Corey Harrison: ‘I can’t play another season’ as ‘Pawn Stars’ on hiatus
“Pawn Stars,” as we have known it for the past 16 years, is on indefinite pause.
Series star and lead visionary Rick Harrison said Friday the show is no longer under contract with History, where it has been an international phenomenon since its premiere on July 19, 2009.
“However, we’re waiting to see when we might resume filming or what will come next on the horizon,” Harrison said in a statement. “Here’s to ‘Pawn Stars 2.0.’”
The shooting schedule is officially on “hiatus,” with no plans to resume. The current season ends in April.
Whatever is the “Pawn Stars 2.0” project almost certainly will proceed without Corey Harrison, Rick Harrison’s son who has appeared as “Big Hoss” on the show since its inception.
Corey Harrison says he is mapping a future without returning to the show, or even a return to Las Vegas. He moved to Tulum, Mexico, about three months after “Pawn Stars” finished filming in June. He says he not in any contract renewal talks with History.
“At this stage of the game, we’re all playing a character on ‘Pawn Stars,’” Harrison says during a phone chat from Tulum. “I can’t play another season of 41-year-old me pretending to be 23.”
Harrison has found solace in Tulum, a popular vacation on the Caribbean coastline of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. The destination spot is famous for its beaches and well-preserved ruins of an ancient Mayan city.
“I’ve gotten to be friends with the mayor of Tulum, Diego,” Harrison says, referring to Mayor Diego Castañón Trejo. “The police come by once or twice a day to check on things, get photos with me. I never thought I’d be hanging out with cops and politicians in Mexico. I figured my life would always go a different way.”
Harrison is also developing a “barbecue joint” with a few investors in the region, called Big Hoss’s Smokin’ Joint (read into the reference what you will).
As Harrison left Las Vegas, his father and Austin “Chumlee” Russell launched the offshoot “Pawn After Dark” podcast. The show premiered in January and has no formal affiliation with the “Pawn Stars” series. “The Incredible Hulk” Lou Ferrigno and ex-UFC champ Forrest Griffin are among Rick and Chumlee’s early guests. The younger Harrison has no involvement.
“They told me what they are doing and I said, ‘All right, cool. I’ll pack it up. I’m moving to Mexico. You guys have a fun time out here and do what you want to do,’” Harrison says. “My dad will work ’til the day he collapses. That’s just not me.”
“Pawn Stars” has filmed about 700 episodes over 25 seasons. The series has been broadcast in 150 countries and dubbed in 38 languages. The show originally co-starred the late Richard “Old Man” Harrison, Rick’s father, a gruff-but-endearing Navy veteran who was the show’s craggy voice of reason.
“Pawn Stars” has expanded to the offshoot road series “Pawn Stars Do America” in 2022. The franchise has also generated spin-offs set in Las Vegas, “American Restoration,” and rock performer-auto restoration expert Danny “The Count” Koker’s “Counting Cars.”
The “Pawn Stars” format allows for the show to live in perpetuity. The unique items and the practice of pawn negotiations never seems to ebb. Even the show’s central figures will live on in reruns, where “Big Hoss” and Chumlee look like teen-age, AI-generated versions of themselves.
The show’s timeless format is forever captured in what Harrison calls “the bubble” of Gold & Silver Pawn.
“At some point, you’ve got to prepare for the end. I’d be stupid not to be prepared,” Harrison says. “I look at it that way. I’m set up for the future. I’ve loved filming the show, being on the show, but the past few years have been rough. I’m ready to move on.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.