It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia star and co-creator Glenn Howerton (A.P.Bio, That ‘80s Show) revealed he almost didn’t return to the sitcom after season 12 in a Wednesday interview with Entertainment Weekly. The actor, who portrays Dennis Reynolds, the narcissistic and sociopath bartender of Paddy’s Pub, spoke about the experience during a panel to celebrate the series’ 20th anniversary.

“I was worried that maybe, we had sort of peaked or something,” Howerton recalled to co-stars Danny DeVito (Matilda, The Lorax), Rob McEllenhey (Welcome to Wrexham, Law & Order), Kaitlin Olson (High Potential, Hacks), and Charlie Day (Pacific Rim, The Super Mario Bros. Movie), who also attended the panel, according to Entertainment Weekly. “And I just was like, you know, we’ve been doing this for a long time and I think I was also anxious. I had not figured out yet how to, stretch myself and be able to do other things that I wanted to do with my career outside of the show… I was aching to do other things and so I was starting to feel a little boxed in, frankly.”

Howerton’s abortive departure lines up with the events of It’s Always Sunny’s season 12 finale, “Dennis’ Double Life,” which ended with Reynolds ostensibly leaving the gang for North Dakota to raise a newly discovered child. However, it didn’t take long afterwards for Howerton to realize he wanted to return.

“I was like finding myself just having a lot of opinions about the episodes that you guys were writing, which is, you know, fair to say,” Howerton joked to Entertainment Weekly. “And I just was like, ‘Oh, I think I need to get in there and get my hands dirty again.’ You know, I’d had a little bit of time off.”

The 17th season of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia will premiere with Howerton and the rest of the main cast with all eight episodes available on FXX next Wednesday, July 9th. Among the episodes is part two of the hotly-anticipated crossover between the series and Abbott Elementary, another sitcom set in Philadelphia. Those wanting to catch up with the series before the premiere can do so by streaming it on Hulu.