Malin Akerman Moves Into Suburgatory as Tessa's Mom
Jane Levy, Malin Akerman
Tessa, get ready to meet your mom!
Suburgatory has cast funny lady Malin Akerman in the highly buzzed-about role of Tessa's long-gone mom, Alex, TVGuide.com has confirmed.
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"I'm a huge, nerdy fan [of Malin's] and this was an extensive search for the right actress to play such a pivotal role in our show," series creator Emily Kapnek told TVLine, which first reported the casting. "It turned out to be well worth the wait. She's funny, gorgeous and incredibly charismatic, and I know her chemistry with Jeremy Sisto and Jane Levy is going to be off the charts. Malin is a comedy writer's dream, both beautiful and comedically fearless. I'm over the moon about her agreeing to play Alex."
Alex, described as a free-spirited singer-songwriter, will first appear in the sixth episode of the season, when her mother plots to bring Alex and Tessa together. "In that Thanksgiving episode, the grandmother has been orchestrating this reunion between Tessa and her mom, and George feels so conflicted about how he wants to behave about it," Kapnek told reporters last month.
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The casting of Tessa's mom has been a long time coming. The character was originally set to be cast in Season 1 before her introduction was pushed back to Season 2. Over the summer, Kapnek called the casting process for Tessa's mom "tough."
"I think there's so much build-up on who's this person going to be," she said.
Akerman, who's played the free-spirited character-types on 27 Dresses and Wanderlust, is also known for her roles in Couples Retreat, Watchmen and Adult Swim's Childrens Hospital.
The new season of Suburgatory premieres on Wednesday, Oct. 17 at 9:30/8:30c on ABC.