Martin Lawrence is making his return to television and will star in an upcoming dark comedy that will be a re-imagined English-language adaptation of the hit Israeli series “Nehama.” The Bad Boys star will play the title character in the untitled project that tells the story of a happily married father of five (Lawrence) who quits his suffocating job in high-tech to chase his original love of stand-up comedy.
Martin’s last stint on television was the short-lived 2014 series “Partners” with Kelsey Grammer. Lawrence will produce the series through his production company, RunTelDat Entertainment, alongside 24 Drafts Studio and Topic Studios.
“ ’Nehama’ has heart and real-life complications that drew me to the project. I am looking forward to getting back to TV, and this is a perfect fit,” Lawrence told Variety.
The original 10-episode series opened the 2019 CannesSeries Festival, winning the Best Performance Award for its creator and star Reshef Levi, and went on to win two Israeli Emmy Awards in 2019, including Best Comedy Series.
“We created the original ‘Nehama’ series about our love of comedy, storytelling, and our admiration of our wives. After HOT initially recognized the huge potential, we thought nothing bigger could happen. But now when a great master like Martin Lawrence wants to work with us on a new U.S. version with Topic Studios — we feel blessed to have this dream come true. We’re sure that this new multi-cultural collaboration will make an even better series, ” Levi told Variety.
Lawrence also kept busy during the pandemic shooting the upcoming thriller Mindcage with John Malkovich, Melissa Roxburgh and Aiden Turner. Both projects are set for a 2022 release.
