Krysten Ritter Headshot - P 2014
AP ImagesKrysten Ritter is ready to go to the moon for NBC.
The Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 alum is near a deal to play the starring role in the network’s period space comedy Mission Control, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
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The workplace ensemble comedy, from executive producer Will Ferrell, is set in 1962 and in the tone of Anchorman. The single-camera comedy examines what happens when a strong woman butts heads with a macho astronaut in the race to land on the moon.
Ritter will star as Mary, the tough girl and head engineer who leads the Apollo team at Mission Control at the NASA Manned Space Center (in 1965). She’s a woman in a man’s world who is super-smart, brisk without being brusque and immensely capable without losing her feminine appeal. When Tom Stone is brought in to add balance to Mission Control, Mary sees it as a sexist attempt to undercut everything she has done.
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David Hornsby (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) will pen the script and executive produce the Universal Television comedy alongside Gary Sanchez Productions’ Adam McKay and Ferrell. Ritter will also be credited as a producer on the comedy. She joins a cast that also includes Malcolm Barrett and Jonathan Slavin.
Ritter’s credits include Tim Burton’s Big Eyes, Search Party, Listen Up Philip, Asthma and Rob Thomas‘ upcoming Veronica Mars feature film, reprising her role from the TV series. She’s repped by WME, Sanders Armstrong Caserta Management, the Group Entertainment and Bloom Hergott.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
Twitter: @Snoodit
