FX’s Grotesquerie wrapped up its long-winding horror story — but did Travis Kelce’s character, Ed, survive until the end?
During the season 1 finale, which aired on Wednesday, October 30, Kelce, 35, returned — this time as the real Ed, who rocked a mullet and found himself in a love triangle with wife Merritt (Raven Goodwin) and her mother, Lois (Niecy Nash-Betts). Ed may have made it out alive but some fans could be disappointed — or excited — to know that his mullet did not.
“I had to face some hard truths. I cut [the mullet] as part of cleaning up my act,” Ed explained to Marshall (Courtney B. Vance) about his decision to join a men’s rights group. “No [it is not a religious group]. [It is about] support and brotherhood because we all have one time in common. My anger is my salvation.”
Kelce was first introduced early in the season as an orderly named Ed who worked at the same hospital where Lois’ husband, Marshall, was being treated after falling into a coma. Ed and Lois developed a flirtationship but didn’t act on their feelings. He subsequently fell in love with Merritt — and then fans learned none of it was real.
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Grotesquerie shocked fans and Us alike more than halfway through the season with the reveal that Lois was the one in the coma. As a result, everything shown up to episode 7 was a sequence of dreams she was having while unconscious in the hospital. The reality offered Kelce a chance to play a second character on his first scripted TV project.
“The blessing about this particular show for an actor is that most of the characters play a duality,” Nash-Betts, 54, joked during an exclusive interview with Us Weekly earlier this month. “Travis went from being a charming person who worked at the hospital to being down and out on his luck guy who has a mullet.”
At the time, Nash-Betts recalled making an effort to make sure Kelce felt supported on set.
“I just wanted to make sure I was very, very present for him in this new space. [He was] coming into the acting world and was just getting baptized in [the acting world] real quick,” she added. “[Grotesquerie] is going to come with some things that maybe other shows don’t present so I just wanted to make sure he felt covered. I wanted to make sure we had time to rehearse.”
Nash-Betts also opened up about building an onscreen chemistry with Kelce, quipping, “I was born to flirt, so that part is easy.”
Before Grotesquerie premiered on FX, Kelce discussed the pressure that came with the “big role.”
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“Right now, I’m just taking it scene by scene and trying to make sure that I remember my lines. Like I said, I’m very amaetur at this,” the Kansas City Chiefs tight end said on his and brother Jason Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast in May. “Hopefully I don’t bomb this for [Ryan]. It sounds like everything is going as planned, and I can’t thank him enough for just this opportunity because I’m sure there’s actors out there who have been in the acting world that would die for an opportunity to work with Ryan, and I’m getting it in, really, my first gig ever. So it’s pretty unique and pretty cool.”
He continued: “The biggest difference from being outside of the acting world and starting to get into it, is you’re very much in tune with scenes. You don’t want to get so caught up with the lines, you want to be in the scene with whoever you’re acting with, right? I started off thinking, ‘Man, just memorize your lines. Memorize your lines.’ But in reality, you want to be able to take that scene from one point to the next and portray exactly what the scene’s meaning is.”
Grotesquerie is currently streaming on Hulu.
