Airing from 2006 to 2014 on USA Network, the cult hit dramedy series Psych followed the adventures of fake psychic detective Shawn Spencer and his best friend and partner in crime solving, Burton "Gus" Guster. The series artfully navigated the line between comedy and drama, along with serialized crime of the week stories. It also managed to do all of that while incorporating endless references to 1980s movies, music, and television shows, and cameos from famous and forgotten 1980s stars alike.
In many ways, Psych is one of the best hidden gem series to have aired in the modern age of television, with a fan base that refuses to give up on it even five years after its official cancellation. A movie followup to the series aired in the winter of 2017, with yet another movie expected in the winter of 2019. Looking back on both the previous movie and the series itself, there are a few storylines that were never quite resolved, which would provide plenty of plot for any future installments in the ongoing movie series.
Ewan's mission for Shawn and Gus
At the end of Psych: The Movie, Juliet's brother, Ewan (as played by John Cena), makes a shocking cliffhanger return. Ostensibly, he shows up to give Shawn a gift in celebration of Shawn and Juliet's recent spur of the moment marriage. As was always the case with Ewan, however, nothing was ever as it seemed, which quickly became apparent when helicopters began to circle overhead, calling for Ewan to surrender himself immediately
When the movie ends, Shawn, Gus, and Ewan are all running away as fast as they can, and it's unclear exactly what will happen to them in the immediate aftermath. But with Psych: The Movie 2 allegedly picking up in real time, and therefore two years after this shocking ending, it's entirely possible we won't get any answers to this mystery at all.
Gus and Rachael's relationship
Gus was always the far more romantically minded member of the Shawn and Gus duo, but he always had a harder time when it came to finding the right girl to settle down with. In the series' seventh season, it seemed like Gus may have finally found his perfect other half in Parminder Nagra's Rachael, a single mother who was just as intelligent and nerdy as Gus was, if a bit more straight-laced.
However, near the end of the seventh season, Rachael abruptly returned to London, apparently to reconcile with her ex-husband and her son's father. Rather than show any breakup between the pair, the series only included a scene of Gus crying over a basket of muffins sent from Rachael. We're led to assume that they broke up off screen, but the lack of real closure was still puzzling.
Buzz's job
In the series finale of Psych, Buzz McNab, arguably one of the hardest working members of the Santa Barbara Police, was finally given the promotion to Junior Detective that he had long deserved. His promotion came about as a result of the introduction of Mira Sorvino's Betsy Brannigan, the whip-smart new Head Detective at the SBPD, who received her own promotion following Carlton Lassiter's rise to the position of Chief of Police.
However, when it comes to the case of Psych: The Movie, we're not totally clear on what Buzz's role is in the SBPD anymore. He barely managed to get any screen time in the film, and the little screen time he did receive had him working more or less the often humiliating kind of tasks that he had to do during the series as a beat cop. Hopefully, Psych: The Movie 2, with its increased focus on Santa Barbara, will make Buzz's current job more explicit.
Henry and Madeleine's relationship
Shawn's parents have never had the most conventional or most fully functional relationship. It was his mother, Madeleine, who left when Shawn was a little boy, after all, feeling as though she needed a fresh start and a second chance in her life that she could never have as long as she was expected to be a house wife and mother. It was clear, however, that Henry never got over Madeleine - and that, as later seasons showed, Madeleine had never quite moved on from Henry either.
In the series' seventh season, Henry and Madeleine's rekindled relationship is a major storyline, much to Shawn's discomfort and humiliation. But without any explanation, Madeleine suddenly vanishes again, and no further explanation is given regarding whether she and Henry decided to call it quits again, or if they were able to make it work.
Chief Vick remaining unaware of Shawn's identity
As is the case in most series where a main character is hiding a major secret regarding their identity, Psych took its sweet time revealing the truth of Shawn's lack of psychic abilities to its core characters. Juliet, Shawn's long-term love interest, didn't learn the truth until halfway through the series' seventh season, and not even from Shawn himself. Shawn attempted to confess the truth to Lassiter in the series finale via video message, but Lassie deliberately broke the DVD and willfully ignored the truth.
