AMC is getting a little bit Alexis.
Schitt's Creek star Annie Murphy will play the lead role in the cabler's dark comedy Kevin Can F*** Himself, playing a sitcom wife who escapes the confines of her show and discovers her rage.
"Annie is an undeniable talent with the ability both to play comedy and to break your heart," said Sarah Barnett, president AMC Networks Entertainment Group and AMC Studios. "She is the perfect fit for the role of Allison, the perfect actor to bring to life creator Valerie Armstrong’s genius vision. Cracking open the conventions of the classic American sitcom to expose what’s swirling beneath, in this highly inventive and entertaining way, is the kind of story we are hugely excited to tell at AMC."
Kevin Can F*** Himself, produced by AMC Studios, grew out of the network's script-to-series model that opens writers rooms to pen multiple scripts for a project. In success, those shows then skip the pilot process and go straight into series production. AMC ordered Kevin and the Peter Moffat-Michael B. Jordan legal drama 61st Street from script to series last fall.
Created by Lodge 49 veteran Armstrong, Kevin Can F*** Himself centers on Murphy's Allison, a type of woman we all grew up believing we knew: the sitcom wife. The eight-episode, hourlong series will look to break television convention and ask what the world looks like through her eyes. Alternating between single-camera realism and multi-camera comedy, the formats will inform one another as viewers watch what happens when the sitcom wife escapes her confines and takes the lead in her own life."
Armstrong executive produces along with showrunner Craig DiGregorio (Shrill, Kevin (Probably) Saves the World) and Rashida Jones and Will McCormack of Le Train Train (Claws, Angie Tribeca).
Murphy has been nominated for three Canadian Screen Awards for her breakout role as Alexis Rose on Schitt's Creek. She also was part of the cast's SAG Award nomination for best ensemble in a comedy series. The cult comedy is currently airing its final season on Canada's CBC and Pop TV in the United States. Murphy is repped by Gersh and The Gary Goddard Agency.
AMC hasn't set a release date for Kevin Can F*** Himself. The series will join a lineup of originals on the cabler that includes the aforementioned 61st Street, the Walking Dead franchise, Better Call Saul, NOS4A2, Dispatches From Elsewhere, The Terror and the upcoming Quiz and Soulmates.
