Showtime announced a sequel to “The L Word” last week, which will bring back stars Jennifer Beals, Leisha Hailey and Katherine Moennig. On Tuesday, we learned that another series regular who is credited on all 70 episodes of the 2004-2009 show, Pam Grier, will not be a part of the new version.
“No, there will be no ‘L Word’ [for me] because I’m here,” Grier said today at the Television Critics Association press tour, where she was promoting her upcoming ABC sitcom “Bless This Mess.” “And I can’t leave.”
Her words actually sounded a little less sorrowful in person.
Marja-Lewis Ryan serves as showrunner on the Showtime series’ sequel and is executive producing the project, which is expected to air later this year.
Per Showtime, “In this revival, Beals, Moennig and Hailey will star on the series as their original characters alongside a new generation of self-possessed LGBTQIA characters experiencing love, heartbreak, sex, setbacks and success in L.A.”
“Marja has brought her unique and contemporary vision to ‘The L Word’ and blended it beautifully into the fabric of Ilene’s groundbreaking series,” Gary Levine, president of entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc., told reporters during the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour Thursday. “This revered show was both entertaining and impactful when it originally ran on Showtime, and we are confident that our new version will do that and more in 2019.”
Grier’s new single-camera comedy “Bless This Mess,” comes from Lake Bell and Liz Meriwether. The sitcom stars Bell and Dax Shepard as a newlywed couple, whose plans to ditch big city living for a simpler life in Nebraska doesn’t go as expected. The cast also includes Grier, Ed Begley Jr., JT Neal and Lennon Parham.
The series was given a six-episode order at ABC in December after the project was previously in contention at Fox.