It’s been a big year for Kevin Hart. The actor-comedian starred in the box office smash, Ride Along , and was also in the successful remake of About Last Night . Hart also won for Favorite Funny Star at Nickelodeon’s 27th Annual Kids’ Choice Awards and received a MTV Movie Award nomination for Ride Along . Now, he has a comedy in the works at ABC, and the show just rewrote and recast one of its characters.
Deadline is reporting that, after a table read, the untitled Kevin Hart pilot will do away with the character of Mircea, who was supposed to be played by Amber Stevens. She would have been the live-in girlfriend of recently divorced Derek (Romany Malco), who was once a traveling supermodel, but is now a hostess at a local restaurant. However, Stevens is leaving the project, and Ryan Michelle Bathe ( Army Wives ) will replace her.
But Bathe is going to be a completely different character in the Kevin Hart comedy. The new character is still being finalized, but Bathe will be playing Mandy, Derek’s “optimistic girlfriend,” as Deadline puts it. Mandy believes she may have just gotten a little too involved with Derek’s relationship with his ex-wife, when she persuades that he come to terms with her.
The project is based on Kevin Hart’s life and comedy, and will be penned by former Community executive producers, Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan. It takes a candid look at post-divorce couple Derek (Malco) and Lorraine (Bresha Webb), who are trying to build a friendship for their kids’ sake, despite their disagreements. Hart is said to appear in the pilot and “multiple episodes after that,” and will also serve as a producer for the show.
A February report from Deadline said that Kevin Hart’s role will be a “trouble-making character created for him.” That same report also said that the project was known as Keep It Together . However, it is now without a title, and there is no explanation why.
In real life, Kevin Hart and his wife, Torrei Hart, finalized their divorce in 2011. But even though the two had their “ups and downs,” they still get along, Torrei said in a March 2013 interview with The YBF .
“Kevin is a great father to both of our beautiful children,” she said.
Kevin even paid for all the costs of her “yacht birthday party,” Torrei said.
“We have children together, and our goal is to make sure that we provide a nurturing environment for them at all costs,” she said.
Kevin Hart can next be seen in Think Like a Man Too , which releases to theaters on June 20.