Vik Sahay thanks fans for saving 'Chuck'

Although NBC hasn’t made the official announcement, the cast and crew have been told that the network has renewed the series for a 13-episode third season. Sahay heard the news on Sunday from his manager.

“I jumped for joy and then went and had a quiet drink,” he said. When pressed, he changed his story on the loudness (“Well, OK, not so quiet”) but not the number of drinks (“None of your business, Curt. None of your business”).

“It’s just amazing,” he said of the renewal. “I’m so thrilled that I get to go back and torment that cast and crew for another year.”

He might be missing some of that cast and crew when they get back to filming. According to several reports, creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak and Warner Bros. Television agreed to budget cuts, which could mean fewer great guest stars, alterations in the writers’ room or losing regular cast members. Sahay said that he’s been in touch with other cast members, but only to offer congratulations. He said he doesn’t know any more details than what is being reported.

“What I really hope is that with the budget cuts they don’t cut too much into the chemistry of the group,” he said. “I think that’s kind of the great joy of going to work, and I think it came across in the show, when we got to really bounce off each other as a cast.”

He also doesn’t have a clue where the storylines will go after last season’s great finale, in which viewers—and Chuck (Zachary Levi)—learned knew things about what Chuck is capable of doing.

“I don’t know,” Sahay repeated. “Josh Schwartz is saying he doesn’t want to mess with what ‘Chuck’ is as a show in general. That’s as far as I know.”

When I suggested that Jeffster, the music group made up or Sahay’s Lester and Scott Krinsky’s Jeff, could fight the budget cuts by recording a fund-raiser album, Sahay laughed.

“So we put out an album and ask people for money to hear me sing?” he asked. “I don’t think that’s going to work. I appreciate the idea; I will float it but I’m going to blame you when they fire me.”