Ryan Phillippe's Time On Big Sky Wasn't As Brief As You Thought - Exclusive

Ryan Phillippe's latest movie, "Lady of the Manor," sees the actor team up with first-time directors Justin and Christian Long for a supernaturally-infused buddy comedy. Co-starring alongside Melanie Lynskey, Judy Greer, Luis Guzmán, and Justin Long, Phillippe portrays the heavily self-tanned Tanner Wadsworth. Much comedy ensues when Tanner hires Hannah (Lynskey) to work in his ancestral home, Wadsworth Manor, and give tours dressed up as Lady Wadsworth. However, things get weird when the ghost of Lady Wadsworth (Greer) appears to Hannah and starts making demands.

Fans of Phillippe are likely still recovering from his all-too-brief appearance in ABC's "Big Sky," after his character Cody bit the dust at the end of the pilot. However, Phillippe actually spent a lot longer working on the series than you might think. As the "I Know What You Did Last Summer" actor told Looper, "I was always really in support of the project itself and was excited to work on something that David E. Kelley was a part of. I'm excited that they're coming back with a Season 2 and I can't wait to watch it."

Looper caught up with Ryan Phillippe to find out why his time on "Big Sky" wasn't as short as we all initially thought.

Viewers might have been disappointed that Ryan Phillippe's character, Cody, bowed out in the first episode of "Big Sky" Season 1. However, the actor revealed that his time on the show was a lot less brief than it might have appeared to viewers. Phillippe explained to Looper, "Well, it was great to work on, and it wasn't as brief as it might seem because of all the complications ... We were the first show back, one of the first shows back, post-COVID or when they started to kind of get things back into production." 

Phillippe continued, "It was a little difficult. Initially, there was a two week quarantine prior to the filming. It was very strict, and then there were a lot of rules on set. Now, they're starting to adjust some of them based on more information and more experience working within this pandemic." 

Essentially, quarantine extended Phillippe's time on the show, and allowed the writers to use the actor in some extra scenes throughout the season. "'Big Sky' was really only supposed to be a two week commitment for me and I was up there for two months," Phillippe explained. "It was a lot longer. And then, they wanted to add me to a few flashbacks and those sorts of things." Regardless of how long he spent on the series, we're still not over his character's untimely death.

"Lady of the Manor" is out now in select theaters, on demand, and on Blu-ray and DVD.