Summary
- The Fugitive had a forgotten sequel called U.S. Marshals that featured Tommy Lee Jones's character chasing a new fugitive without Harrison Ford's involvement. The sequel did not mention the evil pharmaceutical company from the original film.
- The fictional pharmaceutical company, Devlin-MacGregor, appeared in other media, including the TV show Boston Legal and the series Suits. It is depicted as a different company in each show, with different legal issues.
- Some fans have created a parody website for Devlin-MacGregor, blurring the line between fiction and reality. The actor Neil Flynn, who appeared in The Fugitive, also played a character called Janitor in the TV show Scrubs and its having been in the movie within the show's fictional world.
The Fugitive is best ed as a standalone movie, but the 1993 blockbuster actually received a forgotten sequel and wound up part of an unofficial shared universe decades after its release. Based on the 1960s TV series of the same name, The Fugitive stars Harrison Ford as a surgeon on the run from the law after he's wrongfully convicted of killing his wife. Not only is he chased by a team of U.S. marshals led by an Oscar-winning Tommy Lee Jones, but he makes it his personal mission to find the one-armed man who really committed the murder. Ultimately, The Fugitive reveals a conspiracy involving the fictional pharmaceutical company Devlin-MacGregor.
Five years after the massive success of The Fugitive, a forgotten movie sequel came and went with little excitement. Titled U.S. Marshals without explicit relation to its predecessor, the film sees Jones's character and his returning team of deputies chasing a new fugitive, and it doesn't feature Ford at all. The sequel also lacks any further mention of the villainous company Devlin-MacGregor Pharmaceuticals. However, that name, which was inspired by The Fugitive co-producer Peter MacGregor-Scott combined with a devilish-sounding lead-in, did show up in later media. While the further life of Devlin-McGregor has likely been more of an homage to The Fugitive, it nevertheless set up an informal shared universe.
The Fugitive's Evil Pharmaceutical Company Also Appears In 2 TV Shows
In 2006, the name Devlin-MacGregor Pharmaceuticals made its way back onto screens, on one of the best legal shows of all time. Boston Legal season 2, episode 11, "The Cancer Man Can," centers around a lawsuit involving a drug company. Michael J. Fox guest stars as the titular man whose connections allowed him access to an experimental drug still in its trial phase. Imagining that it's the same Devlin-MacGregor as in The Fugitive, the company has moved on in the decade-plus since getting into trouble over its fictional heart medicine Provasic and is now aiming to cure cancer with a drug called Numitrox.
Devlin-MacGregor is not on trial or exactly at fault in the episode's case, though there is mention of them being previously sued by and settling with a patient they wronged. Jump forward five years, and the name showed up again in the first episode of Suits. This time, there's no reference to it being a pharmaceutical company, nor is the trouble it's in to do with the drugs it manufactures. Instead, the president of the company is being sued for sexual harassment by his former receptionist. He settles, absolving Devlin-MacGregor of any other evils and allowing the company to appear again in more TV shows and movies in the future.
One other series comes up occasionally as supposedly also featuring the Devlin-MacGregor name, but it's a widely shared mistake. Leverage season 3, episode 5, "The Double Blind Job," does involve an evil pharmaceutical company, but it's called Pallagen Laboratories. There's also mention of a J.R.P. Pharmaceuticals, which was bought by Pallagen. The confusion likely stems from the fact that on the show the company is selling a drug they know to cause liver failure in patients, and that's exactly what Devlin-MacGregor's Provasic does in The Fugitive. Perhaps Devlin-MacGregor is simply back to its old tricks under a new name? Interestingly, Leverage was produced by famous screenwriter and filmmaker Dean Devlin.
Why A Character On Scrubs Says He Acted In The Fugitive
While The Fugitive being part of an unauthorized shared universe is fun enough, the movie has also had a strange second life through the blurring of its fiction and reality in other media. For example, some fans of the film have created a parody corporate website imagining Devlin-MacGregor as a real pharmaceutical company. Also, another TV series, Scrubs, has a fascinating relationship with The Fugitive thanks to one actor who appears in both projects, Neil Flynn. Only, in the world of Scrubs, Flynn is not necessarily the person who played the actor's role in The Fugitive.
In reality, Flynn played the transit cop in The Fugitive who is killed by the one-armed man, Sykes. On Scrubs (and Clone High), Flynn played the character only known as Janitor. Within the fictional world of the medical sitcom, J.D. (Zach Braff) watches The Fugitive and recognizes Janitor on screen as the transit cop. Janitor eventually owns up to the fact that he indeed was once an actor and appeared in the Harrison Ford movie. That raises the question: was Janitor's real identity Neil Flynn all along, not Glen Matthews as it has officially been claimed to be?
