When we last saw Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), he was walking into a mental institution and wrapping his head around his hallucination of having sex with Dr. Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein).

Sure, we were mad at first for the big sex scene fake-out, but we were happy to learn at last night’s House event at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills that a true Huddy hookup might just be in store for season three, which starts shooting very soon and hits Fox on Sept. 21.

House executive producers Katie Jacobs and David Shore, along with Hugh, Lisa and Omar Epps filled us in on House’s mental state, Huddy’s romantic state and the state of things at Princeton-Plainsboro…

House Has Gone Crazy: “This season opener is really going to begin shortly after those doors close behind him. We’re going to wake up there and going to cover—storytelling wise in two hours—two to three months and that journey of rehabilitation that House feels he may or may not need, that he does need,” says Katie. “It’s not a full-on rehabilitation. House won’t be perfect in any way. I describe it as if there’s a hole in his heart, maybe he’ll leave with one more piece, but the House is still there.” Don’t expect the whole season to take place in the mental institute though: “It’s not going to be that much, but that two-hour premiere is basically exclusively there,” adds David.

Paging Dr. Nolan: Who has the lucky job of diagnosing one of the most famous diagnosticians in the world? That job is left up to Dr. Nolan, played by Andre Braugher, whom you may remember from Gideon’s Crossing. Katie describes the surely to butt heads pair: “House’s version of how well he needs to be to go back to work and Nolan’s version of how well he needs to be to go back to work is very different. You can check yourself in voluntarily, and you can leave voluntarily, but whether or not he’s going to be permitted to practice medicine is another story. Before he is going to be allowed to practice medicine, Dr. Nolan needs to make sure House is on much sturdier ground than at the end of the season.”

Hugh on Playing Crazy: Hop on the crazy boat, because we’re in for quite a storm. Says Hugh, “House’s sickness is an indispensable part of his skill, possibly his intellect, and if not his intellect, than his identity. All of us fear change because we fear even the things we dislike in our lives, we fear that they are nonetheless part of us, and if we surrender them then we will become some how less.” For his time in the mental hospital, Hugh has shaved his head, saying “I have a slightly institutional look.” However, being institutionalized is not all serious though, “There is just a small musical element to it. I’m completely out of my depth; I should not be doing it, but life is about risks!” jokes Hugh.

When the Doctor’s Away, the Kids Will Play: When it comes to who’s going to be in charge with House missing in action, Omar says that Foreman is stepping into the foreground: “That’s sort of a natural progression. However, even in a mental institute, I would imagine House would still be in charge.” Unfortunately, with every doctor trying to be the boss, it may not be good for Foreman and Thirteen (Olivia Wilde). “I think the stress of trying to take over the team is obviously going to have a strain on their relationship.” Even if Foreman takes the lead, it’s not going to be easy. Omar adds, “It’s going to have a tremendous effect [with House gone]. Everyone is going to be second-guessing themselves. In that sense, House is a crutch for them. When all else fails, just go to him and he’ll have the answers. The reality is, the other doctors are not willing to take the risks that he takes.” Finally, don’t expect House to waltz back into Princeton-Plainsboro ready to take over again: “You don’t emerge from a psychiatric hospital and just get your medical license back all that easy. That differential diagnosis division is still going to be functioning, but whether he’s going to be at the head of it initially or not, that’s the question,” says Katie.
Lisa Edelstein, Hugh Laurie, House Adam Taylor/FOX

Once He’s Healed: Fans are still reeling over the imagined coupling of House and Cuddy, but Lisa tells us, “I loved the way they handled it because for one thing, it means they can still have sex. Because they haven’t done it yet. In another way it shows what he wishes he had, which includes an intimate relationship with her, wanting to live with her and wanting to be off drugs. I think we learn a lot about him and we still have the opportunity of exploring it, because it hasn’t been explored even though we got to shoot that sexy scene.” Katie seconds that notion, “I think all those emotions, sparks, difficulties and the push and pull is still there. I think the only reason why he hallucinated that hallucination with someone he works with is because somewhere that’s in his mind.”

What say you, Huddy fans? With House getting clean and sane, is he ready for a real relationship? Sound off in the comments!

