AMC is fueling the hype train for the new dark comedy Kevin Can F**k Himself ahead of its summer premiere by way of a brief trailer, Entertainment Weekly reports. Emmy-winning Canadian actress Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek, The Plateaus) leads the cast of Kevin Can F**k Himself, with Ash vs. Evil Dead executive producer Craig DiGregorio (Shrill, Workaholics) serving as showrunner, according to Variety. Executive producers on the project include Rashida Jones (Parks and Recreation, Angie Tribeca) and William McCormack (Claws, A to Z), Variety reports. Take a look at the genre-blending trailer for Kevin Can F**k Himself below:
The original creation of Valerie Armstrong (Lodge 49, SEAL Team), Kevin Can F**k Himself is reportedly a piss-take on the stereotypical female characters commonly found in the family comedy space: “The series break television conventions by probing the secret life of the sitcom housewife archetype and asking what the world would look like through her eyes when she… take[s] the lead in her own life. Alternating between single-camera realism and multi-camera comedy, the formats will inform one another as… Allison (Murphy) realize[s] that what she really wants is to stop playing perfect and kill her husband,” via Variety.
Kevin Can F**k Himself‘s foul-mouthed title is allegedly inspired in part by the multi-camera CBS sitcom Kevin Can Wait starring Kevin James (The Crew, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2), according to The Independent. James’s series became a magnet for controversy between its first and second seasons, when it was announced that Erinn Hayes (Medical Police, Huge in France), who played the female lead Donna, would not be returning for the show’s second season and that her character would accordingly be killed off, as reported by Variety. The events of the second season took place nearly a year after the events of the first and Leah Remini (Family Tools, The Clapper), James’s former on-screen wife from The King of Queens, was brought on as a principal cast member, according to Variety. The specific cause of death of Hayes’s character was left a frustrating mystery, according to Esquire. Kevin Can Wait was eventually cancelled in May 2018 after its sophomore season. In November of that same year, AMC brought a writer’s room together for Kevin Can F**k Himself, per the network’s script-to-series development procedure, as reported by TV Line.
Additional major announcements to come out of AMC’s Television Critic’s Association winter press tour include the renewal of Shudder‘s horror anthology series Creepshow, the development of a darkly comedic British serial killer series titled Ragdoll written by Ms. Marvel executive producer Freddy Syborn (Bounty Hunters, Cockroaches), and confirmation of April premiere dates for Gangs of London and the second part of season six of Fear the Walking Dead, according to Variety.