What are the show crossovers coming up in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17? Details explored

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 hit screens on July 9 with a two-episode premiere that shows the show’s wild heart hasn’t gone anywhere with Abbott Elementary and The Golden Bachelor crossovers. Seventeen seasons in, The Gang is still causing damage nobody asked for and pushing jokes where other sitcoms would pull back.

When it first dropped in 2005, Sunny looked like a cheap experiment with friends shooting rude jokes on handheld cameras. Over the years, it became the longest-running live-action sitcom in the U.S. and turned Paddy’s Pub into a place where TV’s worst people get away with it all. Past seasons have never tried to redeem these characters.

Even last season’s celebrity cameos and high-concept spoofs showed they can keep up with modern TV without giving up what made them huge with fans. With It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17, The Gang is not softening; instead, they’re crashing new worlds such as Abbott Elementary and The Golden Bachelor, proving Sunny still knows how to break things better than anyone.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 premiere show crossover with Abbott Elementary

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 (Image via FXX)

The July 9, 2025 episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 did not waste time throwing The Gang into fresh trouble by finishing what started earlier this year on Abbott Elementary. In January, Abbott ran its half of the crossover called “Volunteers,” where the teachers reluctantly let The Gang help out as community service volunteers.

That episode showed the Gang acting tame for network TV, which made sense since Abbott sits on ABC’s primetime slot. But Sunny fans know Dee, Dennis, Mac, Charlie, and Frank never stay polite for long.

So the Season 17 premiere, The Gang F***s Up Abbott Elementary, flips the same day upside down. This time, the FX side shows exactly how badly they messed things up inside the school.

Dee tries to flirt with Gregory but gets put in her place by Melissa for trying too hard. Charlie pretends he wants to learn to read, but instead fills the kids' heads with wild ideas about American pride and conspiracy theories.

Frank crosses boundaries by hanging out in the bathrooms and awkwardly complimenting teenage boys, acting like it’s normal. Dennis, as usual, tries to control everything, brewing fancy coffee in the lab to impress teachers who still don’t like him.

The dialogue gets even more extreme. Janine, usually the kind and positive teacher at Abbott Elementary, shocks everyone by calling Dee the c-word on camera, showing just how far It’s Always Sunny pushes characters out of their comfort zones.

While Abbott’s side left the school mostly fine, Sunny shows that by the time The Gang leaves, the bathrooms are wrecked, the kids are traumatized, and Janine’s polite image is in tatters. It’s a sharp way to remind everyone that crossing over with Sunny means nothing stays pure for long.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 show crossover with The Golden Bachelor

The second big crossover this year will toss Frank Reynolds into The Golden Bachelor, turning that calm dating show on its head. Later this season, Frank shows up at the famous Bachelor Mansion acting like he belongs there, even though the whole point of The Golden Bachelor is older folks finding sweet late-in-life romance.

Frank, played by Danny DeVito, is more interested in cheap thrills than roses or true love, so there’s zero chance he follows the rules. Jesse Palmer, the real host, even pops up, which proves Sunny didn’t just do a throwaway joke — they really went all-in on sending Frank into that reality TV circus.

In an interview with the LA Times, Charlie Day has said he was hesitant about doing two crossovers in the same season. He liked the Abbott idea but thought maybe the Golden Bachelor could be a parody instead of a full send-up. But co-creator Rob McElhenney pushed for both and got it done.

If Sunny fans know anything, it’s that Rob loves big swings, from buying a soccer team in real life to planting The Gang where they do not belong. There’s also talk in the writers' room that Season 17 nods to Succession and The Bear, plus quick jokes about Is It Cake?, but Golden Bachelor is the only other episode this season that fully copies another show’s style the way Abbott did.

By crashing reality TV with a reckless mess like Frank, Sunny proves it still wants to test how far it can twist pop culture.

Watch It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 on FXX.

About the author

Sayan is a journalist who specializes in Movies and TV Shows at Sportskeeda. Having been involved with movies since the tender age of nine, Sayan harbors a profound passion for cinema ranging from the pre-Code Hollywood era to contemporary releases. With a keen eye for details that often escape others, Sayan offers unique insights into the intricacies of film and television storytelling. Holding a degree in business, he skillfully blends his cinematic passion with an analytical approach to the financial aspects of the industry. His proficiency in creating compelling content, conducting meticulous research, and collaborating effectively with the editorial team makes him an invaluable asset to the Sportskeeda community.

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Edited by Divya Singh