‘Wonder Woman’ Sequel Causes Kristen Wiig To Walk Away From Comedy Series
Actress and comedian Kristen Wiig gained fame during her time on Saturday Night Live and rightfully earned her place as one of the funniest women in comedy. Her ability to transform herself into any character, fiction or not, catapulted her as one of the main stars of the long-running comedy series from 2005 to 2014. Movies such as Bridesmaids and Ghostbusters: Answer the Call allowed Wiig to showcase her comedic talents even further to the point where it seems like now everyone wants a little piece of her, which has now proven to be quite the predicament as Deadline has reported that Wiig was left with no choice but to leave Apple’s upcoming comedy project due to scheduling conflicts with filming for the Wonder Woman sequel.
Wiig, 44, was set to star in and executive produce Apple’s latest comedy series based off of Curtis Sittenfeld’s You Think It, I’ll Say It short-story collection. In January, Apple sealed the deal for the untitled comedy series from actress Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine multimedia brand, which provides entertainment content for women by women. Hello Sunshine was launched in 2017 in tandem with Witherspoon’s production company, Pacific Standard.
News broke in March that Wiig was also set to star in the upcoming Wonder Woman blockbuster sequel, Wonder Woman 1984, as the villain, Cheetah. The film’s heavy filming schedule and Apple’s tight scheduling frame caused an overlap, which is what ultimately led to Wiig’s decision to choose the DC comic over Apple.
Kristen Wiig No Longer Attached To Apple Comedy Series As Project Eyes Recasting https://t.co/Q5tEii29iK pic.twitter.com/wA61TwSGdn
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) June 20, 2018
With Wiig’s departure, Apple was forced to halt production as producers try to find another actress to take the Downsizing actress’ place. The comedy series, created by Colleen McGuinness, received a 10-episode deal and was supposed to be the company’s first-ever half-hour scripted comedy venture as reported by The Wrap. Sittenfeld remained attached to the project as a consulting producer.
After leaving SNL in 2014, Wiig took on more big-screen projects such as The Martian, Zoolander 2, Sausage Party, Masterminds, and Mother! Her deal with Apple would have marked her return to the small-screen.
Aside from the untitled comedy series, Hello Sunshine also has two other projects with Apple as the tech company continues its venture into original content, Are You Sleeping, a drama series starring Octavia Spencer, and a morning show, which stars Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. Deadline also reported on Wednesday that Apple is teaming up with Sesame Workshop to produce children’s original content. Under their arrangement, Sesame Workshop, which produces the popular children’s classic Sesame Street, will create live-action as well as animated original content.
As of now, Apple is remaining hopeful that their comedy series will still happen. You can catch Kristen Wiig in Wonder Woman 1984 when it hits theaters November 1, 2019.
