Ali Larter to Star as Mom-Turned-Pro Football Cheerleader in Fox Sitcom

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It’s never too late to cheer on the home team: Heroes alum Ali Larter will star as a 40-year-old mom who decides to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a pro football cheerleader in a new Fox sitcom, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The single-camera comedy, titled The Sidelines, follows Larter’s character — a newly separated Detroit mom — as she makes the cheerleading squad of her local football team “and becomes the accidental den mother to a group of scrappy, resilient young women, rediscovering herself in the process,” per the official description. Larter will also serve as an executive producer.

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Kate Gersten (The Good Place) will pen the project, which has earned a script commitment from Fox, with Ben Stiller on board as an EP as well. Laura Vikmanis, who became the oldest cheerleader in the NFL when she made the Cincinnati Bengals’ cheer squad in 2009 at the age of 40, will serve as a consulting producer.

Known for film roles like Varsity Blues and Final Destination, Larter played super-strong mom Niki Sanders on NBC’s Heroes, later playing Niki’s triplet sister Tracy Strauss. She also starred on Fox’s short-lived baseball drama Pitch as agent Amelia Slater. Recently, Larter has recurred as Dr. Grace Sawyer on ABC’s The Rookie.

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