Kevin Can Wait’s Leading Ladies Switch Out As Erinn Hayes Is Given A Pink Slip

Well that’s awkward; just one day after Leah Remini was announced to be joining the CBS sitcom Kevin Can Wait as a series regular, it’s now been announced that Erinn Hayes has been shown the door. Hayes had played Donna Gable, the wife of Kevin Gable (Played by Kevin James). Hayes confirmed the news earlier Saturday via twitter while linking to a Deadline announcement.

True, I’ve been let go from the show. Very sad, I had a great experience season 1. Thank you for all the support from our wonderful fans. https://t.co/HfYKzVuSnT

— erinn hayes (@hayeslady) June 3, 2017

With Kevin playing the series’ title character, it seemed that when the series was renewed with decent, if not great, ratings that the regular cast would be coming back around as well. However it now looks like plans had been in place for a bit of a series shakeup with Remini’s character appearing somewhat our of the blue as Kevin’s old partner in the two-part season finale.

TVLine is reporting that it “isn’t about Hayes, but that the show is headed in a new direction for the new season.” However it’s also a rather weak excuse for having writers unable to re-tune a character. Another possibility is always that CBS didn’t want to go for two leading women characters in a show that’s meant as a character vehicle for James.

The series stars James as a New York cop who retires after 20 years on the force, only to discover retirement is not as easy as he thought it would be. James and Remini previously starred together as husband and wife for nine seasons on CBS’s previous hit series The King of Queens.