'House' EP David Shore on the shocking season finale and the show sans Cuddy
by Sandra Gonzalez
The creative team at House has their work cut out for them next season following the departure of one of their beloved leading ladies, Lisa Edelstein. But David Shore is more than up for the task. This morning, following last night’s shocking finale, Shore called up EW to reflect on the episode, the season of Huddy, and what fans can expect next season.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I have to start off by asking, did House want to run over Cuddy and Co.?
DAVID SHORE: No. I think he was aiming at the house — not at the people. Obviously, he was taking a huge risk, but I don’t think he was trying to kill anyone off, but I think he was risking killing some people.
Did you see the crash, that grand gesture, as closure for him or just a boiling over of emotion?
Both and probably so much more. I hate to tell audiences what to think of gestures. We write the gestures, and the gestures are motivated, but complicated. So I’m sure it’s all those things and more.
What’s the “and more” in your perspective?
Well, I’m sure there was a lot more going on in his head — what he was trying to achieve, what he was thinking about, what he wasn’t thinking about.
That last shot we saw him in, are we to assume he fled to a different country?
Yup. Far away.
Last time time I talked to Greg Yaitanes, he mentioned that the Huddy existence had sort of become a bigger thing than y’all expected. Initially, when writing this finale, was this crash meant to be an eventual clean slate for them, a reset?
It was a clean slate and a reset. I’m not sure those are different things. That [relationship] was something we enjoyed, but we don’t want to just continue retracing our steps. We want to move on to new things and different things. And perhaps to some extent go back to simpler times on the show. The purer times of House the character. We’d had enough — for the moment — of the relationship stuff. We’ll find more to do in the future. We wanted to be able to explore different aspects] in the future.
When you went into the finale, were you aware of the cast situation you’d be in? Did you get a chance to write accordingly? (Edelstein announced last week she would not be returning for the show’s eighth season.)
No. We lucked out, I suppose, in that regard because [the finale] does allow for that creatively. But that was not what was intended. That was not what was planned. We have to figure out what’s going to happen. With problems, come opportunities. We’re looking forward to figuring out where we go next year and what cool stuff we’re going to do.
I think fans are excited to see where you go. Any idea what that looks like at this point?
You’re going to have to watch next season. [Laughs]
In retrospect, what’s been the highlight storytelling wise, for you?
You know, the Huddy stuff, it couldn’t work indefinitely. I never thought it could work indefinitely. House is just not somebody who is born to be in a nice, domestic relationship. But I did enjoy the relationship. I enjoyed the trip. I think we did a good job of letting House be House and Cuddy be Cuddy while still, at the same time, being House and Cuddy. I enjoyed that.
Switching gears really quick to Taub (Peter Jacobson), you left his story in a hilarious place. Two pregnancy announcements with two different women in two weeks?
I’m amazed at how many people have since told me that, “Oh yeah, I got a friend who’s in a similar situation.” [Laughs] So I’m sorry! I’m sorry, world.
What made you want to do that to him?
This is a character who just can’t control himself it seems. He loves his wife. He’s capable of great love, but also great mistakes. So throwing him in the middle of it seemed like an attractive option.
Lastly, the show is really good, I feel, at reinvention. You get House into these situations — like the psych ward — where it seems like there’s no way back. Then, you find this tiny thing to reset things with. Can we expect something similar here or can we expect a total 180 change?
In a way, I think you can expect a similar recurrence. I never want to completely turn this show into a different show. That’s too easy. The challenge to me is to have life go on and yet it still be part and parcel in that life. Life goes on.
House (spoilers possible)
Originally Posted by Godfather
Wow... just watched it.
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