‘Silicon Valley’ season 2: Mike Judge on writing out Christopher Evan Welch

“Silicon Valley” did many remarkable things over the course of its first season, but one of the more difficult issues that the writers were forced to tackle was trying the sudden, heartbreaking death of cast member Christopher Evan Welch. This was his breakout role as Peter Gregory, and there is now posthumous awards buzz surrounding his for his work in the first handful of episodes.

Given that his death happened during production, the show’s writers chose to merely write the Peter character out of the final few episodes, and would address what to do with the character after the fact. This is happening now.

Speaking at the HRTS Comedy Showrunners Luncheon this week (per The Hollywood Reporter), show creator Mike judge said that they are currently “trying to figure out season 2,” and that he has spoken with members of Welch’s family in order to ensure that he has their blessing for whatever they decide. The plan is to address the exit in a “comedic” way, mostly in keeping with the tradition and the spirit of the show.

The interesting thing about this series is that we still feel like the majority of people have yet to discover fully the greatness of Welch’s performance. This is one of those shows who many are still finding out about right now, thanks to it airing during the season at a competitive time. We are very curious to see how it does in its second season, given that it is a show perfectly catered for this generation, and will probably be even more accessible to a mainstream  audience than “Veep,” “Girls,” or any other HBO series.

We will have some more updates on “Silicon Valley” and its future soon, so stay tuned with some more on that. Also, you can sign up now to get some further TV updates worth reading via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: HBO