Elizabeth Banks To Headline New Apple TV+ Comedy From Will Trent Co-Creator

So, Elizabeth Banks is finally back doing what she does best: comedy. Apple TV just gave the official thumbs-up to a brand new half-hour series, and yes, Banks is both starring and steering this ship as an executive producer. If you remember her from shows like '30 Rock,' 'Scrubs,' or the 'Pitch Perfect' movies, you already know she’s got the comedic chops—so this is one to watch.

So, What’s This Show Actually About?

Quick premise: Banks is playing a character named Heidi, who—surprise!—is picking up the pieces after a messy divorce. But don’t expect your standard “divorced-mom-gets-her-groove-back” plot. Instead, Heidi finds herself roped into managing her dad’s retirement community 'sex dates.' Yes. Retirement home romance logistics. To make things even stranger, she has to team up with her father’s girlfriend’s eternally single son. This is the sort of premise that makes you wonder if someone just pulled plot points out of a hat, but honestly, it sounds like it could be a blast.

'Fresh off a messy divorce, Heidi (Banks) sets out to secure a lively second act for herself and her kids. But when she stumbles into coordinating her father’s retirement community sex dates, Heidi is forced into an unlikely alliance with his girlfriend’s perpetually single son.'

The People Making It Happen

The show doesn’t have a title yet, but here’s who’s involved:

• Elizabeth Banks: Starring and executive producing, fresh off a run with 'The Miniature Wife' (Peacock) and 'The Better Sister' (Amazon) — not to mention a pretty respectable film career.
• Liz Heldens: The main writer and co-showrunner, who helped create ABC’s 'Will Trent' and has a long list of hour-long dramas to her name. This is a bit of a genre hop for her.
• Matt Ward: Co-writing with Heldens and stepping up to executive produce and co-run the show. He’s worked with Heldens before, most notably on 'The Big Leap' and 'Mercy.'
• Jonathan Krisel: Directing the pilot and executive producing. If you liked 'Portlandia' or 'Baskets,' you’ve seen his work.
• Banks' Brownstone Productions: Max Handelman and Krissy Wall are all in on the executive production team.
• Other executive producers include Quinn Haberman (for Heldens’ Selfish Mermaid banner) and Jason Winer plus Jon Radler (for Small Dog Picture Company), so there are lots of hands on the controls here.

Status Update

Filming gets underway later this year in Los Angeles. As is always the case, there’s no word yet on when we’ll actually get to see it. No trailer, no release date, not even a leaked set photo—so if you were hoping for more, join the club.

All things considered, this one feels like it could go either way: wild misfire or totally unexpected gem. Either way, the idea of Banks wrangling a senior-citizen swingers club is just weird enough that I’ll check it out. Will keep you posted as Apple rolls out more info.