Dan Levy is trying to prove he's more than the guy who made Schitt's Creek. That's both admirable and slightly terrifying.
The actor-writer-director is promoting Big Mistakes, his first major project since the beloved Canadian sitcom ended its six-season run in 2020 with an Emmy sweep and universal goodwill. In a CBS News interview, Levy discussed the pressure of following up a cultural phenomenon.
Schitt's Creek was one of those rare shows that felt genuinely original. A wealthy family loses everything and has to rebuild in a small town - not exactly revolutionary. But Levy (along with his father Eugene) infused it with radical kindness. Characters grew without being humiliated. LGBTQ+ storylines existed without trauma. People were allowed to be flawed and lovable simultaneously.
That's a tough act to follow. Ask Tina Fey about Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt or Mike Schur about Rutherford Falls. When you create something culturally significant, audiences expect lightning to strike twice.
The title Big Mistakes suggests Levy knows this. There's a self-awareness there - an acknowledgment that whatever comes next will be measured against Schitt's Creek and might not live up to the comparison. That's healthy. Better to embrace the risk than pretend it doesn't exist.
What's less clear from the interview is what Big Mistakes actually is. Is it another family comedy? A pivot to drama? Something more experimental? Levy has been cagey about details, which could mean he's still figuring it out or that he's protecting a genuinely surprising concept.
The smart move would be to not try to recreate Schitt's Creek. That show worked because it felt personal - a specific vision from a specific creator. Trying to replicate it would just produce a pale imitation. Levy needs to risk failure by doing something different.
The entertainment industry isn't kind to one-hit wonders. For every Phoebe Waller-Bridge who followed Fleabag with successful projects, there are creators who never escape their signature work. Levy is young enough (44) and talented enough to build a full career, but only if Big Mistakes proves he has range.
There's also the question of scale. Schitt's Creek started as a cult hit on Canadian TV before Netflix turned it into a global phenomenon. Does Levy swing for that bigger audience immediately, or does he return to more intimate storytelling?
In Hollywood, nobody knows anything - except me, occasionally. But here's what I suspect: Dan Levy is smart enough to know he can't repeat himself. Whether Big Mistakes succeeds or fails, it'll at least be interesting. That's more than most post-success projects can claim.