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It’s been more than a month since House fans learned that the much-heralded Huddy hookup was nothing more than a figment of Dr. Crabbypants’ unstable imagination and they’re still feeling a tad sexually frustrated. Not to mention a little duped by producers who months earlier promised to take the long-simmering relationship to the next level. What do those crazy kids have to say for themselves? And what’s in store for Huddy in season 6? Find out after the jump…

“I don’t think we cheated them [but] I do think we teased them,” series creator David Shore admitted last night just prior to taking the stage for a House-centric panel discussion at the Paley Center for Media. “And I apologize for being a tease. But I don’t think we cheated fans because that was a legitimate storyline that made sense. And we will follow up on it.

“It’s not like it didn’t matter,” Shore elaborated. “The fact that House had that hallucination is extremely significant. It was not like he woke up in a shower and all of last year was just a dream. It wasn’t what you might have thought it was going to be, but it was big. That was a glimpse into what House desires.”

Shore’s Housemate, exec producer Katie Jacobs, said that while she understands why some fans felt misled, she insisted that making viewers think the sex was real was imperative to the story. “We could not let [on] that the actual events that he imagined were not real beforehand,” she explained. “The audience needed to experience [House's hallucinations] as though they were real because that is what he did.”

Echoing Shore’s comments, Jacobs said the fake sex will have very real repercussions for Huddy once House is sprung from the asylum (House returns Sept. 21). “I don’t think he hallucinated that scenario with someone he works with and someone he has feelings for in some random way,” she pointed out. “I think that was his mind telling him something, and I think fans can count on that story not being over yet. For me, that was the twist that was most symbolic of how serious his mental illness is. Hearing a voice that manifests itself as Amber is one sort of random thing, but Cuddy is a real person who is still alive and still in his life. It is meaningful, just not in the way that Huddy fans were hoping for.”

It was certainly meaningful to Lisa Edelstein, who didn’t hallucinate making out with Hugh Laurie. “Even though it didn’t happen for real, I got to shoot that scene — and I might get to shoot another later on down the road,” she said with a laugh. Edelstein then delivered this message to Huddy fans: “Stay with me. Give Huddy time. Don’t give up hope.”

Indeed, Shore said he’s “absolutely open” to the possibility of Huddy having actual sex this season. “That’s not to say it will happen or won’t,” he hedged. “We are just starting to work on next season and it is not all decided. But clearly he wants it to happen — at least subconsciously. And I think we know that Cuddy likes him, too.”

Okay, Huddy fans: Are you buyin’ what they’re sellin’? Do you agree that the end justified the means? Sound off below!

“House M.D.” debuted on Fox back in 2004 and, despite some decrease in audiences, it is still riding the high wave of popularity. In fact, the television drama starring a ruggedly unkempt Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House is so popular that it was just named world’s most watched television show, as The Examiner can confirm.

Figures from Eurodata TV Worldwide put “House” at the lead of all television shows that ran last year, ahead of former winners “CSI: Las Vegas” and “CSI: Miami.” Speaking strictly numbers, in 2008 alone, “House” had 81.8 million viewers from 66 countries glued to their TV screens to see what would happen next, which is far more than the winners in previous years got, the aforementioned publication explains. The potential numbers of viewers for “House” in 2008 is actually of 1.6 billion.

When the medical drama premiered 5 years ago, critics were not exactly pleased with how it was going, fans might remember. The unlikely lead character, the fact that he had little to no redeeming quality (his brilliant mind not included) and the somewhat complicated storyline of each episode seemed to hint that it would not fare well with the audience. Two episodes later, the public was hooked, and producers – and Fox, implicitly – learned that they had made the right choice when deciding to present audiences with something entirely different from what was aired at that point in time.

It could very well be that this is exactly why the public is still hooked on “House,” The Examiner believes. Both “House” (Hugh Laurie) and “CSI: Miami” (David Caruso) feature leading men who have almost nothing to do with the commercial version of a “hottie,” which actually makes them more appealing to audiences. The fact that episodes are rarely connected to one another in storyline also helps greatly, because it makes both shows more approachable by all segments of the public, the publication further says.

As of now, “House M.D.” is gearing up to enter into its sixth season. The first spoiler as to what’s next for Gregory House and his team has already been made public when Michael Ausiello of The Ausiello Files revealed that Tony winner Lin-Manuel Miranda had been cast as House’s roommate at the mental institution he checked in at the end of the fifth season. For more on this, do keep an eye on this space.

Monday, Sept. 21
8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT HOUSE (2-Hour Season Premiere)