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Leah Remini Reunites With Kevin James On TV: Update On The ‘King Of Queens’ Cast

By Victoria Miller
Published on: 00:09 PST, Mar 25, 2017

Leah Remini is set to reunite with Kevin James on the small screen 10 years after their long-running CBS sitcom, The King of Queens, ended its run. Remini will guest star on the two-part season finale of James’ current CBS comedy, Kevin Can Wait, according to TV Guide. Remini will play Vanessa Cellucci, a police officer who goes undercover with Kevin (James) as husband and wife after he decides to come out of retirement to take on a special assignment. Remini posted a photo of the script for the episode, which is titled “Sting of Queens.”

Leah Remini and Kevin James played working class couple Doug and Carrie Heffernan for nine seasons on The King of Queens. The show ended in May 2007.

Kevin James posted about his TV reunion with Leah Remini on Twitter, joking that his two TV wives will soon meet. Erinn Hayes plays James’ wife on Kevin Can Wait.

Remini has long said that her time working with James on the King of Queens was very special.

“I loved King of Queens,” Leah said on Oprah: Where Are They Now in 2015.

“You can’t spend that amount of time somewhere and not pick that as your favorite,” she says. “It was very close to me. It was a relationship that I understood, and all the relationships in the show I understood. It was very natural to me. And so it wasn’t like I was acting.”

While Remini has a series of sitcoms on her resume including The Exes and the short-lived Family Tools, in an interview with Buzzfeed, the actress revealed that the end of The King of Queens is the one that hurt the most.

“There are no words to describe it,” Leah said.

“Kevin loved the show, but his film career was taking off and he didn’t want it to end up being the show that trickled off. I mean, everyone else was OK going out with a 0.3 rating. I understood his position, and looking back, he was right, but I’m still mourning that loss. I can’t really watch the reruns because I still feel that show in my bones.”

While King of Queens fans are excited that Leah Remini will reunite with her longtime TV husband, the move comes as a bit of a surprise. Last summer, James downplayed the chances of casting Remini or longtime King of Queens co-star Jerry Stiller on his new show—at least during the first season.

“If I did it too soon, it would feel like a ploy,” the actor said of a reunion with Remini, according to TV Guide.

“I want this show to take on its own life and become its own thing. It can’t help but be compared as it is, but I want to reduce that as much as possible.”

Of course, in addition to Leah Remini’s upcoming guest spot, there is another familiar element on Kevin Can Wait. James’ real-life brother, Gary Valentine (who played his cousin, Danny Heffernan on KoQ) is a regular on the series.

As for Stiller, who played Leah Remini’s dad, Arthur Spooner, on King of Queens, the 89-year-old actor has kept himself busy with voice work on kiddie shows like Fish Hooks and Wonder Pets.

Patton Oswalt, who played the Heffernan’s friend Spence Olchin, has a busy stand-up career and has appeared on a steady stream of TV shows including Veep and Two and a Half Men. Oswalt currently voices the role of an adult Adam Goldberg as narrator on the hit ABC sitcom The Goldbergs.

Victor Williams, who played longtime friend Deacon Palmer on The King of Queens, played Detective Jeffries on The Affair and currently plays Richard on Sneaky Pete.

And Merrin Dungey, who played Remini’s character’s best friend Kelly Palmer on King of Queens, can currently be seen on Conviction. The actress also played Ursula in Once Upon a Time and piloted the role of Dr. Naomi Bennett on Grey’s Anatomy, paving the way for Audra McDonald’s Private Practice character of the same name.
As for Leah Remini, in addition to her long-awaited reunion with James, the actress has two more TV projects on the table. Leah’s A&E docuseries Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath has been renewed for a second season. In addition, Remini has been cast in the pilot for the upcoming NBC series What About Bob?

You can see Leah Remini on Kevin Can Wait Monday, May 1 and Monday, May 8 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

Take a look at the video below to see Leah Remini on The King of Queens.

[Featured Image by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]

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