Barry is full of twists and turns, but it’s the complete opposite when the camera stops rolling.
“Bill Hader is obviously, like, a smart guy. It’s a really funny show but it’s also a dark show, and it gets darker and darker but still stays funny,” Andre Hyland, who played Jason in the final season of Barry, exclusively told Us Weekly at the 2024 Screen Actors Guild Awards on Saturday, February 24. “That’s what I would tell [fans], and that’s about the biggest way to describe it.”
Barry earned three SAG Awards nominations for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series (for Hader, 45) and Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series. The show lost, with the comedy categories going to The Bear and star Jeremy Allen White, respectively, and the stunt team honor going to The Last of Us.
Barry premiered in 2018, in which Hader played a depressed, low-rent hitman from the Midwest. Dissatisfied with his life, he agrees to track down a mark in Los Angeles. His target is an aspiring actor and leads Barry to try his hand at theater instead of criminal enterprises. Barry also stars Henry Winkler, Stephen Root, Sarah Goldberg, Glenn Fleshler and Anthony Carrigan.
Barry’s series finale aired in June 2023, and the shocking ending even surprised the stars.
“When I read the last script, I had to really pull my jaw back up to my mouth. I’m telling you, it is amazing,” Winkler, 78, exclusively told Us in April 2023. “I don’t know how fans will [feel after the finale], I feel sad because I love those people — and I didn’t even get to act with most of them.”
Winkler, who played Hader’s character’s acting teacher, also marveled over the Saturday Night Live alum’s skills behind the scenes. (Hader cocreated, produced, wrote and directed episodes.)
“He is the producer. He is one of the writers. He is the director — he directed all eight episodes this year. And he is my acting partner. We have an unspoken connection, and I will miss him,” Winkler gushed at the time. “I will miss going to work. I will miss seeing that crew that took care of me for all these years. We’ve been doing it since 2016, and then the pandemic hit. It was a big break. So I’m so grateful that I was invited into that ensemble.”
Now that Barry has wrapped, the cast is focused on their next gigs. For Hyland, he “just shot” a film called Bad Man with Rob Riggle and Seann William Scott.
“Rob, he’s obviously from a comedy background and I come from a comedy background,” Hyland told Us on Saturday. “And Seann William Scott, I’ve never met him before and he [is] legit from Minnesota. When people say ‘Minnesota Nice,’ that’s how he was. He was, like, super easy. But it didn’t seem like BS. [It] was just like, ‘Well, this guy’s like a high-energy Mr. Rogers.’ He was an awesome dude.’”
With reporting by Sarah Jones
