Kat Dennings to Play Tim Allen’s Daughter in ABC Comedy Pilot

Kat Dennings is eyeing a return to broadcast television. The 2 Broke Girls star has been cast opposite fellow sitcom vet Tim Allen in the ABC comedy pilot Shifting Gears, Deadline reports.

As previously reported, the network responsible for Home Improvement and  Last Man Standing is behind Shifting Gears. The potential multi-cam centers on Allen’s Matt, “the stubborn, widowed owner of a classic car restoration shop,” according to the official logline. “When Matt’s estranged daughter and her teenage kids move into his house, the real restoration begins.”

More from TVLine

• Patricia Richardson: Tim Allen Has Been ‘Lying to People’ About a <em>Home Improvement</em> Revival

• Casey Wilson Calls Tim Allen a ‘Bitch,’ Says Working With Him on <em>The Santa Clauses</em> Was ‘Single Worst Experience’ She’s Ever Had With a Co-Star

• Station 19: Could ABC's Loss Wind Up Being Netflix's Gain?

Dennings, who will also serve as a producer, has been cast as the aforementioned daughter, Riley. Per Deadline, Riley “butted heads with her father growing up and left to marry the boyfriend he hated. Now divorced, Riley’s forced to move back home with two kids, hoping she and her dad can make it work this time.”

Duncanville creators Mike and Julie Scully are writing the pilot and executive-producing alongside Allen and Last Man Standing EPs Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements, Richard Baker and Rick Messina. If it moves forward, Shifting Gears would air during the 2024-25 TV season.

Last Man Standing Cast Changes Over the Years

View Gallery5 Images

Dennings is best known for her starring role as Max Black on the CBS comedy 2 Broke Girls, which wrapped its six-season run in 2017. She went on to headline the short-lived Hulu series Dollface, which ended in February 2022.

Earlier in her career, she played daughter to another famous ’90s sitcom dad, starring opposite the late Bob Saget in the short-lived WB comedy Raising Dad (which also featured a young Brie Larson).

Allen, meanwhile, is best known for his breakout role as Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor on ABC’s Home Improvement, which ran for eight seasons and ended in 1999. That was followed by Last Man Standing, which ran for a combined nine seasons across ABC and Fox, and ended in 2021.

More recently, Allen reprised his big-screen role as Scott Calvin in the Disney+ sequel series The Santa Clauses, which thus far has aired two seasons. There’s been no decision on a potential Season 3 renewal, though the earliest it is expected to return is 2025.

Should Shifting Gears receive a series order, Allen will be able to do both shows; Shifting Gears and The Santa Clauses are produced by the same studio, 20th Television.

Best of TVLine

• Stars Who Almost Played Other TV Roles — on Grey's Anatomy, NCIS, Lost, Gilmore Girls, Friends and Other Shows

• TV Stars Almost Cast in Other Roles

• Fall TV Preview: Who's In? Who's Out? Your Guide to Every Casting Move!

Get more from TVLine.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter