Dan Levy Explains 'Big Mistakes' Shocking Finale Twist He and Rachel Sennott Planned From the Start

Four-time Emmy Award-winning actor, writer, producer, and director Dan Levy (Schitt's Creek) has made his official return to comedy television with Netflix's Big Mistakes. Season 1, available to stream now, is eight episodes of raucous bad behavior and hilarity, with a few twisty surprises for viewers. Speaking with Collider's Steve Weintraub, Levy breaks down the season finale's most unexpected turns and how he and co-creator Rachel Sennott (I Love LA) have had their five-season vision up their sleeves from day one.

In the show, Levy and Taylor Ortega (Another Simple Favor) play wildly inept siblings Nicky and Morgan. After a misguided theft for their grandma goes awry, the duo find themselves dragged into the seedy world of organized crime when they're blackmailed into increasingly dangerous assignments. Big Mistakes also stars Laurie Metcalf (Hacks), Elizabeth Perkins (Weeds), Abby Quinn (Hell of a Summer), and Jack Innanen (Adults).

Check out the full conversation with Levy in the video above or in the transcript below, where he explains what brought him back to comedy after the creatively fulfilling but exhausting Schitt's Creek and his feature directorial debut Good Grief. He also discusses being on Degrassi: The Next Generation and SNL, collaborating with Sennott, his five-season plan for Big Mistakes, and breaks down the Season 1 finale twists.

Dan Levy Calls 'Degrassi' a "Rite of Passage" for Canadian Actors

"Everyone's gone through it."

COLLIDER: I'm going to start with the most important question: What's cooler, being on SNL or Degrassi: The Next Generation?

DAN LEVY: Wow. That, I think, is an audience question. That's not for me to say. Degrassi is a coming-of-age rite of passage for a Canadian actor, so that will always hold a special place in my heart. You know you've made it when you've done Degrassi as a Canadian actor. And then, SNL is obviously SNL. It was such a blur, honestly, that I have trouble remembering it, even.

I think people in America don't understand that Degrassi is sort of like the Law & Order of Canada.

LEVY: That’s exactly right. It’s no longer on television, but it's the same kind of regard. Everyone's gone through it.

You won Emmys in 2020 for, I believe, writing, directing, producing, and acting, which nobody has done before. When you do something like that, do you think, at the end of the night, “Do I need to retire? It's never going to get better than this night?” Joking, but a little…

LEVY: [Laughs] No, I saw it as a vote of confidence, really. Here's the situation. I think that had it happened in a second season, it would have been different. The fact that it happened in the last season of our show felt like this gigantic celebration of all the work that everyone had put into it. So, as much as I was winning these awards, and this is not false modesty, it really did feel like, oh my gosh, this renegade team of Canadian people is being celebrated at the highest honor in American television. It was just a surreal moment. But yeah, I mean, if I want to retire now, I guess I theoretically could.

Dan Levy Had Five Seasons Planned Before Pitching Netflix

He talks about taking a break after Schitt's Creek and finally dipping his toes back into comedy.

I'm imagining that you came up with a lot of TV ideas. You came up with this with Rachel [Sennott]. What was it about this one that said this is the one I want to pursue? This is the one I really believe in?

LEVY: I didn't come up with other TV ideas.

Oh, this is the one.

LEVY: This is the one. I turned my brain off of TV. I just wanted a break. I put everything I could into Schitt's Creek, and we were making it up in Canada for very little money. It required so much blood, sweat, and tears from all of us that by the time the show was done, I was exhausted. I was really creatively fulfilled, but I was exhausted. The idea of jumping right back into another series was so daunting that I just had to lock the door on TV for a while and explore acting roles that were outside of anything I was writing for myself.

Then, inevitably, I made a film that meant a lot to me. I lost my dog, I lost my grandmother. I was able to make this film that I loved with people that I loved. It was exercising a different kind of skill, it was exercising a different muscle, and it made me feel really complete as an artist. I was able to really do something far away from what I had become known for.

It wasn't until after Good Grief was finished that I felt like, okay, I've explored that part of my creative curiosity. Now I can get back to television, and specifically to comedy. So, it was a long time before I even wanted to touch TV again. And then this idea came to me, and I knew it was a good one when Rachel and I sat down and started to flesh it out, and it just kept revealing itself to me.

So, you go into Netflix and pitch. Were they asking you if you had an idea for two or three seasons in case this thing goes, or how much is this, like, you're going to make one season and then let's see what happens?

LEVY: I don't pitch an idea unless I know exactly where it ends. So, I went into the pitch knowing not just what I would like for potentially five seasons of this show, but also exactly how the show ends. I think in order to ask for the money to make something, you really have to know what it is you're making. I also feel like in order to earn the audience's attention, for as long as you ask of them, you have to deliver. So, part of it is fleshing the idea out to the point where I feel confident going into that pitch, not only to say, “If you don't pick this up, I don't know what to say. It's a great idea. It's sealed tight,” but also, “I know exactly where I'm taking it. Let me do this. I have confidence, so you should have confidence.”

Dan Levy Breaks Down the Finale’s Biggest Twist

"We knew before we even started writing the first episode."

The last three episodes get pretty intense. I did not see that shootout coming, and I definitely didn't expect the Elizabeth Perkins reveal. Part one is that shootout and why that was important, and can you talk about the ultimate reveal of the Season 1 finale and how you got there in terms of the writing process?

LEVY: We knew before we even started writing the first episode that that would be how the season ends. It was a funny idea to Rachel and me when we were playing around with it that the mother-in-law be this perceived villain in the end, who was kind of marionetting everybody through this entire season. Also, I love the idea of a rewatch. I love writing something that, if you were to go back and rewatch, you would notice little things that we'd planted.

The shootout in Miami, it was a domino tipping in Episode 1 that led to this propulsive story, and it felt like in the writers’ room we needed something to really kick things up a notch. They had kind of had a relatively easy ride up until that point. We needed something to shake them up in a way that was really consequential. So, for Miami to go bust and for them to be the only ones left behind felt like a really exciting way to jet-rocket us into that final episode and also show just how serious that reveal of Annette at the end is, what she's capable of, and I think it worked. I've never worked in this kind of high-stakes world of storytelling before, and it's so freaking fun.

Big Mistakes Season 1 is available to stream on Netflix now.