Greg Kinnear joins Courteney Cox in Starz horror comedy pilot Shining Vale

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Back in March, we heard that Courteney Cox had signed on to star in the Starz horror comedy pilot Shining Vale as Patricia "Pat" Phelps, 

a former “wild child” who rose to fame by writing a raunchy, drug-and-alcohol-soaked women’s empowerment novel (aka lady porn). Fast-forward 17 years, and Pat is clean and sober but totally unfulfilled. She still hasn’t written her second novel, she can’t remember the last time she had sex with her husband, and her teenage kids are at that stage where they love their vile friends and want you dead. She was a faithful wife until her one slip-up: a torrid 15-night stand with a hot, young artist/handyman/musician neighbor. In a last-ditch effort to save her marriage, she and her family move from the “crazy” of the city to a large, old house in the suburbs where evil and humor collide.

Now we know who will be playing Pat's husband in the pilot. Greg Kinnear is taking on the role of Terry Phelps, 

Pat's sweet, sensitive husband. He assumed he was married to the perfect wife until she had an affair with their young handyman, destroying the kitchen island, and maybe his marriage. Ever the optimist, Terry is willing to do whatever it takes to keep his family together, including intensive couples therapy and cashing in all his assets to buy an Old Victorian house in the suburbs of Connecticut, trading his 12-minute commute for a 90-minute train ride into the city. Despite his brave face and can-do spirit, it is clear that he has some deep-seated resentment, which occasionally peeks out as rage. Especially when his wife tells him she believes their new house is haunted. Terry’s challenge will be to ride out whatever is going on with Pat, without completely losing his own mind in the process.

As those character descriptions suggest, Shining Vale centers on 

a dysfunctional family that moves from the city to a small town into a house in which terrible atrocities have taken place. But no one seems to notice except for Pat, who’s convinced she’s either depressed or possessed – turns out, the symptoms are exactly the same.

Sharon Horgan and Jeff Astrof developed Shining Vale together, working from an idea that came from executive producer Aaron Kaplan. Astrof has written the script for the pilot, which will be directed by Dearbhla Walsh.

The show is a collaboration between Warner Bros. Television and Lionsgate. Kaplan and Dana Honor are executive producing the show via Kapital Entertainment; Horgan and Clelia Mountford are executive producing through Merman; Astrof is executive producing through his company Other Shoe Productions; and Walsh is also an executive producer.

Shining Vale sounds like it has the makings of a fun, goofy series, and Cox and Kinnear are great choices for the leads of such a project.