Netflix Orders Jim Parsons-Produced Comedy Series

The Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons is taking his next producing project to Netflix.

The streamer has picked up Special, an eight-episode comedy series from writer and star Ryan O’Connell (Will & Grace, Awkward). It is based on his part memoir, part manifesto I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves.

The series, set to premiere April 12, will follow O’Connell’s character, a gay man with mild cerebral palsy who decides to rewrite his identity as an accident victim and finally go after the life he wants.

Special also stars Jessica Hecht (Friends, Breaking Bad), Punam Patel (Adam Ruins Everything), Marla Mindelle, Augustus Prew (Pure Genius) and Patrick Fabian (Better Call Saul). 

The project comes from Big Bang Theory producer Warner Bros. TV, studio-affiliated Stage 13 and Parson’s That’s Wonderful Productions. O’Connell executive produces with Parsons and That’s Wonderful’s Todd Spiewak (who is also married to Parsons) and Eric Norsoph. Flight of the Conchords and Insecure veteran Anna Dokoza directs and exec produces.

Parsons is also an executive producer and the narrator of Big Bang Theory spinoff Young Sheldon. Special marks his first time working with Netflix as a producer; he stars with Zac Efron in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, a feature film about serial killer Ted Bundy that Netflix picked up at Sundance. 

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