How Chris Pratt Wanted Andy And April To Die On Parks And Recreation
The quirky NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation came to a close in 2015, after seven hilarious seasons. Already set in what was then the near future — 2017 — the finale "One Last Ride" flashes forward even deeper into tomorrow to show us the fates of the characters who made up Pawnee, Indiana's most dedicated government office. Among other things, Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) serves two terms as the governor of Indiana, and possibly a term in the White House. All the regulars' endings are relatively happy, though if Chris Pratt had his way, things would've wound up a bit darker for his character, and he would have dragged Aubrey Plaza's April Ludgate down with him.
Introduced as Ann Perkins' (Rashida Jones) slacker boyfriend, Pratt's Andy Dwyer is regularly depicted as being just about the least intelligent character on Parks and Recreation who isn't working for Animal Control. Despite that limitation, after Ann dumps him, Andy eventually proves to have enough going on upstairs to realize he needs to change. He gets a job, finds a new girlfriend who eventually marries him, and does the kinds of things we never imagined would be possible for the guy who used to live in a pit.
According to Pratt and Parks and Recreation co-creator Michael Schur, regardless of how much Dwyer grew beyond his mental limitations, the actor wanted his character's series ending to reflect his core stupidity.
Andy wanted his and April's deaths to be a direct result of his stupidity
It all came out when the cast got together with Michael Schur on Late Night with Seth Meyers in February 2015 after the series finale aired (via THR). When Meyers asked Schur if any of the show's actors had ideas for the finale that didn't happen, Schur brought up Chris Pratt and the dark ending he had in mind for Andy and April.
According to Schur, Pratt took his inspiration from the finale of the HBO drama Six Feet Under. Had Pratt's idea been given a thumbs up, we would've seen shots of the cast with accompanying captions explaining how they all died. "When you saw April, it would be that she died of a broken heart," Pratt explained. Then the reason for the broken heart would be revealed — Andy Dwyer's death, which happens after he's "left in a hot car with all the windows rolled up."
Schur's response to Meyers summed up how we suspect most fans would feel about this. Schur recalled, "Pratt sent me a text that was like, 'It would be funny to see' — this wouldn't have actually been funny." Of course, while it definitely would have been a down note to end on, we can't say it wouldn't have been true to form for Mr. Dwyer.
Instead of dying, Andy and April made their own monster
So exactly how did Andy and April end their story? Well, neither of them died in a car. Instead, April resolved to look like death as she gave birth to her first child.
In the present timeline of the series finale, Andy has left his Johnny Karate kids' show behind to join April as she starts a new career in Washington DC. When we jump forward to Halloween 2022, Andy is desperate to have a child, telling April, "I want to put a babe in you, babe." Unfortunately, April is less thrilled at the idea. After a heart-to-heart with Leslie, April is apparently much more open to the notion, because on Halloween 2023 we see April in labor while wearing monster makeup. While technically Andy and April's son – Burt Snakehole Ludgate Karate Dracula Macklin Demon Jack-o-Lantern Dwyer (or Jack for short) — is born on November 1 after midnight, by using Liam Neeson's monologue from Taken, Andy convinces Dr. Saperstein (Henry Winkler) to change the time of birth to October 31, 11:59 pm so that April can say he was born on Halloween.
While it's still possible Andy's hot car death takes place off screen sometime after the births of his children, we're hoping that with at least two kids helping out, one of them would think to roll down a window for their old man.