After showing off his new Marvel superhero universe ready body on Twitter last week, "Parks and Recreation" actor Chris Pratt shocked the world with his abs of steel. Among those surprised by his new look was "Parks and Rec" co-creator and showrunner Mike Schur.
"I was as shocked as everybody," Schur says. "I obviously knew he was getting in crazy good shape for this movie. He had already started by the time we wrapped last year. We'd been through this once before when he did Zero Dark Thirty, but not like he is now. That picture was insane."
In addition to having to explain the reason for Pratt's new body and why his character Andy Dwyer would have it, the show will also have to explain his absense in a few episodes during the first half of the new season while he is off filming Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy," where he'll play Star-Lord, a NASA astronaut who leads a team of other aliens and humans against forces that would destroy the Galaxy.
As daunting as the task may sound, Schur doesn't seem to be sweating the explination.
"We're gonna have to explain his absence for a few episodes, but hopefully, it won't be that disruptive." Schur jokes to TV Guide, "The only possible explanation for why someone looks that good is that they're planning to play a superhero in a summer blockbuster. There is a joke that I wrote in the premiere that I think we'll probably shoot that is a little tiny acknowledgement or nod to the fact that he looks very different to the way he normally looks. I don't think beyond a little joke about it that we'll end up doing anything significant. We're not going to suddenly say that Andy became a fitness nut because that doesn't ring true."
It isn't that far fetched, with the show being a comedy and news of Pratt's foray into the Marvel universe wide spread, it might end up being funnier if none of the characters of the fictional Pawnee Indiana notice their friend and co-worker's physical transformation.
