Ever since NBC's "Parenthood" has been confirmed for a fifth season, fans have been eagerly trying to piece together the show's future. With Jason Ritter currently working on Fox's comedy pilot "Friends & Family" and Matt Lauria possibly joining the "Parenthood" cast, fans are still curious as to what's in store for Ray Roman's character, Hank.
"We're currently discussing it," executive producer David Hudgins told TVLine at the ATX Television Festival. "I love Ray Romano and thought he was so good on the show last year... He's great in that part and he works hard. He doesn't just show up and do his [scenes]; he actually researched the character."
It took some time for fans to warm up to the home wrecking Hank, however slowly but surely fans decided that Sarah made the right choice to choose him over Mark. Although fans were skeptic, Hudgins knew from the beginning that his character's charm would shine through.
"It was so interesting because we wrote the character, then Ray was cast and then we shot [his first] scene. But the first time we actually saw him on screen - and I think it was with Lauren Graham - we said, 'Oh my gosh. Wow. This is watchable... This is kind of great!'"
Although Sarah's new love interest came as a major shock at the end of season 4, Hudgins promised that it would not be the underlying theme of the forthcoming season.
"We definitely want to set Sarah on a path," Hudgins said. "Her story last year - and arguably the year before - was about a lot of things, I though; I actually feel like Sarah Braverman's story really has always been, 'I'm a single mother trying to figure out my way with a husband that wasn't really there and hasn't really helped.' But just naturally, because of the way the story's developed, there was a triangle last year with Hank and Mark."
"Sarah is going to have a great arc this year," he added. "And it isn't going to be completely about her love life."
"Parenthood" will return to NBC this fall.