Leah Remini to play conservative lesbian in Fox pilot from It's Always Sunny producers
Leah Remini is getting right back in the comedy game with a provocative pilot.
The King of Queens alum will star in a Fox multi-camera comedy pilot as a conservative patriot named Jean “who loves her country and firmly believes in everyone’s right to be left alone,” according to the official logline of the Middle America-set show. There’s a twist, though: Jean is now married to a woman, with whom she is raising her two boys. Also helping out: her ex-husband and father of her two sons — and he lives in their garage.
The untitled pilot — which, if picked up, is targeted for a midseason debut — is being written and executive-produced by It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia co-creator/star Rob McElhenney and Sunny EP Rob Rosell. Sunny co-creator/star Glenn Howerton, star Charlie Day, and EP Nick Frenkel also serve as executive producers on the pilot.
Remini just finished a run on the now-canceled CBS comedy Kevin Can Wait, alongside her Queens castmate Kevin James. She also serves as creator and EP of A&E Network’s Emmy-winning docuseries Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, which enters its third season this fall.
Fox is overhauling its comedy strategy and is aiming to program more multi-camera comedies that court the conservative Middle America audience, a la Roseanne. Last month, the network announced that it was reviving Tim Allen’s Last Man Standing for this fall.
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