Parks And Recreation Refresher, Reunion Predictions

A Parks and Recreation reunion special is fast approaching, but do you recall exactly what your Pawnee favorites were up to — and where they were living — back in the year 2017? Knope, you say? Well, we are here to help.

Here, TVLine breezily recaps the last known pre-2020 whereabouts of every major character, as well as offer up some mostly serious predictions about how each will be coping during the current pandemic.

TOM (played by Aziz Ansari)

PREVIOUSLY: In a flash-forward to 2019, Tom's Bistro had been presented with a huge expansion opportunity, so its namesake founder consulted with "Accounting Nerd" (aka Congressman Ben), Ron and Donna (via translucent video tablet) before pulling the trigger. (Alas, a subsequent flash-forward would reveal that Tom wound up going broke, though he did manage to parlay his failures into a pair of successful books.)

PANDEMIC PREDICTION: In what could be the last hurrah for his restaurant chain, Tom will be busy selling high-end apps and craft cocktails for contact-free curbside pick-up or delivery.

DONNA (played by Retta)

PREVIOUSLY, IN 2017: Donna had launched Regal Meagle Real Estate, and with husband Joe (Keegan-Michael Key) was about to relocate to Seattle.

PANDEMIC PREDICTION: With no properties to be shown and with Joe home all the time (teaching remotely), stir-crazy Donna will probably more than welcome a virtual visit from gal pal Leslie!

LESLIE (played by Amy Poehler)

PREVIOUSLY, IN 2017: By the final season, Leslie had gone from being the deputy director of the Pawnee Parks and Recreation Department to being named the Midwest Regional Parks Director. Last we tuned in, she and husband Ben — parents of wee triplets — were about to relocate to Washington, D.C., where Leslie was taking a job working for the Department of Interior.

PANDEMIC PREDICTION: Since Poehler and Adam Scott aren't quarantined together in real life, how will the reunion special account for Leslie and Ben being apart? Perhaps Ben has a slight cough, and an overly cautious Leslie has banished him to a far end of their house?

BEN (played by Adam Scott)

PREVIOUSLY, IN 2017: Ben was working as Pawnee's City Manager when political whiz Jen Barkley courted him to consider a run for Congress — all the easier to pursue now that he and wife Leslie would be calling D.C. home.

PANDEMIC PREDICTION: Since a flash-forward to 2022 revealed that Ben had launched a "punishingly intricate" follow-up to his Cones of Dunshire multi-player figurine-based strategy fantasy board game, maybe we'll catch him in the midst of creating it?

JEAN-RALPHIO (played by Ben Schwartz)

PREVIOUSLY, IN 2017: Upon bumping into Leslie as she was tending to her "final mission" for the Parks Department, Jean-Ralphio showered his crush with a lingering hung... and multiple fetish-y requests. 

PANDEMIC PREDICTION: As of 2020, we are still two years away from when Jean-Ralphio would fake his death (to use the insurance money to start a casino). But we have to reckon he's doing his best to ickily profit from the pandemic — perhaps by "giving away" N95 masks that promote a website where hs sells overpriced TP and baker's yeast. Also, if he is quarantined with sister Mona Lisa, you just know they're trying to become TikTok stars. (Schwartz is not confirmed to appear in the reunion special, though unspecified "guests" have been teased.)

GARRY AKA LARRY, TERRY, BARRY... ETC; (played by Jim O'Heir)

PREVIOUSLY, IN 2017: With the sudden passing of Mayor Walter Gunderson (Bill Murray), Garry was named interim mayor — though flash-forwards revealed he would go on to hold the office until his death at age 100! Oh, and he also fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming a a notary public. 

PANDEMIC PREDICTION: Anyone wanna guess who is inadvertently left off Leslie's Zoom call invite...?

So, to recap:
LESLIE: Working for DoI in D.C.
BEN: Congressman in D.C.
RON: Running Very Good construction in Pawnee
TOM: Probably riding a Tom's Bistro upswing
ANDY & APRIL: Living in D.C.
DONNA: Married, living in Seattle
ANN & CHRIS: Living in Michigan, parents to one, probably two kids
JEAN-RALPHIO: Surely still an epic douche
GARRY: Mayor

RON SWANSON (played by Nick Offferman)

PREVIOUSLY, IN 2017: Ron had left the Parks Department to start up Very Good Building and Construction with his brothers, Don, Vaughn and Lon. (He would stick with the company until 2022, before being tasked by Leslie with overseeing the new local National Park).

PANDEMIC PREDICTION: Though flash-forwards established that Ron was still with wife Diane (played by Lucy Lawless) in 2022, we simply can't rule out a reunion cameo by Tammy 2, seeing as Offerman is wed in real life to Megan Mullally.

ANN and CHRIS (played by Rashida Jones and Rob Lowe)

PREVIOUSLY: Midway through Parks and Rec's penultimate season, Leslie's BFF and her husband had moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan — shortly after which they had their first child, Oliver. (The series finale's 2025 flash-forward revealed that they would also one day have a daughter, named Leslie.)

PANDEMIC PREDICTION: Ann is a nurse, so it will be interesting to see under what circumstances Leslie checks in with her best friend.  As for health nut Chris, the question is: Has he already had and beat COVID 19, or is he sampling some wackadoodle preventative regimen to keep the virus at bay?

ANDY and APRIL (played by Chris Pratt and Aubrey Plaza)

PREVIOUSLY, IN 2017: Andy has just bid The Johnny Karate Super Awesome Musical Explosion Show adieu when he and April decided to move to Washington, D.C., with Leslie and Ben. 

PANDEMIC PREDICTION: Going by the series finale's flash-forwards, we're still more than two years away from the marrieds engaging in serious baby talk (their son Jack was born on Halloween 2023), so don't bother listening for the pitter patter of little feet. Maybe Johnny Karate is now on Quibi?