The Insider.com

Happy Endings fans were thrown for a controversial loop when the show hinted at a romantic future for Dave and Penny at the end of the most recent episode. But given the ambiguity with which the episode ended, no one knew if this was a storyline the show planed to tackle head-on.

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So following a Comedy Showrunner panel today at ABC's TCA day, I caught up with Happy Endings EP Jonathan Groff and asked that very question.

"We are going to take it slow on that," Groff said. "We like the deep background of a foundation of stuff that sets up for us. The truism in any group of friends is that you inevitably mix it up and look at somebody in a light you hadn’t before – Penny, Jane, Alex and Dave have known each other since fifth grade so we like the idea that nobody has every thought of them together before."

But he's quick to add, "We'll also find out if these feelings are real or is it simply an idea that those therapists have put in their minds. Maybe they're misinterpreting it, maybe they're not – I think it feels real and we just wanted to throw it out there and see what happens."

And for those of you who are concerned that dating her best friend's ex-fiance is out of character for Penny, the writers share your fear. "We are very mindful of that in the writer's room – and if that's a road we do, in fact, go down, that's an issue Penny will have to wrangle with."

MORE: Is Adam Pally the Kevin James of Happy Endings?

Penny and Dave aren't the only ones with new romantic horizons on their future -- as Insider.com previously reported, Lone Star's James Wolk will be guest-starring on the show as an old, and new, boyfriend for Max.

"James plays an old boyfriend and they're brought back together by a chance encounter," Groff tells me. "And in true Max fashion, he'd blown up the relationship stupidly so this is very much a second chance for him. "

Although, from the sound of it, Max sabotage the relationship a second time since Groff reveals that the episode they're currently filming, which will be Wolk's second on the show, his character gets integrated a little too well into the group. "The gang really sparks to him -- which is Max's worry. It actually becomes a problem because they almost start to like him a little too much."

Happy Endings airs Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. on ABC.