Class is in session for Steve Carell in the first look at his new comedy series Rooster. The series comes from TV comedy hitmaker Bill Lawrence, of Scrubs fame. Rooster will debut on HBO in March 2026. The new images showcase Carell as Greg Russo, a noted novelist (loosely based on Carl Hiaasen, whose novel Bad Monkey was recently adapted for AppleTV by Lawrence) who visits a college campus for a reading, only to find himself sucked into the world of academia over the course of the series’ ten episodes.
Joining him there is his daughter (Charly Clive, The Lazarus Project), a university professor who’s dealing with her own problems. The images show off the series’ cozy collegiate vibe (and a remarkably cute dog), and feature the rest of the winning cast, including Danielle Deadwyler (The Woman in the Yard), Phil Dunster (Ted Lasso), Lauren Tsai (Legion), and, reuniting with Lawrence, Scrubs‘ John C. McGinley. The series was announced back in 2024, but is only now getting a title: “Rooster” is the name of the main character of one of Russo‘s novels.
Who Is Bill Lawrence?
A native of Ridgefield, Connecticut, Lawrence‘s first TV writing gig was on the short-lived 1992 Head of the Class spin-off Billy, starring Billy Connolly. He wrote for series like The Nanny, Friends, and Boy Meets World — and was fired from all of them. He co-created Spin City in 1996; it starred Michael J. Fox as an ambitious deputy mayor. The show was a ratings success, and ran for six seasons, even enduring for two additional seasons after Fox left the series for health reasons. He went on to have his biggest hit with Scrubs, a medical sitcom that ran for nine seasons, and is set to come back for a return engagement in the New Year with Lawrence and most of the show’s original cast in tow. Subsequent series include Cougar Town, Ground Floor, and the animated Clone High. He’s recently had a string of ratings and critical successes with Ted Lasso, Shrinking, and Bad Monkey.
Rooster is showrun by co-showrunners Lawrence and Matt Tarses, who worked with Lawrence on Scrubs and Bad Monkey. Lawrence and Tarses also executive produce the series with Carell, Jeff Ingold and Liza Katzer for Doozer, Jonathan Krisel, Barbie Adler, Annie Mebane, David Stassen, and Anthony King.
Rooster will premiere on HBO in March 2026; no precise release date has yet been announced.
via Collider