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Kathryn Hahn to play Joan Rivers in Showtime limited series The Comeback Girl

By Lacy Baugher

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 17: Kathryn Hahn attends the Television Academy's Reception to Honor 73rd Emmy Award Nominees at Television Academy on September 17, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 17: Kathryn Hahn attends the Television Academy's Reception to Honor 73rd Emmy Award Nominees at Television Academy on September 17, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images) /
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Kathryn Hahn is set to follow up her Emmy nominated performance in WandaVision by taking on the role of a real-life female comedic icon.

According to Variety, Hahn will star as Joan Rivers in The Comeback Girl, a limited series at Showtime that will explore the life of the famous female comedian. Rivers passed away in 2014 at the age of 81, but broke all sorts of boundaries throughout her life, from her time in the 1960s New York comedy scene to her frequent appearances on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show and her infamous duties as the head of E!’s Fashion Police.  (And truly, no celebrity red carpet has been the same since she left us.)

Rivers was also the first female comedian to host a late-night show of her own – FOX’s The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers. But the drama surrounding her landing the show caused a rift in her friendship with Carson, from which their friendship recovered. The Comeback Girl is reportedly meant to chronicle the years after her Late Show  was canceled (it only ran for about 150 episodes), an event that coincided with the suicide of her husband, Edgar Rosenberg, in 1987.

Kathryn Hahn to play Joan Rivers in Showtime series The Comeback Girl

The official logline for “The Comeback Girl” reads as follows.

"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. 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."

After her over the top performance as villainous Marvel witch Agatha Harkness, Hahn feels like a perfect and obvious choice to play Rivers, a woman who possessed a similarly outsized personality – and a remarkably singular laugh.

Hahn will also executive produce the series as well as star, alongside Greg Berlanti, a name that will be familiar enough to anyone who’s watched The CW’s Riverdale or any of its Arrowverse properties. Berlanti is also set to direct the show.

As its very early days on this project, there’s no word on when we can expect to see The Comeback Girl on our screens. In the meantime, we’ll be able to see Hahn in the upcoming Knives Out sequel, as well as the Apple TV+ series The Shrink Next Door, opposite Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell.

Next. Midnight Mass review: A miraculous slow burn. dark

Do you think Hahn is a perfect choice to play Rivers? Sound off in the comments. 

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