Steve Carell Says New Series “Rooster” Was 'One of the Best Comedy Pilots' He's 'Ever Read'
- - Steve Carell Says New Series “Rooster” Was 'One of the Best Comedy Pilots' He's 'Ever Read'
Julia MooreFebruary 10, 2026 at 9:08 AM
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Steve Carell in "Rooster"
Katrina Marcinowski/HBO
Steve Carell stars in Rooster, a new HBO comedy from Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence, as an author who inserts himself in his daughter's life amid her marital trouble
Carell, 63, said that the show's pilot episode was "one of the best" he's "ever read," which made signing onto the project an easy yes
Rooster premieres March 8 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HBO
Steve Carell has high hopes for his new comedy series.
The actor, 63, stars in a new HBO series from Bill Lawrence and Matt Tarses, Rooster, which sees him play an author who accidentally gets himself over-involved in his professor daughter's life after her marriage crumbles.
Carell told The Hollywood Reporter that Lawrence and Tarses' script was "one of the best comedy pilots I’ve read — period."
“Pilots are the hardest to write. You’re creating a world, you’re introducing it to an audience and you have to do it quickly, efficiently, without feeling like it’s all backstory — and be funny at the same time," he explained. Carell said he was "in" to play protagonist Greg Russo right after finishing the pilot script.
The cast — which includes Danielle Deadwyler, Phil Dunster, Charly Clive, John C. McGinley, Connie Britton and Lauren Tsai — bonded quickly, which helped sell Carell on the project, too.
“There’s an art in casting, and Greg Daniels had the same knack on The Office as Bill. He cast a bunch of people that just genuinely cared about each other and really enjoyed seeing each other every day and became real friends — not just work friends, but lifelong friends," Carell said of the sitcom he starred on from 2005 to 2011. "That’s the same sense I got with this group.”
Steve Carell in "Rooster"
Katrina Marcinowski/HBO
“Bill told all the actors at the first table read, ‘Within a couple of weeks, I want you all to have an exponentially greater percentage of ownership of your character.’ He invited people in to make the characters their own, to make them feel lived in and really breathe life into them," Carell told the outlet of the environment Lawrence, 57, created on set.
"Each week the show changes and it gets a little more complex and a little more nuanced and the relationships become deeper and richer and funnier.”
Tarses and Lawrence told PEOPLE that Rooster sees Carell being "really funny again and doing a straight comedy" for the "first time in a minute."
"I mean, there's heart in this too, don't get me wrong, but I'm excited for people to see him be really funny," Tarses said.
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Charly Clive, Connie Britton and Steve Carell in "Rooster"
Katrina Marcinowski/HBO
Lawrence echoed that point, telling PEOPLE, "Look, I'm a comedy writer, and so there's none of us, male or female, that weren't drastically affected by the way that Steve does comedy, and I hadn't seen him do a big comedy-forward project in a long time."
"I haven't ever gotten to be on something that you just kind of throw jokes at him and watch him go," Lawrence said. "He's a great dramatic actor, but most importantly, he's just such a kind guy. He puts the ensemble first, takes care of the cast and crew, it's rare that things turn out to be the way that you would hope they would be."
Rooster is "a different role for him than the Michael Scott role," Tarses said of Carell.
"We wanted a guy who was super empathetic and you could believe him as a guy who felt like a fish out of water in an academic setting, but also was not a clown. I mean, he could play that kind of stuff, but he just has this real... You feel for him," the Scrubs co-creator explained. "He's just uncomfortable in this world where he doesn't feel like he belongs and no one plays discomfort better than [Carell]."
Rooster premieres March 8 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and HBO Max, with new episodes dropping weekly on Sundays.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