A core character who was never made privy to the truth, however, is Kirsten Nelson's Chief Karen Vick. Shawn and Gus have worked under her command in both Santa Barbara and San Francisco, but as far as we know, this strong, intelligent, totally badass woman is still in the dark about Shawn's truth. And that's just beyond ridiculous at this point.
A missing link in the series' biggest 1980s tribute
Prior to Stranger Things, Psych basically had the market cornered when it came to series faithfully reproducing and paying tribute to hallmark classics of the 1980s. One of its most significant homages to the 1980s featured a series-spanning tribute to The Breakfast Club, which featured in episodes with scene recreations, but also in a more significant way: by having various members of the iconic film's cast appear.
Over the course of the series, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, and John Kapelos all had guest starring roles, which varied in level of significance. But despite being referred to a few times, Emilio Estevez never once appeared. Will Psych: The Movie 2 finally resolve this unresolved tribute? Only time will tell.
Henry's current status
At the end of the main series of Psych, Henry Spencer has taken on a job substitute teaching criminology courses in the place of the class's usual instructor. Given his propensity to lecture and teach lessons to Shawn throughout the series, it seems like he would be a natural fit for this kind of job. But when Psych: The Movie rolls around, it seems like teaching is nowhere near Henry's mind.
If anything, in the movie, Henry is having a late in life midlife crisis, donning hipster-esque clothing and impulsively moving from Santa Barbara to San Francisco with little to no explanation. What will Henry be up to now in the sequel? Has he settled into a new career, or is he actually enjoying retirement? Whatever the answer, hopefully his hipster clothing will be long gone.
Lassiter's family life
By the end of Psych, Carlton Lassiter had finally found the woman of his dreams in previously convicted criminal Marlowe Viccellio. The two had even welcomed a little baby girl, Lily Nora Lassiter, into the world, during an unplanned birth that Shawn, Henry, and Gus all helped out with. Due to Timothy Omundson's previously limited role in the first Psych: The Movie, we don't know very much about the current state of Lassie's home life.
But looking ahead to Psych: The Movie 2, we're not sure if we're going to learn much more about it, either. Even though the film's synopsis promises much more Lassie this time around, we've not seen any indication of Marlowe or Lily's returns just yet. Hopefully, the movie finds a way to include updates on these characters.
Gus's love life
As we've already discussed, Gus was never quite lucky in love during the main series' run. But Psych: The Movie apparently introduced a potentially permanent fix to this ongoing problem, with the introduction of Jazmyn Simon's Selene. Not only was Selene played by Dulé Hill's real-life lady love, Selene also happened to be the total complementary half of Gus, at least in terms of his less than stellar dating ideas.
Characters in the movie even say that Selene is "Gusing" Gus, which shows that he's finally getting a taste of his own medicine. But will Selene and Gus still be together when Psych: The Movie 2 rolls around? Simon is reportedly once again involved in this film, but only time will tell the current state of this odd couple's relationship.
Despereaux's identity
In yet another significant callback to the great movies of the 1980s, Cary Elwes of The Princess Bride fame recurred throughout Psych as Carlton Lassiter's nemesis and Shawn and Gus's unlikely frenemy Pierre Despereaux. A world-renowned art thief, Depsereaux continued to escape capture throughout the series, and struck up a hilarious friendship with Shawn and Gus, despite all that they knew he was capable of.
In his final episode in the series, the eighth season premiere "Lock, Stock, Some Smoking Barrels, and Burton Guster's Goblet of Fire," Despereaux convinced Shawn and Gus that he was really an undercover agent by the name of Royston Cornwallis Staley. But by the end of the episode, the duo - as well as viewers - were left to doubt the truth of these claims. Was Despereaux's identity a long con all along, or was his final vanishing act the real con? We're not sure. But hopefully, if Despereaux doesn't appear in Psych: The Movie 2, a potential Psych: The Movie 3 will give us some of the answers we so need.