At first, plot information about the episode, "Coup D'etat" was a bit scarce. Many fans speculated that they were going to kill Lorne off the show. Smith went and had a brief talk with the writing staff, responding to his worries that it was a part of a "cliffhanger". According to Smith, the only reason for making Lorne a recurring character was the positive feedback from fans. "Sunday" became the first episode to reveal information about Lorne's backstory. Smith described Lorne as "that sort of faithful, loyal guy that everybody kind of knows," and representing a "steady constant." On his own weblog, Joseph Mallozzi said that Lorne as a character would become more active during season 5.