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Hollywood may have lost a TV legend in Norman Lear after he died on Tuesday at the age of 101, but fans will have a little more time to spend with him as he is expected to make a cameo appearance in the upcoming animated series Good Times , Deadline has learned exclusively.
The Netflix and Sony Picture Television comedy, which follows a new generation of the Evans family living in one of Chicago’s last remaining housing projects, has not yet announced a release date, but sources reveal they are aiming for a summer 2024 premiere. Netflix and SPT declined to comment.
“Good Times” is just one of several projects left behind by Lear, who at the age of 101 remained busy developing and producing new series through his production contract with Sony TV. In May, Netflix greenlit the Lear EP dramedy series The Corps, starring Vera Farmiga, Miles Heizer and Liam Oh, about a gay high school student who meets his straight boyfriend best friend joins the Marine Corps. The project, based on Greg Cope White’s memoir The Pink Marine, was close to Lear’s heart as an Army veteran who fought bravely in World War II.
Justina Machado’s character Penélope in the Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce revival One Day at a Time, which Lear executive produced, was an Army veteran who dealt with post-traumatic stress disorder as a tribute to Lear.
A remake of another Lear TV classic, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, is also in the works, with Lear Exex handling production. Originally launched on TBS in 2021, the project saw a turnaround following changes at the Turner cable network. In April, Deadline spoke with Lear’s producing partner Brent Miller and Schitt’s Creek star Emily Hampshire – who starred in the title role – about the project.
“It’s about shopping,” Miller shared during the interview.
Hampshire added: “If anyone shops, Mary shops. What’s great about the series is the way the original series would look in today’s world. The great thing is that it is becoming more and more relevant now. Mary’s obsession with her screen was a foretaste of us with our screen, but now we are the commercials instead of Mary watching the commercials.”
Lear, Miller and Jimmy Kimmel have completed two successful episodes of their TV specials “Live in Front of A Studio Audience” on ABC, which includes many of Lear’s classic shows such as “All in the Family” and its spin-off “The Jeffersons” and later “Good Times” and “The Facts of” bring life together. The former won two Emmy awards, including for TV Special (Live), making Lear, at 97, the oldest Emmy winner in history. There have been talks about a third iteration of the franchise, but no further information is available at this time.
Last June a Who’s the Boss? It was announced that the sequel series is in development at Amazon Freevee, with Tony Danza and Alyssa Milano returning to play their original roles. Deadline caught up with Milano on a picket line during the SAG-AFTRA strike, who confirmed that the project is still in the works.
Lear is executive producing the sequel and Freevee’s upcoming Laverne Cox and George Wallace-led comedy series Clean Slate.
The original series Good Times, created by Mike Evans and Eric Monte, was the first African-American two-parent family sitcom on television. It was a spin-off of Lear’s Maude, which was in turn a spin-off of Lear’s signature series, All in the Family.