on Paramount+.
