Three years after Last Man Standing’s finale reunited Tim Allen and his on-screen daughter Kaitlyn Dever, the stand-up comedian is aiming to return to network TV with a new ABC sitcom. And while Dever will presumably be too busy with The Last of Us Season 2 to pop by the set, Allen will indeed have another TV comedy veteran taking on the role of his character’s contentious and daddy-displeasing offspring.
Former 2 Broke Girls co-star and occasional MCU genius Kat Dennings has been cast in the in-development ABC pilot Shifting Gears for the co-lead daughter role, whose name will be Riley. It sounds like Dennings and Allen will possibly be at odds with one another, at least in the traditional television comedy sense, and I like the idea of the Dollface actress being an aggressive foil for the machismo-driven actor, whose character likely won’t be too far off base from what fans are used to seeing.
Who Is Kat Dennings Playing?
First, it should be noted that Kat Dennings is not only set to co-star in the new pilot, but she’s also set up to take on producer duties. That will presumably give her a bit more of a push to see it come to fruition with a series order. Not that she wouldn’t already by vying for its success anyway.
As far as fictional role specifics go, Dennings was cast in the role of Riley, who was often at odds with Allen’s Mike when she was growing up. She sealed her own fate by leaving home to get married to a boyfriend that certainly did not get Mike’s approval, and they apparently spent years estranged from one another. (Dennings herself tied the knot in December 2023 to musician Andrew W.K..)
When the show picks up, Mike is the widowed owner of a paint-and-body shop that restores classic cars. And he can add “roommate” to that list after Riley makes her way back home with her two teenage kids, having divorced the high school sweetheart. The challenge then becomes trying to build up the loving relationship they never really had before, potentially with different car restorations as episodic metaphors for the stripped chassis of their bond.
The Shifting Gears pilot was written by The Simpsons vets and Duncanville co-creators Mike Scully and Julie Thacker Scully, who will also be executive producing alongside Tim Allen and other Last Man Standing alum Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements, Richard Baker and Rick Messina. With Dennings producing, that’s a huge squad of sitcom familiars bringing their talents to this new project, so it seems pretty likely to get ordered up barring any huge whiffs.
Save for her lead role as Jules in Hulu’s Dollhouse, Kat Dennings has largely tethered herself to the MCU in recent years. Her Thor franchise character Darcy Lewis reemerged within the twisted world of WandaVision (which had its own sitcom connections, for what it’s worth), and then cameoed in 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder. The actress also voiced Darcy across two episodes of Disney+’s What If…?
This would mark Dennings’ first network comedy role since 2 Broke Girls wrapped up on Fox in 2017, though she also lent her voice to an episode of The Simpsons that same year. Beyond that, her voice could also be heard in Dallas & Robo and Big Mouth, as well as one of her hubby’s 2021 music videos (“Everybody Sins”).
Head to our 2024 TV schedule to see what other new and returning shows are on the way while waiting to hear more about Shifting Gears' fate at ABC.
