Kathryn Hahn to Play Joan Rivers in Showtime Series ‘The Comeback Girl’
Kathryn Hahn is set to step into some big comedy shoes as the WandaVision star will portray iconic comedian Joan Rivers in an upcoming Showtime limited series.
According to Variety, Hahn will lead and executive produce The Comeback Girl, which focuses on Rivers around the time of the cancellation of her talk show The Late Show and her husband (and Late Show producer) Edgar Rosenberg’s suicide. The series is produced by Warner Bros. Television, Atlas Entertainment and Berlanti Productions, with Greg Berlanti serving as director and Cosmo Carlson as writer.
“Trailblazer. Adored. Cruel. Diva. Joan Rivers had a life like no other. At age 54, she was a superstar comedienne…and then it all fell apart,” reads the official logline for the series. “The Comeback Girl is the awe-inspiring untold story of how Joan Rivers persevered through near suicide and professional abyss to rebuild herself and her career to become a global icon.”
Rivers was an influential figure in the world of stand-up comedy, rising up through the New York comedy scene and making several memorable appearances on Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show in the mid-1960s. She would go on to become Carson’s regular guest host in the 1980s, though the pair had a falling out after Rivers moved to Fox to helm her own show — becoming the first woman to host a late-night talk show.
The Grammy-winning comedian died on September 4, 2014, following serious complications during a minor throat procedure that caused her to stop breathing. She was 81-years-old.
Hahn, who received an Emmy nomination for her role as Agatha Harkness in the Disney+ series WandaVision, recently wrapped up filming on Rian Johnson’s Knives Out 2. She is also set to star in the upcoming Apple TV+ dark comedy miniseries The Shrink Next Door, based on the podcast of the same name by Joe Nocera.
The Comeback Girl, TBA, Showtime