McElhenney might be the only Philly native on the cast, but the rest of the “It’s Always Sunny” gang are now considered honorary Philadelphians. The city embraces them as locals, and even when they step outside of it, they are forever linked with Philly in the minds of their fans. Even Danny DeVito, who was a household name before the series began, is associated with Philadelphia everywhere he goes. “I’m from Jersey, a little bit outside from Philly,” the star explained in an interview with Showbiz Junkies:
“But wherever I go now, since the show’s been on and very popular all over the world basically, I mean, people will say to me things like, ‘Go Philly! Hey, Philly!’ something like that, you know. So, I think all the people that I’ve encountered so far, no matter how base we are, they just think of it as kind of a cool thing and a feather in their cap, Philly people. They like our show, I think. And we like Philly too.”
There might be only be five members of the main cast, but Philadelphia is the unofficial sixth member of the gang. As McElhenney says, it’s certainly a character on the show, and to stop shooting the series on location would be like replacing one of the actors with AI. “It’s Always Sunny” has to feel true to Philadelphia, and if that means that the crew gets robbed from time to time, then so be it. Let’s hope that next time they shoot at Fairmount Park, they bring some security with them!