Apple Lands Comedy TV Series Starring Bridesmaids’ Kristen Wiig

Apple has ordered a 10-episode comedy series starring Kristen Wiig and based on an upcoming short story collection by Curtis Sittenfeld.

The Cupertino tech giant reportedly landed the half-hour comedy series in a “competitive situation with multiple outlets bidding,” according to a Wednesday report by The Hollywood Reporter. The show will, notably, be Apple’s first original scripted comedy series. Reportedly, Wiig will also executive produce the show, which was created by Colleen McGuinness of 30 Rock fame.

The show is based on a book of 10 short stories titled You Think It, I’ll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld. The stories “upend assumptions about class, relationships and gender roles in a nation that feels both adrift and viscerally divided,” according to the book’s description.

For Wiig, Apple’s show marks her return to the screen after departing NBC’s Saturday Night Live, where she was a regular cast member for seven seasons. Since leaving SNL in 2012, Wiig went on to star in films such as The Martian, Ghostbusters, and Bridesmaids — the latter of which earned Wiig an Oscar nomination for co-writing.

The comedy series is also the third original series to be produced by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine outfit. Apple had previously landed two other Hello Sunshine-produced shows: true crime series Are You Sleeping starring Octavia Spencer, and an untitled drama about morning talk show hosts starring Jennifer Aniston and Witherspoon herself.

The Wiig-headed series is also the fifth overall original series Apple has landed, a number which also includes an untitled space drama developed by Battlestar Galactica’s Ronald D. Moore and a reboot of Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi series “Amazing Stories.”

Apple has been ambitious in its push to create its own original TV content, from opening an office location near Hollywood to hiring several former Sony executives to spearhead its venture to create premium series. It has, reportedly, been “inundated” with spec scripts and offers since it started its TV content push.

At this point, it’s unclear how Apple will roll out its original content, but it’s likely that the shows will debut on proprietary platforms such as Apple Music or iTunes.

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