Schitt’s Creek gave each of its central characters a happy ending with a bright future, setting the stage perfectly for a well-timed revival. Such a revival would need to be approached with caution and care to avoid diminishing the satisfying conclusion of the original series. The popularity of reboots and spin-offs in recent years has shown that there are right and wrong ways to revisit a beloved story, especially one with an emotionally impactful ending. It would need to be timed right and set up in a way that doesn’t contradict each character’s happy ending.
The Rose family endured six seasons of comedic hardship in Schitt’s Creek. They grew closer to each other and, in surprising ways, found genuine happiness in the small town that became their reluctant home. Schitt’s Creek ended with Johnny becoming the proud owner of Rosebud Motel Group, Moira set to star in the reboot of Sunrise Bay, Alexis heading off to New York to work as a publicist, and David marrying Patrick and establishing a cozy home in the town he had grown to love. While they went their separate ways with love in their hearts, they could still return for a reboot.
Season 6 of Schitt’s Creek concluded the show in 2020, but its bittersweet ending perfectly highlighted the significant changes in each character. This gives the series excellent rewatchability, and since David and Patrick’s wedding finale, audiences have only fallen more in love with the show. This often creates the perfect recipe for a reboot, as fans are eager to see what happens next in the story they have watched repeatedly. However, this also means there is a lot at stake. Some of the most beloved shows have been ruined by revivals, and no one wants to see this repeated with Schitt’s Creek.
Returning too soon to the Rose family risks ruining the perfect ending by introducing conflict too quickly into their happily-ever-afters. The best part of Schitt’s Creek‘s finale is the implication that the Rose family is finally going to catch a break. They worked hard, learned their lessons, and could finally reap their rewards. They had come close several times before, only to have it taken away. It would be better to reboot the series after enough time has passed for the family members to enter new stages of their lives. This way, they wouldn’t be giving up their satisfying resolutions.
Since Schitt’s Creek ended with the individual members of the Rose family achieving their goals, a reboot would need to center around exploring new destinations. Perhaps after a decade or so, Johnny Rose decides it is time for him to step away from the (assumedly massively successful) Rosebud Motel Group. Maybe Moira found more satisfaction in ending her career after the successful Sunrise Bay reboot and wants to focus on the next stage of her life. Alexis and David are still young, so it can be assumed they would transition through several more life changes.
Regardless of what comes next for each character, it wouldn’t be enough to center a reboot on this alone. Every good series needs a conflict. In Schitt’s Creek, this was the deterioration of the Roses’ fortune and social status. Repeating this would ruin the conclusion of their previous story arc, so that would be out of the question. Instead, the new story may need to revolve around a conflict in another family’s life. This would allow the Rose family to use all the lessons they learned in the parent series to help someone else, back in the town of Schitt’s Creek, of course.
In the series finale, Johnny mentioned to Roland Schitt that since David still lived in town, he would undoubtedly be around from time to time. However, it would take more than a typical visit back to Schitt’s Creek to warrant a reboot. With everyone off doing their own thing, there would likely have to be some kind of disaster to bring everyone back all at once. So, what type of conflict would give Schitt’s Creek‘s Rose family an opportunity to use their newfound selflessness and humanitarianism to help someone out, allow them to start new chapters in their lives, and, most importantly, bring them back to Schitt’s Creek?
The most obvious storyline would be some kind of town disaster. At the end of Schitt’s Creek, Johnny Rose still owns the town. Some unexpected financial difficulty could strike the town and force Johnny to intervene, bringing the rest of the family along by extension. Or, since David and Patrick still live in Schitt’s Creek, it could be a disaster in their lives that inspires everyone to return and lend a helping hand. However, both these options would require the deterioration of their happy endings. Instead, a tragedy would need to befall someone outside the family—preferably in the most comical way possible.
