Two and a Half Men’s Chuck Lorre Praises Charlie Sheen in ‘Bookie’ (Exclusive)

Two and a half men Creator Chuck Lorre has nothing but respect for Charlie Sheen.

The two got the chance to reunite again in the second season Bookmakerwhich Lorre created together with Nick Bakay. Sheen previously appeared in a guest appearance on Season 1 of the comedy series Max, which follows veteran Los Angeles bookmaker Danny (Sebastian Maniscalco) as the potential legalization of sports gambling in California threatens to upend his business.

As the Season 2 premiere approaches on December 12, Sheen, 59, will return to reprise his role as an exaggerated version of himself — and Lorre, 72, tells PEOPLE he’s impressed with how the actor looks approached the performance.

“We had a wonderful relationship for over eight years Two and a half men. And then things happened,” he says, referring to the public arguments and the 12-year feud. “And so we got back into that friendship, and I’m a huge admirer of his work, I always have been.” It was never about the work. The work is flawless.”

“He’s the crazy one. It was meaningful,” he adds. “It was really meaningful to get back to work and have fun. And yes, he was more than happy to make fun of himself. He can go outside and look at his personality as it was and make fun of it. “That shows a lot of courage.”

The dispute between Sheen and Lorre occurred in 2011 after Sheen made a series of offensive comments against Lorre. At the time, the actor was struggling with drug and alcohol addiction and was eventually released Two and a half men. He was later replaced by Ashton Kutcher, who played a billionaire businessman who bought Charlie’s (Sheen) house after his death until the series ended in 2015.

After the public feud and firing, Sheen got sober. The actor has since expressed his regret numerous times, including once in February 2021 when Sheen told it Yahoo! Entertainment“There were 55 different ways for me to handle this situation and I chose number 56…That was absolutely childish.”

Despite the broken bridges, as Lorre and his Bookmaker Co-creator Bakay had to cast “a real Hollywood star” to play a high roller. The author previously said he immediately thought of Sheen.

“It was supposed to be Charlie,” he recalled diversity in November 2023. “I remember Charlie was very into sports betting and would constantly tell me stories about it. You know, when things were going well.”

Although he was “nervous” about their reunion, Lorre shared that the duo quickly picked up where they left off, recalling, “Almost as soon as we started talking, it occurred to me that we were once friends. And this friendship suddenly seemed to be back.”

“It was healing,” he added of the reunion.

Bookmaker premiered on Max in November 2023. In addition to Maniscalco, the series also stars Omar J. Dorsey as Danny’s friend and former NFL player Ray, Vanessa Ferlito as Danny’s sister Lorraine and Jorge Garcia as reformed drug dealer Hector. This season, Rob Corddry joins the series as a series regular and also includes guest stars Sheen, Ray Romano, Brad Garrett and Zach Braff.

It’s “great” to include these actors, said Maniscalco, who predicts more “people will start asking to join (because) the show is so much fun.”

“Having these guys stop by the episodes and then Brad Garrett, who I’ve never worked with before, even did stand-up just to hang out with him and the stories he had on set,” he remembers told PEOPLE. “When comedians get together, it’s always nice on set because we tend to tell war stories and whatever. So that also brings another fun element to the set.”

“I know people who whisper in my ear, ‘Hey man, I want to act as…’ I say, ‘Listen, you’re lucky I’m on the show.’ So it’s fun,” he adds. “It was a fun experience.”

Season 2 was also a unique process for Lorre and Bakay beyond that Bookmakerpreviously collaborated to work on CBS sitcoms, Two and a half men And mama.

“There was a moment when we were writing Season 2 when I looked up at Nick and thought, ‘Do you realize we can do whatever the hell we want?'” Lorre remembers. “And after years of working within the confines of network television with broadcast standards, time limits and all kinds of censorship, we were free to do whatever we wanted. This is a little worrying because if it fails there is no one to blame.” . There is no one to hide behind.

“We had fun,” he continues. “The process of writing these scripts was a joy. And I can’t say that’s generally true.”

65-year-old Bakay shares his opinion on the project.

“No, no, you can’t expect that at all. “We’ve never had so much fun,” he says. “The other thing is… we have this ridiculous cast. I mean, it starts with Sebastian doing his best and being so professional, but he’s so great. But we are so deep. And the great thing about it is, “We never have a moment where we say, ‘Ah, I’d like to do that, but I don’t think we have the horses here.'”

“We can do anything and we know we have the players, so that’s a nice thing,” Bakay added.

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Bookmaker The second season premieres on Thursday, December 12th on Max, with new episodes released weekly.