Abby Quinn, Dan Levy and Taylor Ortega in 'Big Mistakes.'

Courtesy of Netflix

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Dan Levy knows you’ve been wondering if he was ever going to make more Schitt’s Creek. Or, at the very least, something like it.

Five years after it concluded its run and the Emmy-winning series is what the actor, writer, director and producer for more than two decades in Hollywood remains most recognized for. For a moment, he did consider making more of it. “But nothing came to fruition. If the idea was there, we would have done it already,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter. Now with co-star Catherine O’Hara’s passing, it’s completely out. “You want her in the cast. It wouldn’t seem right to make anything without a complete cast coming back.”

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So while more Schitt’s Creek might have been what people most wanted from him, Levy instead chose to pursue different things, including what Hollywood maybe hasn’t expected. He’s created and hosted the reality cooking competition The Big Brunch and co-hosted the Primetime Emmys with dad and Schitt’s co-creator Eugene Levy. He nearly launched a Hulu animated series (among the strike-era cancellations) alongside I Used to Be Funny and Black Mirror director Ally Pankiw. He also wrote and directed his first feature film, Netflix’s romantic drama Good Grief. He appeared in the pandemic-era drama Coastal Elites, queer rom-com Happiest Season and headline-grabby music-drama The Idol.

Not only has all of it been an opportunity to go outside what everyone was waiting for him to do, it brought him to fellow comedic writer and actor Rachel Sennot (I Love LA). Together, they created Big Mistakes, a true romp of a comedy crime thriller and Levy’s latest project under his overall deal with Netflix. “What Dan’s really good at is not just writing these whole characters for other people. He’s really good at making the characters trigger each other,” says Big Mistakes’ Taylor Ortega, Levy’s co-lead, on-screen sister and partner in crime, Morgan. “He writes a real person in a way that lets you react in the best and most likely way, with also the biggest, funniest reaction possible.”

Big Mistakes is what people know Levy for, with its sharp humor, overly earnest and vulnerable characters, and wild plot turns that somehow maintain a sense of relatability. It’s also a series that fully embodies what Levy describes as a creative proclivity for pendulum swings — the characters who move from one extreme to another, who face one extreme after another. Forced into situations where they must do the opposite of what they or even audiences expect, the writer-director plays with how far his characters can get away from themselves without also betraying that self.

In Big Mistakes, think what a gay pastor named Nicky (Levy) would do to protect his life and the people he loves after being unwillingly recruited into a criminal outfit. “I feel like he has this gift to tell stories in a way with no pretense,” Jacob Gutierrez, who plays Nicky’s boyfriend Tareq, says while talking Levy’s approach to writing LGBTQ+ characters. “It’s authentic and he doesn’t comment on it. He’s just aware and mindful, which makes it refreshing.”

According to fellow Big Mistakes star Laurie Metcalf, who portrays Levy’s onscreen mother Linda, he’s also a genuine creative partner. “He sets the tone for the whole show, and the vibe on the set is all-inclusive, collaborative. Everybody’s opinions are welcome. He’s very respectful and grateful to everyone, and tells us all that. He plants that seed in you where you want to come to work and support the whole show for everyone.”

That support and motivation extends to off-screen collaborators, too. “I got how to infuse my identity without my voice, just through the actual music. Dan always says, ‘Your voice is there. There’s a scream in every episode because of the theme music,’” says prolific electroclash artist Peaches of what she got creatively out of working with Levy in her first role as a TV series composer. “It was challenging and great, and also a little out of my comfort zone. But I think the point of the actual series Big Mistakes is about being out of your comfort zone.”

In the years since Schitt’s Creek’s swan song, if there ever was something like it, Big Mistakes is the closest Levy’s gotten. It’s also something that pushes farther than what most people know him for and, at times, what Levy himself was ready for. &ldqu

'Big Mistakes': How Schitt's Creek Led Dan Levy to Netflix Crime Comedy