Lisa Kudrow reveals she'd like her comedy-drama series The Comeback to have a revival. The Friends star is of course best known for her iconic role as offbeat Phoebe Buffay on the award-winning sitcom. Kudrow's also starred in several classic comedy films like Romy and Michele's High School Reunion and Easy A. More recently, she's appeared on screen as General Naird's wife Maggie in the Netflix comedy Space Force.
The Comeback was co-created by Kudrow and Sex and the City producer Michael Patrick King. It starred Kudrow as Valerie Cherish, a sitcom actress living in Los Angeles. Valerie is no thinly-veiled stand-in for Kudrow, though—unlike Kudrow's real-world career success, Valerie struggles to find acting work for a decade after the sitcom that made her famous ended. The Comeback follows her story as she is finally cast in a new sitcom and returns to the screen—with the caveat that as part of her contract, she must consent to being the subject of a reality documentary charting her comeback. Though The Comeback was canceled after its first season in 2005, it was revived nine years later for a second season, this time following Valerie's attempts to create her own reality TV show.
In an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Kudrow discussed her hopes for The Comeback after DeGeneres mentioned that the actress's current haircut resembled that of Valerie Cherish. After DeGeneres suggested the series could have a literal comeback, Kudrow enthusiastically agreed. DeGeneres also joked that if a revival of The Comeback does happen, then she would want to be in it. Read what Kudrow said below:
Wouldn't that be fun? We would like to, we should, and you know what, I think next year it'll be nine years since the second one that was nine years since the first one. That's our thing!
The Comeback's co-creator King has recently been writing, directing, and co-producing the Sex and the City revival And Just Like That..., which was recently renewed for season 2. In a previous interview with DeGeneres in June, Kudrow mentioned she and King have already had preliminary discussions about a potential The Comeback season 3, but the pair agreed that King would need to finish working on And Just Like That... first. It's not entirely clear whether that series' renewal means any progress towards a revival of The Comeback would need to be further put on hold, or whether Kudrow and King could try to start work on The Comeback during the hiatuses between And Just Like That... seasons.
With its irreverent brand of meta-comedy, pastiches of Hollywood and LA culture, and basic concept literally centering around renewal and return, The Comeback would lend itself perfectly to another revival and would surely have a lot of new ground to cover post-#MeToo and the pandemic. Kudrow is no stranger to revivals and reboots, having already given her seal of approval to a potential sequel to Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. The Comeback has already lived up to its name once—perhaps the serendipitous nine-year gap between seasons mentioned by Kudrow could be a sign that now is the time.
Source: Ellen
