‘Gettin’ at ’er’ one last time: Hulu’s ‘Letterkenny’ gifts fans final season
After nearly eight years, 12 seasons, 75 episodes and eight specials, Canadian premium network Crave's first-ever original series is calling it quits, bud. "Letterkenny," created by the series' leading star, Jared Keeso, has made the tough decision to pack up the Puppers following its 12th season, thus passing the torch to its hockey-driven spinoff series, “Shoresy” (also starring Keeso and also available on Hulu).
The final season -- full of dry double talk, loaded innuendo and small-town Canadian drama -- debuts Tuesday, Dec. 26, on Hulu.
Keeso's award-winning series was inspired by his own life growing up in the small town of Listowel, Ontario, and emerged from his own Twitter (now X) feed, titled "Listowel Problems." In a 2016 interview, the creator and actor told the Toronto Star, "What we do on 'Letterkenny' is we just take the portrait of small-town life and exaggerate and embellish the [expletive] out of it."
The fictional town of Letterkenny, whose inhabitants "belong to one of three groups: the hicks, the skids and the hockey players" (per Hulu), has become a staple TV visit for many households -- even the country town of Listowel has seen a bit of tourism since the show began in 2016.
Joining Keeso, who returns to his role as Wayne (and possibly in another cameo as Shoresy if fans are lucky), are fellow regulars Michelle Mylett as Katy, Nathan Dales as Daryl and K. Trevor Wilson as Dan. Also likely to return (but still unconfirmed as of writing) are Andrew Herr as Jonesy, Evan Stern as Roald, Dylan Playfair as Reilly and Tyler Johnston as Stewart.
While "Letterkenny" typically takes a quick-witted approach to slow-paced life events, it seems the writers have a lot cooked up for the final season. According to the official Hulu news release, there will be lots of laughs in order as the local nightlife kicks into high gear.
"In Season 12, the small town contends with a comedy night at Modean's, a country music hit, the Degens' bad influence, a new nightclub, and an encore at the Ag Hall," the writeup reads. "And that's just for starters."
The final season of "Letterkenny" is, as usual, headed up by Keeso and his creative partner, Jacob Tierney, who also works on "Shorsey" both behind the scenes and on-screen (he stars as the show's more uppity recurring character, Glen, a character he has played in 42 episodes of the pair's flagship series, as of writing).
While "Letterkenny" fans, cast and crew are sad to see the show go, they are exiting with two Writers Guild of Canada Screenwriting Awards (Keeso and Tierney won in 2017 for the episode "Super Soft Birthday" and in 2018 for "Relationships") and 12 Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Comedy Series in 2017, Best Editing in a Comedy Program or Series (Kyle Martin, for "Sleepover"), and repeat wins for Best Writing (annually from 2017-20) and Best Direction (2017, 2018, 2020) in a Comedy Series.
As for the decision to end the show after more than 80 installments, Keeso says, "I think we've done everything that we can do on that show."
"I'm always looking for something new and exciting to do with the characters, a new opportunity to develop them, to help the audience understand them just a little bit better," Keeso added in the Crave news release. "It gets tough around the 50 mark, and it gets really tough around the 70 mark. I guess I decided at the 80 mark that that was it."