Fact: Leslie and Ben on Parks and Recreation are 100 percent unhateable. The scientific community has studied it. So when we met up with the cast and crew behind P-Rex last night at PaleyFest and they started talking about "monkey wrenches" (say what?!) and "twists" (the nerve!) ahead for our favorite Pawnee couple, well, let's just say we were, um, "intrigued" (read: totally freaking panicked!).
Parks and Recreation is planning something so big for the season finale that they shot multiple versions of the ending. So what is that about? And what can we tell you about the show's core couple? Here are the highlights of what Amy Poehler and crew spilled:
Something's Up With Ben and Leslie: While Amy swooned over our idea for Ben (Adam Scott) and Leslie to get married and have lots of babies (yee!), she pointed out that Ben and Leslie aren't tying the know anytime soon. However, "There are going to be big things happening in the end of the season. I can't tell you what they are! The writers take such tender care of it, but they really do throw in some monkey wrenches." Poehler calls the end of the season "juicy."
While writer Dan Goor told us "there are exciting twists and turns ahead" for the show's core couple, fellow writer Dean Holland had a weird response when we asked if we should be worried for the future of Ben and Leslie: "I don't think worried is the right word. [There's] a big obstacle [ahead]." When we blurted out the theory that Leslie falls for Paul Rudd's character Bobby Newport, all we got was:
[Crickets.]
Hmm!
Paul Rudd Might Be Back: The writers and producers said they'd love for Paul to stick around beyond the current season. (As Goor put it, "He belongs in our world.") And Amy quipped, "Paul has been having such a good time that no matter what happens, we probably couldn't get rid of Bobby Newport even if we really wanted to." We are so down with that. Assuming, you know, there's no Bobby-Leslie romantic entanglement.
No One Knows Whether Leslie Will Win: Creator Mike Schur and his team revealed that they have shot multiple outcomes of the city-council election night, which will be featured in the season finale. And while they think they know which way it will go, they left it open enough that they could have a last-minute change of heart. "It was really touching and moving to do both the acceptance and the concession speeches," Poehler said.
Tom and Ann WIll Go On: "As long as we stay away from it being an actual hard-core romantic couple," explains Holland, "as long as it's fun and kind of what we've already seen—they get together and break up, they get together and break up—I think it's hysterical."
Next Guest Star: Jennifer Aniston? OK, maybe so, maybe not, but now that P-Rex has scored Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes (he appears tomorrow night!), Poehler teases a cunning plan: " We're going to blaze through everybody that was on Will and Grace and then we're going to go through Friends and then Night Court. We're going to get everyone who ever went through Night Court." Hot!