In May 1966, The Munsters TV show was canceled by CBS after two seasons—but it was still popular with fans. Just a few months after the horror comedy series ended its two-season run, the Munsters reappeared for the summer 1966 movie Munster, Go Home.
The Earl Bellamy-directed movie featured Fred Gwynne, Yvonne De Carlo, Al Lewis and Butch Patrick reprising their roles as Herman, Lily, Grandpa and werewolf-boy Eddie Munster, respectively.
The film follows the beloved Munster family to England, where Herman inherits an English estate and becomes embroiled in a family rivalry over his newfound fortune.
During an appearance on The Jim Masters Show, Patrick, now 73, looked back on filming the feature film when he was 13 years old, and realizing at the time that it would likely be his last time working with his TV family.
“The thing happened in that movie because we all knew the show was over, we all knew we were never going to work together again,” Patrick recalled. “And the last scene in that movie when we jump in the Munster Coach and drive away from Munster Hall at about 11:00 at night was literally the last scene we shot, which almost never happens that you shoot an ending scene in sequence. So, we had this very surreal day knowing that this was the last time we were ever going to be together in this makeup and this costume and The Munsters would never ever be an entity again. And it was really kind of sad, but it was surreal.”
Munster, Go Home was the first time The Munsters were presented in full color, as all of the TV episodes had been shot in black and white.
Patrick recalled, “There was a lot of talk about whether or not The Munsters was going to do a third season. But the transition was right, we were right in the middle of the transition of black and white to color and they were talking about going to color, but who was going to pay for it? Were the producers going to pay for it? Was CBS going to pay for it?”
“In my opinion, what I think happened was they decided that Fred and Al were from New York. I think they were homesick. I think they were ready to go home,” Patrick said. “I think the scripts were like getting a little thin. Fred was probably tired of putting on the makeup. A lot of things contributed to this decision. …They decided to make the movie in color, introduce the world to The Munsters via a feature film, load it up.”
Patrick also placed blame on a new superhero series for The Munsters‘ demise.
In an interview with Fox News, the actor name-checked Adam West’s Batman series, which premiered in January 1966 on ABC in full color.
“I think Batman was to blame,” he said in 2019. “Batman just came along and took our ratings away. …Look, we had a good two-year run putting out something that was so different and unlikely to become a success. So we felt it was the right time to go.”
Munster, Go Home was the last project with the original Munsters stars, but Patrick later worked on other Munsters movies such as 1995’s Here Come the Munsters (as a restaurant guest) and the voice of Tin Can in Rob Zombie’s The Munsters in 2022. He also revisits his iconic character at fan events and meet-and-greets 60 years later.
Related: In 1964, Two Creepy Families Took Over TV; Why ‘The Munsters’ and ‘The Addams Family’ Both Disappeared Two Years Later