Karin Gist, the showrunner of the last two (and as of now, the final) seasons of Fox’s Star, has been named the showrunner for mixed-ish. The show is ABC’s black-ish spinoff starring Tika Sumpter and Arica Himmel.
There is also something very notable about Gist’s appointment as showrunner here. She has an overall deal at 20th Century Fox TV (where Star is based), which is now under Disney. She is the first person to have a deal under Fox that has been tapped for a role under its new corporate sibling, ABC (or vice versa).
According to Deadline, this is all due to black-ish and grown-ish creator, Kenya Barris, who has moved on from ABC Studios to Netflix. “…When Barris identified Gist as top showrunner choice for mixed-ish. Gist wanted to do it — she, Barris and [Tracee Ellis] Ross had all worked together on Girlfriends and we were excited about reuniting on mixed-ish. While she is under the overall deal at 20th TV, it took just a couple of calls, and she was set as showrunner on the ABC Studios comedy series within hours,” the report states.
Star was Gist’s first time as showrunner, previously working on the aforementioned Girlfriends, One Tree Hill, Grey’s Anatomy, Revenge and House of Lies. She’s also penning the script for Sister Act 3 with Regina Y. Hicks.
Likely a casualty of the ripple effects from the Disney-Fox deal, Star was canceled by Fox late last week, but 20th Century Fox TV is reportedly shopping it around. No word on the status of those talks.
The description for mixed-ish: Rainbow Johnson recounts her experience growing up in a mixed-race family in the ‘80s and the constant dilemmas they had to face over whether to assimilate or stay true to themselves. Bow’s parents Paul and Alicia decide to move from a hippie commune to the suburbs to better provide for their family. As her parents struggle with the challenges of their new life, Bow and her siblings navigate a mainstream school in which they’re perceived as neither black nor white. This family’s experiences illuminate the challenges of finding one’s own identity when the rest of the world can’t decide where you belong.
The series stars Himmel as Bow Johnson, Sumpter as Alicia Johnson, Christina Anthony as Denise, Mykal-Michelle Harris as Santamonica Johnson and Ethan Childress as Johan Johnson. Anders Holm was originally cast as Rainbow’s father and Alica’s husband, but the role will be recast.
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Photo: Getty/ABC
