Lea Michele has signed onto star in another broadcast series. The “Glee” alum has joined ABC’s comedy pilot that hails from “Hamilton” star Daveed Diggs, Variety has learned. The Untitled City Mayor pilot is about an outspoken, idealistic rapper runs for office as a publicity stunt and actually gets elected, then surprising everyone, including himself, when he has a natural knack for the job and slowly transforms City Hall.
No word on Michele’s character name or details. The lead rapper/mayor will be played by Brandon Michael Hall.
The single-cam comedy hails from writer Jeremy Bronson, who will executive produce alongside Diggs, who starred on Broadway’s “Hamilton,” Jamie Tarses, Scott Stuber and James Griffiths who will direct the pilot. ABC Studios is producing.
Michele has been starring on Fox’s “Scream Queens,” the horror-anthology comedy series from Ryan Murphy. No word yet on the future of “Scream Queens,” but with Michele moving onto a project at a competing broadcast network, should the ABC series be greenlit, she would not appear in Fox’s third season, should it be renewed — however, Variety sources say the show is believed to be dead. If “Scream Queens” is renewed, it could carry on without Michele, since the series is an anthology.
The second season of “Scream Queens” failed to attract much of an audience with declining overnight ratings through the sophomore run. Earlier this year, Fox execs said no decision has been made on the future of the show, explaining, “It’s very much still in consideration for a renewal…The ratings don’t tell the whole story; because it’s such a young audience, you can’t really even see the full picture even in L+3.”
Moving to ABC is a jump for Michele who has been in business with Fox since the offset of her television career, which boomed with “Glee,” and then continued with two seasons of “Scream Queens.” On the groundbreaking high school musical series, she starred as Rachel Berry for all six seasons. Since, the actress and singler has appeared in the ensemble film “New Years Eve” and coming up, she has a prominent role in Hulu’s sci-fi anthology series, “Dimension 404.”
