Perfect Strangers reboot casts Robin Thede, London Hughes in lead roles

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

With every nostalgic property under the sun being rebooted these days, it was only a matter of time before someone started looking at the 1980s sitcom Perfect Strangers.

It's been announced that a Perfect Strangers reboot is in the works at HBO Max with Robin Thede (Bad Hair, A Black Lady Sketch Show) and London Hughes (Damned) set to star. HBO Max has given the half-hour, multi-camera comedy a script development deal. The comedy will follow perfect strangers, Dejay, played by Thede, and Poppy, played by Hughes, who unexpectedly discover they are half-sisters when they both inherit a one-bedroom apartment above a trap yoga studio in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Though they are opposites, the duo must learn how to live and work together.

Of course, Perfect Strangers is inspired by the 1980s sitcom of the same name starring Mark Linn-Baker and Bronson Pinchot. The quaint comedy lasted for eight seasons and 15 episodes between 1986–1993 on ABC. Linn-Baker played Larry Appleton, an all-American Midwesterner, while Pinchot assumed the role of his distant cousin, Balky Bartokomous.

The rebooted series is produced by Warner Bros. Television with Thede executive producing via her For Better or Words label, and Robert L. Boyett, who produced the original, which was created by Dale McRaven.

Thede is currently prepping the third season of A Black Lady Sketch Show for HBO, while also writing the film Fashionably Black for HBO Max with Christa Gatewood. She's also hard at work writing the Amazon action zombie-comedy, Killing It, which she will also produce. As for Hughes, you can catch her in a minor role for the show Fleabag, or as a caller for the TV series Damned. Obviously, Thede's Perfect Strangers project will find Hughes stepping into the spotlight in a big way.