‘American Classic’: Laura Linney Returns to TV with Comedy Series!!

For the first time since her acclaimed Netflix series Ozark concluded, Laura Linney is returning to TV. The four-time Emmy winner will star opposite Kevin Kline in the new comedy series American Classic. The MGM+ series will begin production in New Jersey this summer.

Kline will star in the series as Richard Bean, a temperamental and egotistical Broadway legend who has a public meltdown and retreats to his hometown, Millersburg, where his family ran a well-regarded theater. Once he gets back, however, he finds that the once-respected playhouse has fallen on hard times, and is now running low-rent dinner theater. His brother Jon (Jon Tenney, The Closer) runs the theater with his wife, Kristen (Linney), who is also the small town’s mayor. Richard has a complicated history with Kristen: decades ago, they were in love, and tried to achieve Broadway stardom together. However, she tired of his selfishness and retreated back to Millersburg, where she married his brother and raised a family. Richard is determined to put the theater back on the map, and plans to mount a new production of an American classic, directed by and starring himself. Hilarity, of course, ensues.

What Has Laura Linney Starred in Recently?

The gritty crime drama Ozark was Linney‘s primary concern for its four-season run; it was a huge success for Netflix, and netted Linney three Emmy nominations. She was also a co-executive producer on the series for its fourth and final season, and made her directorial debut with the fourth-season episode “Pound of Flesh and Still Kickin’.” She has also directed two episodes of the upcoming Netflix miniseries Black Rabbit, which will reunite her with Ozark co-star Jason Bateman. She recently starred in the films The Miracle Club, Wildcat, and Suncoast, and voiced Joanne Woodward in Ethan Hawke‘s documentary miniseries The Last Movie Stars, about Woodward and husband Paul Newman. She also made a brief return to Broadway, starring in Summer, 1976 alongside Jessica Hecht in 2023. She is also a producer on the current Broadway production of Gutenberg! The Musical!

American Classic was created by Michael Hoffman (The Last Station) and Bob Martin (Slings and Arrows). Hoffman, Martin, and Ellen Fairey will executive produce the series with Kline, Leslie Urdang, Anthony Bregman, and Miriam Mintz, David Levine, and Garrett Kemble for Anonymous Content. Tenney co-executive produces; Kevin Cotter co-produces. It is a production of Mar-Key Pictures, Likely Story and Anonymous Content.