On this past week’s episode of Welcome to Wrexham, which is ostensibly about the town of Wrexham and how it’s impacted by their football team, Ryan Reynolds made a big announcement… Rob McElhenney, who he co-owns the team with, will be making a cameo in Deadpool 3, aka Deadpool & Wolverine. But, here’s the important question… Will McElhenney cameo as Mac from It’s Always Sunny?
To back up the truck a bit, in case you’ve never watched the series it pivots between heartfelt explorations of the town of Wrexham and a bunch of goofy stuff involving its two celebrity owners. In “Temporary,” which aired on May 23, Reynolds had McElhenney on the set of the new Deadpool movie… Ostensibly in order to talk Wrexham business. In the process, we saw the duo chilling in Reynolds’ trailer, in full Deadpool costume with McElhenney wrapped in an enormous coat to hide his costume cameo.
Said Reynolds, per IGN, “Because of my busy schedule, I had to invite my co-chair, Rob McElhenney, to the set of Deadpool in London to discuss all things that are Wrexham. And, yes, I did have to promise him a role in the upcoming Deadpool film.”
The show later cut to a “scene” of Reynolds and McElhenney practicing lines, with everything blurred and even their dialogue bleeped. It’s all part of the joke, of course. Whether they were actually saying lines or not, doesn’t matter — everything is promo in Reynolds’ world. And of note, FX, which produces Welcome to Wrexham, is owned by Disney, which produces Deadpool & Wolverine. It’s all part of the same corporate machine.
…And you know what else is part of that machine? FXX’s long-running It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, which stars McElhenney as the character of Mac. While it’s entirely possible McElhenney could be playing a bit Marvel character like, I don’t know, Maggott, given the meta nature of the movies we wouldn’t put it past Reynolds and company to have McElhenney run through as Mac McDonald. Or possibly even actor Rob McElhenney, co-owner of the Wrexham football team. That would give plenty of opportunity for Reynolds in character as Deadpool to quip something like “I bet your co-owner is very handsome.”
Whatever McElhenney’s cameo in Deadpool 3: mission accomplished. The little doc show on FX and Hulu got an international spotlight due to the cameo news, the Deadpool & Wolverine promo chain — weird, tickets just went on sale, I wonder if this timing had anything to do with that? — trucks along, everyone wins. Or, I guess: Ryan Reynolds wins. So we win, too.
