Why Psych Keeps Bringing Back Mary (Despite His Season 4 Death)

Mary Lightly (Jimmi Simpson) died in Psych season 4, but that hasn’t stopped the USA series from giving him multiple guest appearances on the show. Mary was introduced in the season 3 finale as a serial killer expert brought in to help the SBPD catch Mr. Yang. Mary returned in the season 4 finale, when he was suspected to be a serial killer himself. These suspicions were revealed to be unfounded when he was killed by the mysterious Mr. Yin. At the end of the episode, his funeral was attended by both Shawn (James Roday Rodriguez) and Gus (Dulé Hill).

Mary returned in season 5 via video recordings made before his death that assisted Shawn and Gus in the capture of Mr. Yin. Years later, Jimmi Simpson reprised his role as an angelic Mary in Psych: The Musical, during the song performed by Ally Sheedy’s Mr. Yang. During a dream sequence in Psych: The Movie, Shawn encountered Mary again, with the character dressed in a racquetball outfit as a reference to a season 3 conversation. He made yet another cameo appearance in Psych 2: Lassie Come Home during a hallucination that was shared by both Shawn and Gus, in which he appeared to them in a dressed up as a baby in a jumper chair. This time, his purpose was to make Shawn reflect further on the possibility of having a child with Juliet (Maggie Lawson).

James Roday Rodriguez, who helped write the script, has explained Psych’s obsession with Mary Lightly. Rodriguez has admitted that they wrote themselves into a corner by killing him off in season 4, but despite the challenge his death has posed to using him, they love the character so much that they “always want him back with us” [via Starry Mag]. Based on these comments, it would seem that if Psych 3 goes into development, the writers and producers will look for a way to work him into that movie as well.

What’s so strange about Mary Lightly’s cameos on Psych is that he was never actually an important character to begin with. As a living character, he was only in two episodes. Plus, he didn’t have strong relationships with Shawn, Gus, or anyone else at the SBPD. In fact, the main characters even believed him to be a murderer at the time of his death. Interestingly enough, Mary has made more appearances on Psych as a dead character than he did when he was alive.

One thing that can be said about Mary is that he has helped Psych deliver some of its weirdest, most unexpected moments, such as the scene where Shawn and Gus had to sing Mary a lullaby in Psych 2, which Rodriguez has called the “most obtuse, wild pitch that we’ve thrown with Mary”. Mary’s oddities were a part of his appeal when he was alive, and Psych has managed to draw on that aspect of his character to continuously provide off-the-wall scenes with Shawn and Gus.

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