Ellie Kemper is reportedly in negotiations and Karan Soni is already set to star in ABC's upcoming comedy pilot Motherland, according to Deadline.
- Michael Showalter has also come on board to direct the new ABC pilot.
- Motherland is based on the British series of the same name, which is set in a middle-class suburb of London.
- The new series centers on Julia (the role Kemper has been in talks for over the past several weeks), a working mom for whom nothing is working so she goes looking for her village. With the help of new friends Calvin (Soni) and Liz, Julia discovers she just might succeed at balancing work and parenting from time to time. This is a comedy for anybody who’s dropped their kids at school, breathed a sigh of relief…then realized it’s Sunday.
- The new series is written by Julieanne Smolinski.
- The series also comes from Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford’s Merman Television, Paul Feig’s Feigco Entertainment, Lionsgate and ABC Signature.
- Showalter and Smolinski also executive produce alongside Horgan, Mountford, Stacy Greenberg and Kira Carstensen for Merman Television, Paul Feig and Dan Magnante for Feigco Entertainment as well as Holly Walsh and Helen Serafinowicz.
- Kemper is best known for her starring role in Netflix’s The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt as well as The Office.
- She also starred in the Disney+ feature Home Sweet Home Alone.
- Soni is best known for his role as Dopinder in the Deadpool film and recently joined the cast of Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
- As for Showalter, his recent credits include Hulu’s The Dropout, The Shrink Next Door and I Love That For You.