Lethal Weapon actress Maggie Lawson snags new pilot; implications
Is the future of Lethal Weapon in some sort of doubt thanks to Maggie Lawson’s new pilot? As is often the case in the TV world, not everything is quite as it seems…
Let’s kick things off with the news of the day. Lawson, whose TV credits include the likes of Psych and short-lived series Angel From Hell and Back in the Game, is joining Fox’s multi-camera comedy pilot Geniuses. This is coming from Lon Zimmet (LA to Vegas) and revolves around a blue-collar couple located in South New Jersey who are trying to raise three genius kids and one normal one. (Really, this just sounds like Young Sheldon if you stuck Sheldon in a cloning machine three times – also that show has been renewed for 2 more seasons!) Lawson’s character of Cay is the matriarch of the family and a pit boss at a local casino. She’s a tough, smart character who takes charge — and probably has some sort of accent since we are talking about New Jersey here.
Could this be a fun role? Sure, and Lawson has a lot of multi-cam experience via her time spent over on Two and a Half Men, where she was for a time of love interest of Ashton Kutcher’s Walden Schmidt.
As for Lethal Weapon, don’t take this to be some sort of conspiracy theory that Fox is shuttering the series after the current third season. Lawson may have appeared throughout season 3 as Cole’s ex Natalie, but was never a series regular; basically, she was always free to pursue other work. With these two shows both centrally located under the Fox umbrella, it’s not that hard to envision that she could do both. So many other people have balanced that sort of stuff out before; heck, Johnny Galecki did two episodes of The Conners this year and they’re not even on the same network.
Still, it’s wise for any recurring player on Lethal Weapon to run out and grab some stable work — it’s firmly on the ratings bubble and is a bad performance or so away from bursting. It’s endured a lot of drama the past year, whether it be the firing of Clayne Crawford to the mystery surrounding Damon Wayans and what in the world he wants to do next. Our thought is that he’ll stay put, judging from recent comments made at TCA. At this point though, it’d be silly to feel like anyone has an accurate read on what is going to happen with this show, even if it will return.
Will this interfere with Psych: The Movie 2?
Doubtful. Based on when that movie is slated to film this spring, Lawson can go and film the pilot for Geniuses first. We need our Juliet O’Hara in the Psych world (if you can’t tell we are huge fans of that show)! Also, we need more Lassiter, pineapples, Gus eating things, and ridiculous nicknames. It’s all a part of the Psych cocktail.
What do you think about this news for Maggie, and what’s your current read on the whole Lethal Weapon situation in general? Share some of your thoughts now in the comments.