Rosie O’Donnell to Appear in Amazon’s Upcoming ‘A League of Their Own’ Series
Rosie O’Donnell will make a guest appearance in Amazon’s upcoming A League of Their Own, a spinoff of the movie that made her famous.
The comedian and actress starred as Doris Murphy in Penny Marshall’s 1992 sports comedy-drama. It was O’Donnell’s first film role and helped catapult her to mainstream success after working several years as a standup comedian. Now she is set to return to where it all began.
Speaking on the recent episode of Everything Iconic with Danny Pellegrino, O’Donnell revealed that she will be involved in the Amazon adaptation. “Yes, I’m playing a bartender in one of the scenes at the local gay bar,” she said. “I didn’t shoot it yet; I’m shooting it in the upcoming months.”
The series was co-created by Broad City‘s Abbi Jacobson (who also stars) and Will Graham (Mozart in the Jungle) and stars Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation), Chanté Adams (Roxanne Roxanne), D’Arcy Carden (The Good Place), Gbemisola Ikumelo (Brain in Gear), Kelly McCormack (Killjoys), Roberta Colindrez (Vida), and Priscilla Delgado (The Protected).
“I love the Broad City women and when I was told [Abbi] was doing League, she called me up and said, ‘Ro, would you do it?’ And I said, ‘In a minute,'” O’Donnell explained. “Then she sent me the pilot that she did, and it was just really beautiful.”
The original movie tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League that formed during World War II. The new series will also revolve around the formation of the league in 1943 but follows brand-new characters as they fight to keep the league alive through close games, injuries, sexual awakenings and road trips across a rapidly changing U.S.
“We grew up obsessed with the film, like everyone else… with the help of an enormously talented team of collaborators, an amazing cast, and the devoted support of Amazon to this project, we feel beyond lucky and excited to get to bring these characters to life,” Jacobsen said last year. “It took grit, fire, authenticity, wild imagination and a crackling sense of humor for these players to achieve their dreams. We’re hoping to bring audiences a story with all of those qualities.”