'Psych' stars return for a reunion movie with new locale, same fistbumps

Absence makes the fistbumps fonder.

USA’s Psych: The Movie (premiering 8 p.m. ET/PT tonight) brings the long-running detective dramedy’s stars James Roday and Dulé Hill back together for the first time in three years, and there are many familiar aspects for their devoted “Psych-O’s,” none more than their signature exultation.

“Even though the skin around our fists are getting thinner and wrinklier, it’s still one of the great joys of my life being back on a set with him and acting a fool,” Roday says of working again with Hill. But that’s maybe not the best word: “You can’t call it work. It’s never been work.”

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For eight seasons, Roday starred as fake psychic detective Shawn Spencer and Hill as his loyal best friend/partner Burton “Gus” Guster, and the two-hour TV movie picks up with them in real time and in a new city (trading Santa Barbara for San Francisco) but with the same old foibles.

Shawn still can’t commit to his fiancée Jules (Maggie Lawson), though he’s trying to find the engagement ring that a thief absconded with in the 2014 Psych series finale. Gus has a new pharmaceutical sales gig but still is being roped regularly into Shawn’s shenanigans. And there’s still trouble to be had, with the fistbumping, “Suck it”-singing duo needing to find the villain who’s targeted someone close to them.

“They’re still doing crazy stuff, in their same crazy way,” Hill says. “That’s true of life, too. For myself, if somebody hadn’t seen me in three years and saw me now, they’d see some evolution.”

Roday, who co-wrote the movie with Psych creator/director Steve Franks, adds that he always figured the characters would return at some point — and were approached by USA to do it earlier. “We were hopeful because it was an amazing experience for all of us that changed our lives, and the opportunity to basically write a love letter to our fans for keeping us on the air for eight years was something we were really psyched to do. No pun intended.”

In addition to the ubiquitous running gag with pineapples, the gang’s mostly returned, including Corbin Bernsen as Shawn’s father and John Cena as Jules’ brother — Timothy Omundson, who had a stroke earlier this year, has a cameo as lovably embattled cop (and Shawn’s frequent foil) Carlton Lassiter.

As for the big changes, Roday likes the move to San Francisco, where Shawn’s set up an office that’s the replica of the strange antique shop from Gremlins. “The idea that we could open up the world a little bit in a much larger city with a lot more people, that felt like a fresh start and a fun way to reboot the show,” he says.

And Gus gets a love interest in Selene (Hill’s real-life fiancée Jazmyn Simon), who rocks his world by being aggressively flirtatious. “Gus has been doing that for eight years and is always striking out, but he thinks he’s the smoothest dude on the planet,” Hill says. “When it happens to him, he’s appalled.”

Both stars want to make Psych reunions a regular thing. “Maybe we do Halloween next and then we’ll do Easter,” Hill says. “Anytime we have a chance to step back and fistbump, it will always be that much more special.”