Fox continues to bolster its 2021-22 schedule.
The network has handed out a series order to The Cleaning Lady, a mob drama starring Élodie Yung that is based on an Argentine series.
Originally developed and ordered to pilot last season but stalled by the pandemic, the broadcast network extended the options on the cast and filmed the drama in February after production resumed.
Here’s how Fox describes the series: “a darkly aspirational character drama about a whip-smart doctor who comes to the U.S. for a medical treatment to save her ailing son. But when the system fails and pushes her into hiding, she refuses to be beaten down and marginalized. Instead, she becomes a cleaning lady for the mob and starts playing the game by her own rules.”
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Miranda Kwok (The 100) penned the script and exec produces alongside showrunner Melissa Carter (Queen Sugar), Shay Mitchell, Rose Marie Vega and the Argentine show’s Paola Suárez. Michael Offer directed and exec produced the pilot. The series is a co-production between Warner Bros. Television and Fox Entertainment. Adan Canto, Martha Millan, and twins Sebastien and Valentino LaSalle also star.
Fox brass envision The Cleaning Lady as a timely drama that will explore issues surrounding immigration that also speaks to the network’s commitment for diversity and inclusion in front of and behind the camera. “Being able to tell a story that emboldens and elevates marginalized voices and people is a dream come true,” Kwok tweeted earlier this year when filming on the pilot was able to begin. She posted that Fox and Warners flew the cast and crew on a chartered plane from Albuquerque to Vegas in order to film the pilot.
All told, The Cleaning Lady is Fox’s fourth series order for the 2021-22 broadcast season. It joins Scott Foley drama The Big Leap, the Lee Daniels-produced Our Kind of People and Paul Feig mockumentary This Country. The network, which recently bailed on Thursday Night Football (which heads to Amazon in 2022), also has an untitled animated comedy from Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon due in 2022 and an update of Fantasy Island set for August.
As for Fox’s remaining pilot slate, fellow 2020 holdovers Blood Relative, the untitled Goonies reenactment project (which was never cast) and comedy Pivoting remain in contention. Fox is expected to make decisions on its remaining slate Friday, with one more series order expected.
Fox has yet to renew any of its live-action scripted originals for next season. Instead, it’s made early decisions on its animated slate with renewals for Bob’s Burgers, Duncanville, Family Guy, The Great North and staple The Simpsons. That leaves 911 and its spinoff, Prodigal Son, The Resident and multicam comedy Call Me Kat on the bubble, with animated comedy Housebroken due in May.
Follow the status of the remaining pilots in contention with THR‘s guide and keep track of all the renewals, cancellations and new series orders with our handy scorecard.
