What season of "Parks and Recreation" introduced Ben Wyatt?

Ben Wyatt was introduced in Season 2 of “Parks and Recreation.”

Adam Scott first appears as Ben in “The Master Plan,” the penultimate episode of the second season. Ben arrives in Pawnee as an Indiana state auditor alongside Chris Traeger, played by Rob Lowe, to investigate the city’s financial crisis.

The character’s introduction is easy to misplace because Ben and Chris become central members of the ensemble in Season 3. In Season 2, however, they are initially guest characters brought in to shut down Pawnee’s government and manage its budget problems. Ben’s earlier backstory also explains why he is unusually focused on fiscal responsibility: he became mayor of a Minnesota town at age 18, was impeached after two months, and bankrupted the town.

Ben eventually takes a job in Pawnee, begins dating Leslie Knope, and becomes one of the show’s principal characters. His first appearance is therefore in Season 2, not Season 3, when his regular role expands.