Frank Langella has joined the upcoming Jim Carrey Showtime series “Kidding” as a series regular, Variety has confirmed.
Carrey will star as Jeff, aka Mr. Pickles, an icon of children’s television, a beacon of kindness and wisdom to America’s impressionable young minds and the parents who grew up with him, who also anchors a multimillion dollar branding empire.
Langella will play Seb, the man who built Jeff’s show from a school project to a nationally syndicated cultural touchstone with a multimillion dollar empire. He must balance a growing concern for Jeff with the need to keep his onscreen persona from radically changing.
Langella is a star of stage and screen who most recently appeared in the FX series “The Americans.” He is also known for roles in recent films like “Frost/Nixon,” “Robot & Frank,” and “The Box.” He has also won four Tony Awards during his career, including one for playing Richard Nixon in the stage version of “Frost/Nixon.”
“Kidding” marks Carrey’s first series regular role since his time on “In Living Color” in the early 90’s. It also reunites him with Oscar winner Michel Gondry from “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” who will direct the project.
With a 10-episode first-season order, Carrey will executive produce with Gondry, Jason Bateman, Jim Garavente, Raffi Adlan, and Michael Aguilar. It was created by Dave Holstein, who wrote the pilot and will serve as showrunner.
Deadline first reported news of Langella’s casting.
