Robin Thede & London Hughes to headline Perfect Strangers reboot for HBO Max
Robin Thede and London Hughes set as leads for the reboot of Perfect Strangers, the 1980s sitcom that starred Mark Linn-Baker and Bronson Pinchot, reports Deadline.
The project, which is in development as a series at HBO Max, will be written by A Black Lady Sketch Show creator and star Thede. The streamer has given the half-hour, multi-camera comedy a script development deal.
It will follow perfect strangers, Deja, played by Thede, and Poppy, played by Hughes, who unexpectedly discover they are half-sisters when they both inherit a one-bedroom apartment above a trap yoga studio in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Polar opposites, they must learn how to live and work together.
Inspired by the original series, produced by Miller/Boyett Productions that ran for eight seasons and 15 episodes between 1986–1993 on ABC. The original starred Linn-Baker as Midwestern American Larry Appleton and Pinchot as his distant cousin from Europe.
The series is produced by Warner Bros. Television with Thede exec producing via her For Better or Words, and Robert L. Boyett, who produced the original, which was created by Dale McRaven.
Her A Black Lady Sketch Show recently aired its second season and has been renewed for a third for HBO. She is also currently writing the feature Fashionably Black for HBO Max with Christa Gatewood, produced by Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society, and writing the Amazon action zombie-comedy, Killing It, which will be produced by Thede’s For Better or Words, Inc. and Jax Media.
Hughes, who had a small role in Fleabag, recently hosted The Netflix Afterparty and is developing a comedy feature, Hot Mess, with Will Packer Productions and Universal. In 2019, she developed an NBC single-camera comedy with Larry Wilmore, who Thede worked with as head writer of Comedy Central’s The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.